Title: Whisper Words of Love.
Pairing: HanatarouXRenji
Rating: M for themes…
Warning: yaoi, teasing, a nonlinear plot, the complete misuse of certain prompts, and graphic swearing. Graphic I say!
Disclaimer: no, no, Tite-sensei owns all rights, except the ones he sold.
Yeaaaaah.
And none to me, I'm too poor to buy the rights to anything.
Rant: I had honest to god forgotten just how appealing this pairing is…
01 - Comfort
"Now relax, it'll pinch just a little." the seventh seat's soft, timid voice said and Renji's knee bounced. The needle wavered. "Abarai-kun…"
"Yeah?!" Renji asked, eyes darting up to Yamada's, the young healer's eyebrow arched and, if he looked closely, looking somewhat irritated.
"You have to hold still, or I'll miss." he stated simply and Renji's face drained of blood.
"oh." he choked out and Yamada smiled, setting a hand on his arm.
"I'll be okay Abarai-kun, it's just a little blood." he said softly and Renji relaxed slowly only to see Yamada pulling away from him, capping the syringe and heading for the door. Renji blushed.
"Was that it?" he asked, voice a bit smaller than he would have liked, and Yamada smiled sunnily back at him.
"Yup. That's it."
02 - Kiss
Their first kiss had been drunken and sloppy and entirely Matsumoto's fault. And Renji was sticking to that story.
03 - Soft
It was sometimes hard to remember that Yamada wasn't as strong as him, the young healer bristling with inner strength to the point Renji forgot that he was all soft skin, gentle, sloping muscle, and slight, curved lips.
Renji had to admit, he liked being reminded.
04 - Pain
"OW! Shit!" Renji cursed and Hanatarou sighed, pressing him back to the table, kido flaring.
"Calm down." he ordered and Renji gasped.
"You're messing with my BONES! How am I supposed to calm down?!" Renji argued. Mostly for the sake of arguing."And who exactly is the idiot who went and got drunk and jumped off the Soukyoku?" Hanatarou glared and Renji blushed.
"… me." he stated in a considerably more humble voice.
Sometimes it worried him how similar he was to his captain…
"so who's fault is it, you broke two bones?" Hanatarou growled, getting angrier as the line of questioning went on. Renji hunched up.
"mine." he mumbled and Hanatarou nodded.
"So shut up and take it like a man." he declared, Isane smiling as she handed him a towel.
"Yamada-kun's only upset because you did something reckless again." Isane chirped up and the seventh seat flushed, but said nothing.
05 - Potatoes
"This is terrible!" Renji announced and Yamada frowned at him.
"Hm?" he asked, eyebrows drawing together. He'd been interrupting him in his division a lot recently…
"Byakuya decided that he should be in charge of the menu for the meetings. There's already a list a mile long!" Renji ranted, pacing back and forth in front of the collected group of co-workers as Hanatarou blushed and pressed on.
"and that's… bad?" he asked and Renji narrowed his eyes menacingly and glared out the window.
"potatoes." he hissed and Hanatarou sighed.
"oh." he stated, unimpressed. Really, was he just bullshiting excuses to see him during work now? "I think you should leave."
06 - Rain
Renji blushed, cold, wet, and huddled up under a single umbrella with Hanatarou.
"We need to get you home and out of your wet clothes, you could catch a cold." the healer stated plainly and Renji's blush grew at the looks the other passersby gave him.
He swore he saw Ikkaku and Yumichika giggling at them.
"Yeah, sure." Renji grunted and Hanatarou glanced at him, utterly red faced, and then laughed.
"you're funny Abarai-kun." he smiled and Renji wanted nothing more than to be out of the rain so he didn't have to deal with the tight press of Yamada at his side, the soft tilt of his smile, and what it made him feel.
07 - Chocolate
Renji frowned as he walked into the offices at the Fourth. He looked around.
"Oi, where's--" he started, picking up and examining one of a good dozen boxes of chocolate on Ogaki's desktop.
"Here." Hanatarou said, voice slightly muffled, and Renji's eyes shot over to the desk Hanatarou usually inhabited only to encounter a mountain of chocolate. Hanatarou crawled out of it and sighed heavily. "Unohana-taichou gave everyone Valentines off."
"Ah." Renji nodded as if that was explanation enough.
08 - Happiness
Renji's fingers slowly drew down Hanatarou's spine, the healer mumbling in his sleep and swatting at him, and he smiled, defending himself from his weak swat before pulling him in close, kissing his neck.
"Jerk. I was asleep." Hanatarou grumbled and Renji smiled.
"I know."
09 - Telephone
"Can you hear me?" Hanatarou asked, finger in his opposite ear as he listened intently.
"Barely, this thing's a piece of crap. Those guys in eleventh don't know how to make a decent form of communication to save their lives." Renji's voice crackled through the earpiece and Yamada smiled.
"At least we can sort of hear each other." he said sweetly and Renji grumbled.
"Hold on, lemme try something." he stated and Hanatarou waited then frowned when his cell phone from the real world went off. He answered it.
"Hello?" he frowned and Renji sighed happily."Much better." he stated and Yamada looked at the big blocky attempt at a phone the captain of the Twelfth had made for them."Kurotsuchi-taichou's not gonna be happy about this…" he muttered and Renji just laughed.
10 - Ears
"Ahn… Renji…" Yamada groaned, hands gripping tight in his shihakushou as Renji tongued his ear.
"Shh. We don't want taichou to--" Renji whispered, Hanatarou groaning softly second before the closet door snapped open.
"To what?" his icy taichou asked sharply, glaring, and Yamada chuckled nervously.
"Um… hi Kuchiki-taichou." he waved, face bright red, and Renji banged his forehead against the wall, Byakuya then proceeding to lecture him about office conduct.
11 - Name
"H-Hanatarou-kun?" Renji stammered and Yamada looked up suddenly.
"Hm?" he asked, biting his sandwich and looking quizzically at the vice-captain and his untouched food.
"Why don't you call me Renji?" the man asked and Hanatarou saw his face flush red.
"Oh. Um, okay." he said softly, looking away from him, going a little red himself. "I guess it gets annoying me calling you Abarai-fukutaichou all the time when we're friends eh, Renji-kun?""Nah, it's good." Renji stated, ears bright red to match his hair, and Hanatarou smiled slyly.
Urahara was totally right, he should jump that one on him more often.
12 - Sensual
Hanatarou's lips ghosted over Renji's shoulder and the shinigami shivered a little, hands drawing softly through his hair, arms moving with a gracefully deliberate slowness to them before the medic pulled back.
"There, all done." Hanatarou stated and Renji was almost upset that he'd finished helping him brush through his hair.
13 - Death
More than anything, death didn't scare Yamada. It seemed like it should, the rest of Seireitei seemed to be desperately clawing and dragging themselves away from death but Yamada saw it every day, saw those desperate screams of defiance in it's face, the reluctant slipping, and the acceptance. To him, death was natural.
But he still understood that it scared Renji to death to think of him getting hurt bad enough to risk pulling them apart.
14 - Sex
"Would you still love me if I was a girl?" Renji asked out of the blue Hanatarou nearly choking on his food. The medic recovered enough to ask.
"Why, are you considering it?!"
The seriousness with which Hanatarou asked made Renji wonder if he was joking or not.
15 - Touch
Renji poked him in the forehead, grumbling something near incoherent, and Hanatarou breathed a sigh of relief.
At least he was awake.
16 - Weakness
Kido was a very precise art. It took concentration, skill, energy, and more than anything, focus. And healing kido especially had to be backed by a sheer force of focused will.
So when his hands shook, eyes meeting Renji's, and his kido stuttered, he realized then and there that he had a crippling weakness for this man.
17 - Tears
He resolved that no more tears were going to be shed, not over him, or anything.
So Hanatarou hardened himself, grew as a warrior, and didn't cry, and everyone wondered why he had changed, why it had hurt him so bad for Renji to abandon Seireitei for Hueco Mundo, and Unohana wishes that she still had her Hanatarou, her gentle Hanatarou, and that she didn't think of him first in case she ever died, because he was strong now, a good leader, but making him a taichou, or fukutaichou, risked putting him on the front lines.
And seeing Renji in the pure white garb of the Espada could break him entirely.
18 - Speed
Renji fell backwards on his ass and Hanatarou flushed, apologizing furiously.
"Sorry! I didn't mean to--"
"When did you get so fast?!" Renji demanded and Hanatarou simply blushed and stammered until Renji stood. "Show me that again!"
19 - Wind
The first time Renji ever performed shunpo carrying him, Yamada threw up. There had been a jerk, a rush of wind, and then, he fell to his knees and emptied his stomach.
"Well that killed the mood." Renji had chuckled sheepishly and Hanatarou simply glared back at him.
20 - Freedom
Despite the fact that he felt like he was going to throw up, shunpo with Renji was actually kind of exhilarating.
As long as Renji didn't stop and make it feel like his stomach had just taken a trip across town without him…
21 - Life
"STOP!" Hanatarou staggered misstep and snapped his eyes back at Renji. The man strode forward, scooped up the spider, and set it gently on the window ledge.
"Life is precious! Don't waste it. I thought you of all people would realize that." Renji stated and Hanatarou simple gaped at him, mouth moving soundlessly.
"Didn't you squish a roach just the other day!?" he objected and Renji blushed."Cockroaches aren't alive…" he grumbled in defense and Hanatarou simply threw his hands in the air in irritation and stomped off.
22 - Jealousy
Shoulders touched, hands eventually entwining, eyes meeting then lips and Renji's heart beats out of control because he remembered that, had once held that in both hands with no intention of letting go, and now she had it, because they were both too weak to stand up for love, to care enough to fight against decrees and edicts.
So he watches, in all-consuming jealousy, as Hanatarou kisses those soft lips he'd seen twisted into a scowl all too often, and everyone thinks he wants Rukia.
23 - Hands
Soft hands drug back through Renji's hair and he found it oddly soothing rather than irritating like it was when other people did it. He sighed and watched clouds and pointed at one.
"That one looks like Zabimaru." Renji stated and Yamada's fingers tickled at his ears.
"Hm. It does." the medic agreed and Renji, just for a moment, wondered how he knew what his zanpakkuto looked like personified but simply brushed it off when slight hands curled in deep red locks and provided a delicious pull, just right.
24 - Taste
There's salt and grit and the slight taste of oranges, but he takes it all in, absorbs it, feeds on it, then he meets Renji's eyes and smiles softly.
"it's eh… great…" he lies around the mouthful and the man smiles and turns away for a split second, Hanatarou quickly depositing the bite in the fern Izuru-kun had given him last Christmas.
He feels slight guilt later over the death of the plant but the first thought at the front of his mind was "that could have been me…"
25 - Devotion
Renji knows he stinks, can even smell himself, it's that strong, and he's so tired his mind is fading in and out of consciousness still sitting upright, slightly hunched over himself, propped up by just his elbows on his knees.
Hell, he'd be starving to death and dying of thirst if Isane didn't keep bringing him food and water.
But like hell he was leaving Hanatarou's side. The boy had taken that hit, gotten that hollow's claw right across his face and side and Renji couldn't help but run his fingers over scars to rival Hisagi's and feel crippling guilt.
The least he could do was stay by his side, after all, it was his fault, and Hanatarou had stayed by him, every single time.
26 - Forever
Hanatarou thinks he might be dead for a second, not moving, not looking like he was breathing, and dear lord he smelled terrible.
But no, Renji was alive, he was just asleep, one abrupt snore enough to tell him that, and Hanatarou sat up, looking down at him and smiling a little. He hadn't shaved, hadn't ate it looked like, his cheeks hollowed out, and even in his sleep he looked like he was fighting it.
Hanatarou took a second then reached for the call button.
A few minutes later Isane rushed in and Hanatarou smiled at her.
"Clean him up, smells like he hasn't bathed in forever." he smiled at her and she rolled her eyes.
"You two are both so damn clueless." she grumbled as she hauled him up onto a stretcher and Hanatarou admired his new scars in the reflection off the bedpan sitting unused in the corner.
They kind of made him look cool…
27 - Blood
Yamada's breathing stuck in his throat like a scream was blocking it, tight and unsounding as he looked at the blood on his hands, sitting not ten feet from where he'd froze while they were operating on Renji, torn open by an Arrancar not half an hour ago. He hadn't managed to control his kido, his reiatsu going out of control and whipping angrily around the room, crippling a few of the weaker aides and Unohana-taichou calmly and levelly asking him to leave the room, which he was more than happy to do. He wasn't… capable to working right now, because that wasn't just another faceless patient, that was Renji.
His Renji, on the verge of death.
His Renji, covered in sanguine blood.
Yamada sobbed and curled forwards, aching deep in his chest in a way even he couldn't heal.
28 - Sickness
Ichigo sneezed and Renji shoved him onto the bed, pulling the covers up over him.
"Lay down, you're way too sick right now to--"
"you've picked up too many of Hanatarou's bad habits…" Ichigo shot back but was already drifting to fatigue induced sleep so he missed the bright flush of red that covered Renji's ears.
29 - Melody
Hanatarou liked to watch Renji cook, not for the masochistic reason of him burning himself and cursing and getting unpleasant that Ikkaku and Zaraki-taichou did (apparently Renji cooking was pretty damn common when he was in the Eleventh.), but in those rare few moments when he hits his stride and has a look of soft contentment, a soft song humming through the air, twisting into a nonsense melody, drawing a smile from stubborn lips at the source of his ire.
30 - Star
"I name that one Hanatarou." Renji announced and Yamada peered up at him and where he was pointing.
"That's the moon Renji." he frowned and Renji shrugged.
"So?"
31 - Home
Renji opens the door and flops onto his couch, breathes in the scent of home then grunts when Hanatarou flops right on top of him, smiling as that only makes to so much better to be home.
32 - Confusion
"Wait, I can explain!" Renji stated adamantly and Hanatarou turned to him.
"You'd better because I have no idea what is going on here." he nodded and Renji, wearing a dress with Ishida's hands up his skirt, blushed.
"it's for Orihime." he muttered and Hanatarou shook his head.
"Right."
33 - Fear
Hanatarou squeaked and clung tightly to Renji's arm. Renji winced a little at the fingers clinging to him painfully.
Maybe scary movies hadn't been such a great idea… then again, Hanatarou WAS clinging to him…
Great. Now he was turned on AND in pain.
34 - Lightning/Thunder
Lightning struck, the building shook, and Hanatarou chuckled when he felt a fist tighten in his shihakushou.
"Don't worry, Isane-chan says the Twelfth should have power on again soon." He said soothingly and Renji scoffed.
"Worried? Who's worried? I'm not--" he said in a rush, his words cutting off at another abrupt flash of lightning and pulling Hanatarou closer by his sleeve.
Hanatarou staggered into him and Renji held onto him tightly.
"… Okay… maybe a little."
35 - Bonds
The bonds between them all were like a web of loyalty to Kurosaki, occasionally entwining and breaking throughout their associations as friends. Like Renji and Rukia's bonds were strong, solid and sure, the same as Yuzu and Karin's, as Ishida and Chad's, and Renji had considered their forces divided. Him, Rukia, Ishida, Chad and Orihime a facet of Kurosaki's web, a mere fragment, and Ganju, Zaraki, Hanatarou, and Hitsugaya-taichou another facet, all minor pieces in the potential force that could be the full brunt of Kurosaki's friendships but it wasn't until he saw Hanatarou Yamada wield his sword, Hisagomaru's blade slicing through the air, releasing short bursts of energy and healing every ally it touched at the same time, two sides of the same coin, that he realized that they weren't really divided, just unfamiliar, but fighting beside this boy he'd thought so weak, it felt as easy as breathing, as natural as fighting beside Chad, or Ishida, or Orihime.
And without even realizing it bonds formed around his heart, tying him to the young healer, and locking up tight.
36 - Market
Hanatarou eeped when Renji came up behind him, leaning over his shoulder.
"so, what's for dinner?" was his first question and Hanatarou flushed, glancing around the market at everyone smiling softly at him. Silently laughing at his embarrassment.
God, was he really that transparent??
"Whatever you want Abarai-kun." he offered and Renji then proceeded to grab up a hundred different things and dump them into his basket saying something about ultimate okonomiyaki.
37 - Technology
Renji frowned when Hanatarou handed him his soul pager.
Broken in half.
"What happened to it?" he asked loudly, the medic holding it out to him. Renji extended his hand.
"Someone kept sending you lewd text messages." Hanatarou stated coolly and dumped the broken pieces into his palm. "I took care of it."
Renji held the pieces as Hanatarou walked off and stammered for a second before looking down at it and frowning.
"Well who was it?!"
38 - Gift
"Happy birthday." Renji grumbled and held a small present out to him, Hanatarou somewhat shocked by the gesture as he held the gift in both hands and looked at Renji, blushing and shifting from foot to foot, obviously embarrassed. Eventually he scowled. "Well, open it."
"Oh, right." Hanatarou blushed himself and looked at the present then back to Renji. "Thank you."
39 - Smile
Renji liked Hanatarou waking him up, because when he did, he smiled down at him, content, hand on him, soft contact and little urging whispers and Renji's just glad that he's not in the Fourth recovery wing, Hanatarou urging him awake with gentle pleading or angry murmurs.
It's worth getting up to see that smile.
40 - Innocence
Ichigo frowned at them.
"Wait, what?" he asked and Hanatarou, face as red as Renji's hair, turned to him then breathed a sigh of relief.
"Oh good." he sighed and Ichigo's nose scrunched.
"what's good?!" he asked, looking between them, Renji laughing himself.
"well that's a relief!" he declared and Hanatarou nodded softly, cheeks still lightly pink.
"What is?!" Ichigo nearly whined as the two lovebirds shared in their private almost-humiliation.
"Kurosaki, sometimes your utter innocence ASTOUNDS me." Ishida sighed and pushed his glasses up his nose as Renji and Hanatarou laughed uneasily, Renji patting the younger shinigami on the shoulder as he did so.
41 - Completion
Sometimes it was astounding just how much it felt like Hanatarou was his other half. Renji sighed softly and brushed lazily at his teeth imagining that Yamada would scold him about doing it properly ending in mint-flavored kisses and he spat and wandered from the bathroom to the living room, heaving another enormous sigh as he sat at the kitchen table and looked at the seat opposite him in morose complacence.
His cell phone rang. He looked at it and nearly squealed as he flipped it open.
"Hanatarou-kun!" he smiled and there was an irritated sigh.
"Listen, Renji, I know you miss him, but he's BUSY, Yamada-san needs to have time to focus on his work, please stop making his phone go off every ten minutes." Ishida's irritated voice requested through Renji's phone's speaker.
"Uh, yeah, sure. Fine." Renji grunted with a small, nearly imperceptible, pout."Thanks, he'll call you when we get a break in the case." the Quincy stated and hung up, no goodbye or anything (terribly rude) and Renji sighed and snapped his phone closed.
He lethargically went to lie on the couch and sighed, feeling utterly incomplete without Hanatarou there.
42 - Clouds
It was kind of amusing that even walking on clouds, Hanatarou managed to trip. Then again, Renji kind of liked using the boy's clumsiness as an excuse to catch/hug him.
43 - Sky
It was unsettling to know that the sky cracking open over Karakura was normal. If Renji hadn't reassured him that it was a hollow thing and not some kind of terrible 'sky falling disaster' as Hanatarou had thought, he would have been seriously embarrassed at his intended Chicken Little style overreaction.
44 - Heaven
Renji laid his head on Hanatarou's shoulder, smiling and sighing softly. The medic twisted to look back at him and smiled at him.
"What?" he asked, Renji shaking his head softly.
"nothing." he answered and ran his fingers down Hanatarou's spine, the boy letting out a small noise at the contact and Renji realized that Seireitei itself wasn't heaven, it was what you made of it.
45 - Hell
The area was still, silent, Hanatarou looking around in stunned silence, why was no one moving? Why was no one doing anything?! They had waited and planned this ambush and instead, Aizen was standing there, still, smiling.
Hanatarou didn't understand it. Nothing was happening.
Or, at least he thought nothing was happening.
He looked to Aizen and met the man's eyes, and he was dropped straight into the pits of hell.
And he realized Aizen had already won.
"Don't come." Hanatarou whispered and he saw Aizen's lips twist up into a smile. He knew.
46 - Sun
Ichigo and Renji roughhoused, Ichigo eventually shoving Renji into the pool, the redhead spluttering and glaring when he came up, cursing the strawberry as Ikkaku and Yumichika laughed at his expense, Ganju doing a cannonball into the end nearest Yumichika in a completely intentional move to get the priss wet.
Hanatarou smiled and pulled his knees up to his chest, the sun beating down on his back, glinting off Renji's hair, his shoulders, his eyes, and was glad that Ichigo had suggested this small vacation, though he was certain that Matsuomoto was involved in there somewhere…
"Oi! Hana-chan!" Ikkaku said, not three feet away, and he looked up, taking on every appearance of a mouse caught by a cat as the man grinned evilly and Yumichika, soaked and irritated, grabbed his arms and Ikkaku grabbed his legs and they both threw him into the pool, Renji yelling at them."Have fun already!!!" they yelled in unison and Hanatarou curled in and made a splash that he hoped got Yumichika even wetter.
47 - Moon
Hanatarou lunged after a lightning bug and ate grass, Renji smiling a little but not laughing as Karin and Yuzu tried to instruct him on proper lightning bug catching technique.
It was starting to get too late, the bugs even retreating into sleep as the moon took over where the sun left off, silver beams of light playing over Hanatarou's features as he chuckled sheepishly, Karin scolding him for scaring the bugs away, even though it wasn't really his fault, and Yuzu handing him the jar with the bugs in it, smiling and running off after her continually irritated sister to go to bed. Hanatarou walked towards Renji and sat beside him, holding the soft blink of lightning bugs in his hands and watching shot in and stole a quick kiss before Hanatarou blushed.
"I'll let them go." he said softly and opened the jar, the bugs taking wing and flying off up into the moonlight, Hanatarou and Renji both watching them until they were gone.
48 - Waves
Renji sputtered and looked up at Hanatarou chuckling, waves crashing against his back and sand seeping into his shorts.
"Ikkaku dared me to." the boy offered, blushing and rubbing at the back of his head and Renji looked accusingly at Ikkaku and Yumichika, howling with laughter in the background, Matsumoto eventually joining in. Renji scowled and held his hand out, Yamada reaching out to pull him up only for Renji to pull him in after was going to take him a while to live that one down, he was h=going to need company.
49 - Hair
"Ugh…" the groan was heard all the way through the house and Renji frowned and looked around.
Terrible the first thing he thought of was ghosts…
He walked to the other room, the sounds of bumping around heard in the adjacent bathroom.
"Hana?" he called. He hadn't exactly expected the boy to be awake.
"Renji?" came the response followed by the sound of retching. Renji winced.
He should not have drunk that much…
Drinking games with Ikkaku were murder, and he as speaking from experience there.
Renji pushed open the door and Hanatarou waved him off.
"don't come in, I'm gross." the boy objected but Renji rolled his eyes and crouched down beside him, pulling his own hair tie out and tying his hair back quickly. Hanatarou glanced over at him, hugging the toilet, and smiled.
"You're too good to me." he smiled and Renji rolled his eyes.
"I tried to warn you ya know." he stated and Hanatarou shook his head. Renji stood. "Hurry up, breakfast is almost ready."Hanatarou groaned and threw up again, Renji wincing a little as he left him to his vomit.
50 - Supernova
Lips met and it was electric, starting like a soft jolt and spreading outwards to every inch of him, skin alight with invisible fire, and it felt like it kept expanding past him, encompassing Hanatarou too, lighting over his skin and making the hair on the back of his neck stand at attention, soft exhales of breath from his nose against his face as they kissed, feeling all the while like he was at the center of an explosion that spread outward from them, shaking the whole earth beneath his feet and making the sky shatter to pieces above them.
The End
Well, I have no excuse for this, I used to write an excessive amount of this pairing and I like to think that it, along with IshidaXKeigo, is my forte, as much as I like to write other pairs.
Anyhow, let me know if you liked it, I honestly think bleach fandom hates me since I get hundreds of hits on stuff and virtually no response from people so please, review! Believe it or not but it IS rude not to you know!
