A chill barges into the room.
Papers flutter slightly, but remain largely undisturbed by the breeze. Nonetheless, a pale hand settles on them, smoothing them down onto wood, as though reassuring them of their place.
Byakuya wonders just when his lieutenant will turn up.
Renji had promised him a report on the latest training exercise this afternoon, but the man was lost amongst all the other reports that materialized at the end of every month that Byakuya stepped outside his schedule and allowed the task to be delayed till nightfall.
"Kukichi-sama? Abarai-fukutaichou has arrived."
Byakuya looks up to see his lieutenant standing by the door, holding many more things than a simple report. He spies a small jug of sake hanging idly from Renji's hand.
It would be like Renji to do something like that.
Renji is dressed only in his shihakusho and snow is slowly melting on his person.
Byakuya remarks to his servant to bring a warming dish for the sake and gestures for Renji to join him.
Renji pads over, choosing to set the sake down first, thudding it down on the desk. The next item is a parcel, neatly nondescript and that goes to the corner of the desk, as though requesting to be ignored for the moment.
The report slides towards Byakuya.
Renji folds his limbs under him and seats on the mat opposite Byakuya.
Byakuya takes a cursory glance at the document. It is as it should be, with certain elements out of format, but he knows to expect that from Renji by now, it is the man's signature after all.
Byakuya looks up to Renji, who has his knees up against his chest now and his hands are tangled in each other, shifting and knotting to create some semblance of heat.
A pot of hot water is discreetly placed in between them, along with two shallow cups and a serving flask.
"I wasn't presumptuous in getting these ready, was I?" issues Byakuya.
Renji shakes his head, his hair slides off his shoulders, limp with melting snow. He unlocks one of his hands to nudge the jar of sake over.
Byakuya pours it into the serving flask and gently lowers that into the hot water. He steals a glance at Renji, who is back to rubbing his hands together for heat.
Byakuya stares at the serving flask, willing it to warm the sake faster.
His lieutenant has always had the habit of freezing along with the winters in Seireitei. Byakuya had been surprised once, during the first winter he had with Renji under his command, when the man had worked the whole day without speaking until he realized that the slight sound that had been tugging at the back of his mind all day was Renji's teeth chattering.
The sake is warm enough.
It is poured into the two serving cups. Bykuya is about to slide the flask back into the hot water when he pauses.
"Renji," the redhead glances up through his lashes, "could I have your hands please?"
Renji raises his eyebrow, but does as he is told. His lieutenant is very pliable during the winters.
Byakuya ignores the slight tremble of Renji's hands. Instead, he guides them to the warm serving flask and curls them around the heat. Byakuya is caught in the cold that is coming from a man who is anything but and it takes him a moment to remember to remove his hands.
"You can put the flask back when you retain your motor skills or when you want sake, whichever first," says Byakuya, and he knows Renji will hear the hidden mirth.
Renji does, and a soft laugh is coaxed out of him.
Byakuya chooses to take tiny sips of his own sake, letting Renji take his time to warm up.
He had not understood why Renji was so sensitive to the cold at first. It was only when Rukia told him that everyone from Rukongai hated the cold that he understood. Byakuya tries to imagine, once in a while, a cold that forces the breath out of someone and strips them to the bone.
Once in a while, Byakuya will order the thickest cloak or scarf to be made for Rukia.
He wonders if he should do the same for Renji.
"Is the report alright, Taichou?" The question is accompanied by the muffled clink of the flask being dropped back into the pot. It seems that Renji regained his motor skills first.
Byakuya nods, "Yes, thank you. For the sake as well."
Renji grins, "Happy Birthday, Taichou."
Byakuya starts mildly. He raises an eyebrow at his lieutenant. Renji grins wider and slides the parcel over as well.
"It's a book," he says, "about maths, this housekeeper and her son, plus a professor who has an eighty-minute memory. They become a family somehow."
Byakuya knows that the story is so much more than that simple explanation, but that is only because he will think of Renji when he reads the book. He will think about Rukia remarking off-handedly once that Renji had taught her maths, about the family Renji never had and the ones he did and about how little he knows this man.
Renji holds out his cup for a refill. Byakuya notices he is holding the cup in one hand. I hope you appreciate my gift, Taichou.
Byakuya fills the shallow cup before holding out his own, perched between pale fine-boned fingers. I do indeed, thank you.