Title: The Thought That Counts

Series: Bleach

Characters: Byakuya x Renji

Word Count: 2, 795

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Renji seeks help in getting a gift for Byakuya's birthday.

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Renji was a terrible gift giver. No matter how hard he tried whenever he was in a store to buy a present for someone his mind would go into panic mode and he would end up purchasing the first thing in sight. Rukia had even forbidden him from buying anything for her once he could feasibly afford to buy her something nice and she realized it wasn't the lack of money that kept him from getting decent gifts. From then on he would just give her the money he would have spent so she could buy her own present. His friends in the 11th Division saved him from the gift giving dilemma as the only thing one gave as gifts there was booze. Mainly of the low end kind unless it was for Yumichika and then it better cost at least half a month's salary or the 5th Seat would make your life a living hell (i.e. make you do paper work) until you bought him an expensive make up present. There was no one in the 6th Division that he knew well or long enough to buy gifts for. That was until fate took one the oddest of turns and he ended up in a romantic relationship with a man he once despised, Byakuya Kuchiki. And with the nobleman's birthday fast approaching he was going to have to give gift giving another go.

His first few attempts resulted in the purchases of a tiger striped head scarf, a porcelain back scratcher, fruity smelling hand lotion and a squeaky rubber ducky. After forlornly surveying the items, Renji decided he should probably seek some help before he spent all his money on gifts he would not dare give. So he steeled himself to swallow his pride and made a visit to the 13th Division to beg Rukia to help him out.

Finding her took much longer than anticipated and the 3rd and 4th Seats wasted a lot of time arguing about which one of them would lead him to Rukia. Finally Captain Ukitake intervened and took it upon himself to escort Renji to where Rukia was busy training.

"Ah, thank you, Captain Ukitake, sir," the 6th Division vice captain said a bit nervously. Ever since joining the 6th Division, Renji had never really figured out how respectful he was supposed to be. He did have a good idea how disrespectful not to be from the reprimands he would get from Baykuya, so he tended to over do it to be on the safe side even though it never sounded completely right when he said it.

Ukitake gave him a kind smile and answered, "You don't need to be so formal, Vice Captain Abarai. It's honestly no problem. I don't get many chances to escape the office for a little while." After a brief pause the prematurely white haired man added with a slightly teasing look, "And you probably want to return to Captain Kuchiki as soon as possible, right?"

Renji's face turned beet red at the question, since certain friends of his had looser lips than he thought they had it was no small secret exactly what the change in his relationship with Byakuya was for anyone is Soul Society. He tried to recover though by telling the shinigami captain, "C-captain Kuchiki doesn't do that kind of thing at work."

Ukitake blinked befuddled for a moment before his pale cheeks took on a light pink hue. The older man politely coughed before explaining, "I would never doubt Captain Kuchiki's work ethic. I was thinking more along the lines of a less physical enjoyment of each other's company."

Realizing his mistake the tattooed vice captain's face went an even darker shade of red in embarrassment. Even though it was not the first time he has put his foot in his mouth, nor would it be the last, Renji still liked to make a good impression to his superiors.

Thankfully the awkward silence was quickly broken as the reached the 13th Division training grounds. "As I have work that still needs to be done today I must leave you here, "Ukitake told the younger man, "You should be able to find Rukia at the kidou training range."

Renji gave his thanks as humbly as he could, which earned him another smile and a parting wave from the kind Division Captain as the white haired man began his way back to his Head Quarters.

It did not take long after that for Renji to find his childhood friend as the sounds of explosions gave away her location rather well. Entering the kidou training range from the over hang area where Rukia was setting off her spells, the tall redhead called out, "Oi, Rukia, can you spare a minute?"

Rukia stopped mid-chant to look over her shoulder at the unexpected visitor. Turning the rest of the way around she asked, looking surprised to see her friend there, "What are you doing here, Renji?"

"I, uh, kinda need to, well you know," the 6th Division vice captain stumbled out as he finished walking over to her. Though he had been so sure talking to Rukia would solve his problem it felt a little awkward to ask her for advice about his relationship with her adopted older brother. "I, well, need help, with um, getting your brother a birthday present."

"I thought you didn't buy gifts that aren't alcohol related anymore?" the raven haired shinigami asked accusingly.

Nervously shuffling his feet, Renji answered sheepishly, "Well yea, but I wanna get your brother something, since we're, well you know. And I don't' think he'd like booze."

Rukia sighed in annoyance then gave her long time friend a hard poke in the stomach, "You know you can just go ahead and say that you and Nii-sama are boyfriends. It's not like I'm against it or anything."

"Ow, that's no way to treat a friend in his hour of need," Renji retorted slightly on the playful side, as he rubbed the area he was poked. "And it just sounds weird since he's still my Captain and direct supervisor and all. Now come on, what did you get him so I can get an idea to what I should be getting the guy who's got everything and in double."

Rukia really enjoyed it when she and Renji could be snarky at each other in that fun playful way only close friends could pull off. Mainly because she almost always came out on top since it doesn't take long for the redhead to run out of snappy comebacks. But she took on a serious air when she told him, "I can't divulge that information to you. Presents are meant to be surprises for everyone but the gift giver for them to be given right."

"Should I remind you about the kind of 'surprises' I used to give you?" the tattooed shinigami deadpanned, truly hoping that he would at some point be getting help from his friend.

Making a face the smaller shinigami finally gave in, "Ok, I'll help you out, but only because I don't want you to embarrass Nii-sama." Her expression quickly changed as her face lit up in excitement as she proudly told Renji about her present, "I painted him a painting of him sitting under the cherry blossom trees in the garden."

The redhead blinked dumbly. "You made him a painting?"

Rukia looked back at him beaming with pride. "Yep."

"You didn't paint your brother as one of your silly bunnies, did you?"

That comment earned him another jab to the stomach and the heated retort, "It's the thought that counts. Besides I'm his precious little sister and older brothers have to love, even if it's just secretly, whatever their little sisters work hard to make for them. Just read and manga series and you'll see."

"So what does manga have to say about the gifts from the people that older brother's are going out with?"

Rukia gave the question some careful thought before she answered with, "From what I can remember knitting clothing or cooking food was the main choice of gifts. At least for the girls anyway. From the boy-boy stuff I read most of the time they just gave themselves to be ravished."

"I can't cook let alone sew," Renji pointed out, disheartened and slightly annoyed that talking to Rukia was not the one stop answer to his dilemma after all. "And there's nothing special about that last one."

"Well that's all I got, except don't try to buy anything as you already know how useless you are at that," the raven haired girl said. "That being said perhaps your best bet would to try to make something for him. Something you can actually do of course or it will probably end up as bad as anything you would buy."

Renji sighed dejectedly and let his shoulders sag. There was little he felt he was any good at and most of them dealt with fighting and drinking. On his way back to the 6th Division though he finally decided to act on Rukia's advice as he hoped that rule about gifts from little sisters could perhaps cross over to lovers as well.

The day of Byakuya Kuchiki's birthday had Renji found himself in such bad shape he was barely functioning. He had some solace that it was not from nerves alone as working on his present for his captain had taken away most of the hours he would dedicate to sleeping for the past few days. He did plan on trading his lunch time to catch a nap in the afternoon so he would be able to make it to the dinner a the Kuchiki's he had been invited to attend that night. Of course that did nothing to help him deal with the nobleman's ire at finding his vice captain not fit for any aspect of work that morning.

After the tattooed shinigami walked into his desk, causing the open bottle of ink to spill a few droplets on the papers underneath it, for the fifth time that morning, Byakuya spoke up. "I hope you realize that an untrained monkey would be a more competent worker now than you are, Renji."

"Ah, s-sorry Bya- I mean, Captain Kuchiki," the Vice Captain responded, trying not to slur his words too much. "Just haven't been getting enough sleep of late."

"Too many nights at the bars with your drinking companions," the raven haired nobleman commented more than asked.

Renji shook his head violently, but stopped quickly after as it was making him incredibly dizzy. "Naw, nothing like that at all. Been home making yer birthday present. Almost didn't get it done and had to bring it in this morning to finish it off the best I could."

Byakuya could not hide the surprise from that confession completely as his eyebrows lifted ever so slightly. "You made me gift?"

Realizing that he was ruining the surprise he had worked so hard on, Renji went quiet. He took his time thinking of exactly how to answer and in the end chose to just tell the truth as he did not trust himself with keeping his own mouth shut. "Well yea. I'm pretty bad at buying stuff fer people so Rukia suggested I try making something fer ya instead. So I did. Probably not much better than anything I would've ended up buying but it was worth a shot."

Byakuya was not a curious man by nature but the idea that his vice captain would try his hand at crafting anything intrigued him. And while he normally made it a policy not to divulge himself in celebrating his birthday until after the workday was done, he was willing to make an exception if just this once. With that in mind he got up from his desk and walked over to Renji's then said, "I do believe I would be the judge of whether this gift or not is appropriate or not. And if you do not mind, may I see it now?"

The younger man looked bewildered at Byakuya's request and a knot of anxiety bundles up in his stomach. He should have kept his mouth shut since there was no way some one from a noble family that could have anything he wanted with a word would like anything he made. But he was terrible at refusing the man and sheepishly reached under his desk to pull out the small chest he had put together and engraved a scattered pattern of cherry blossom designs on.

Standing up he handed it over while he explained, "Ah, well it's really nothing fancy. It's not really painted or even stained so it doesn't fit anything you got, but I figured you could stash it away in a dark closet corner and not feel bad about it, being what it is and all. And I couldn't really think of a great design but figured cherry blossoms would at least fit into most everything else you got."

Taking the small handmade chest in hand, Byakuya ran his slender fingers across the patterns engraved into the grain. As Renji said it was not fancy but the nobleman couldn't help but think that it was the most fitting gift to come from the young man. From the common wood used, to how coarse it felt under his touch to the fact that it showed so much promise if just the right touches of refinement were adapted to it. Byakuya knew that unlike most gifts whose givers were forgotten quickly he would never be able to look at this chest and think of anyone but his Renji.

In his peripheral vision he noted the tell tale signs of the redhead's nervousness with the amount of fidgeting the younger man is doing. The manners that were well ingrained into him while growing reminded him that he should not leave the poor young man in such a state after receiving such a precious gift. He gently placed the small chest on his desk before he moved over to where Renji was still sheepishly standing. With only a quick glance to reassure that they were out of eyesight from any onlookers Byakuya pulled the taller man's face down towards his own for a light kiss then softly said in his ear, "You should get some rest, Renji. You have a dinner to come to tonight and I would appreciate it if you were functioning by then."

The redhead's sleep deprived brain protested against the work Renji was forcing it to do to register what just happened. But once it gave him an answer he could not keep a goofy grin from forming on his lips. Byakuya had liked his gift. No, Byakuya loved his gift as there was no other possible explanation to why the normally stoic man would break his own rule about showing affection at work. Plus he gave him time off, though that could be attributed to the fact Renji was currently a walking disaster. But that did not matter in the end. For the first time ever he had managed not to mess up getting a present that had not been specifically requested of him. "So, you like it? Really like it?" he still asked just to make sure that his brain did not just tell him what he wanted to hear so it could get some much needed rest sooner.

Even though the grin made the redhead look like a complete fool, Byakuya could not help but feel amused. So even though he did not feel like he should have to answer the question he ended up indulging his vice captain anyway, "Yes, I do. You need to get some sleep before you end up severely injuring yourself though."

Renji nodded his head excitedly, as his grin expanded into a full smile, giving the impression of an overly eager puppy as he promised, "Sure thing, Byakuya. I mean, Captain Kuchiki, sir. I'll be right on that sleep thing so you can count on me for later." He only got a nod for an answer from his captain but at that moment it was enough. With a head held high Renji made his way back to his room, feeling like he was walking on air. He could not help but muse though before he made his way into to bed for a nice long nap that he should have gone to Rukia for advice long ago, as this self made gift thing worked out better than he would ever dreamed. And with Byakuya's reaction to his gift playing through his mind Renji could not help but think that the 'thank you' was more than worth all the work behind it.