I'm a big RenRuki fan. BIIIIG. This was written for ficondemand group in LiveJournal. Hope you enjoy. Spoilers for those who don't follow the manga.
Bleach belongs to Kubo Tite
Renji didn't like staying at Urahara's house.
It wasn't just because he was annoying. Extremely annoying. He couldn't look around without seeing him, jumping around and making himself look stupid. Abarai found hard to believe that that man had been a Captain. But thereal reason he hated staying there didn't have anything to do with Urahara, or the people who lived with him.
The real reason lived miles away from him, had orange hair and was currently sharing his house with his oldest friend.
Renji frowned a bit more when he remembered how they had separated. He remembered everybody going on their way, and wanting to ask Rukia to come with them. Or with him. But he found himself unable to: she had such an oblivious face, she probably wouldn't accept. "What are you talking about! I'm perfectly comfortable here, at Ichigo's! Why would I want to go to his house with you?"
She wouldn't have said it with malice, though.
Sighing, he lied down and looked up. He stillrememberedwhen things used to be simple: when their only problem was finding something to eat. Ironically, Renji missed those days. They were a lot more risky, true, but he never had to deal with his feelings like he did now.
How he missed feeling nothing but friendship.
He realized how it had developed. He felt envy first. Because all of his friends seemed to like her more than they liked him. Renji chuckled at how childish he had seemed. Envy didn't last long, though: Rukia won his respect when she stood up to that bully. Then it became admiration.
His smile began to fade at this point. It was at the Shinigami Academy where they had started to drift apart. It began when they were put in different classrooms, and it became obvious when she was adopted. Renji closed his eyes, remembering how he had felt when she told her the "good" news. And even though he felt as if someone had taking the strength out of him, he congratulated her, and let her go.
He would never forgive himself for that.
Now they were torn apart, and things might never go back to normal. She would never look at him the way she used to, if she ever did. The way she used to look at Shiba Kaien. The way she looks at Kurosaki Ichigo. Because Renji knew he had lost his chance.
'Oi! Renji!' he heard a female voice. Renji opened his eyes and sit down, just to see Rukia entering the room through the window.
'Rukia? What the fuck are you doing here?' the fact that he had been thinking about her, and that she was there now, made him feel a bit uncomfortable.
'Everybody's getting together at Ichigo's, we are gonna discuss what to do now' she informed him. Renji didn't answer, it figures it was something like that. He got up and was about to leave the room, when he heard her add 'You know? I was thinking that I don't exactly know how long have we know each other. You wouldn't happen to remember, would you?'
Renji turned his head, surprised. Rukia was slightly blushing, and looking at everything but him. 'Hm… I think we have known each other for 100 or 200 years now… or maybe 300. Don't really know, never been good at maths...'
She just smiled, mockingly. ‚It's 400 years, you dumbass'. He frowned at her, slightly mad. 'Who are you calling a dumbass, you bitch!' he mumbled, loud enough for her to hear. But she didn't hit him, like he had expected
'Let's go, Renji. They are waiting for us' Rukia took his hand and walked, dragging him. He looked at his hand, blushed, and felt the heat coming out of his body. But overall, he smiled.
'It's not 400 years. It's 421.'
