Main Character: Renji Abarai
Song Used: Seasons Of Love
Artist: The Cast of RENT
Summary: While sitting on a rooftop and watching the sun set in the west, Renji reflects on his life, his friends, and his love. (RenjixRukia)
Time Period: Arrancar arc.
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, the character Renji, or the song used in this story. Bleach and it's characters are the property of Tite Kubo, and Seasons Of Love is the property Jonathan Larson, the writer of RENT.
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A lone figure sat atop a roof, looking into the west, where the sun was setting. The setting sun was a beautiful golden yellow, and it's light turned the few strands of clouds from white to magnificent shades of pink and purple.
A light breeze picked up, ruffling Renji Abarai's shinigami uniform. He let one of his arms drape casually over his sheathed sword as he continued to watch the setting sun. For a moment he glanced over the busy city. His eyes caught the shapes of the large city, the cars, the people, the buildings. One of the best parts about being on top of a building was that the sounds of Karakura could not reach him.
Renji had always made it a habit to watch the sun set. He always enjoyed the contemplative silence a sunset offered, as well as the beautiful colors. He had started doing this back when he live in the 78th district of Rukongai, but it had been so long ago that he picked up the habit that he couldn't remember exactly when he started.
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes,
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Moments so dear.
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year?
His days in Rukongai had been some of the worst in his life. He had no real home, no real family, no real point of living. He and a group of kids had to steal food to survive, although that task was never easy. Someone would always be chasing them, not that he didn't enjoy a good chase. Sometimes whoever they stole from could easily be outran, but other times they were inches away from catching the group.
At that time, at was all a fact of life. Renji could easily remember how diseases ran rampant throughout the district. If someone in the group didn't have one disease, they would have another. Tuberculosis and was the worst, but the most common. District 78 was practically a breeding ground for TB. Renji could remember the many friends that would be found every few days that had died of tuberculosis. There was no cure for it, so if you caught it, you were a gonner. By the time he and Rukia went to the academy, all of their friends had died, done in by diseases like tuberculosis.
One of Renji's favorite things to do in Rukongai was watch the sun set. Most of the time it would be just him and Rukia, sitting in a hill top of a rooftop and watching a sunset. They usually talked, not about anything in particular, just what happened that day. They usually teased each other about their faults, their mistakes, their stories, their dreams.
In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights.
In cups of coffee.
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife.
The academy was much better than Rukongai. He and Rukia, along with the rest of the academy, had consistent meals, warm beds, and clothes that didn't resemble dish rags. Renji's favorite class was zanjutsu, where the teachers handed the students wooden swords and practically let them beat the hell out of each other. He dreaded kido class, especially after he blew himself up during training.
At the academy, there wasn't much free time for him to watch sunsets. Occasionally, he and Rukia could sit on a rooftop and talk, just as they had back in the 78th. The talk became more specific, directing around what they would do once they became shinigami. Renji knew that the chances that they would be put in the same company were slim, so they would take advantage of the time that they had together.
Then it happened. Byakuya Kuchiki, of the noble Kuchiki clan, adopted Rukia. Renji was ecstatic about the news. He was happy for Rukia, he really was. He encouraged her to take the opportunity, realizing that this was a chance for her to have a real family. So why had he felt that he had made a mistake? After Rukia was adopted, they began seeing each other less and less, almost to the point where they wouldn't see each other at all. With this change, Renji began watching sunsets less and less, only really watching one when he had nothing to do. For him it just wasn't the same without Rukia.
In five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes.
How do you measure
A year in the life?
After Renji graduated the academy, he got to see Rukia more. It wasn't as often as he would have liked, but it was often enough. They watched the sunsets more often, and Renji began enjoying himself more. But for some reason, he knew that it would never be the same. They would never share the same brother-sister bond that they had back when they lived in district 78.
It went on like that for a long time. Renji progressed in rank and skill, and quickly achieved the rank of lieutenant. His first mission as lieutenant of the 6th Company was to assist his captain, Byakuya Kuchiki, in the arrest of a capital offender. When Renji asked who the criminal was, his blood froze when he heard "Rukia Kuchiki."
The two weeks before the arrest, Renji completely drained himself of all emotions. He didn't attempt to watch any sunsets, and he tried not to think of Rukia. He knew just as well as anyone else that the punishment for a capital offender was execution. Plain and simple. He soon found out that her powers had been taken from a human. That pissed him off bad.
Ichigo Kurosaki was the one who took her powers, and was the one who was at the top of Renji's hit list. Kurosaki wasn't a bad kid from Renji's point of view now, but then His first attempt at killing Ichigo failed, but was rebounded when Byakuya drove a blade through the boy twice. His second attempt in Soul Society went worse than the first. He ended up nearly kicking the bucket from the wounds he received, but he bounced back, just like he always did. He couldn't die at that point. He had to save Rukia.
How about love?
How about love?
How about love? Measure in love.
Seasons of love. Seasons of love.
With his new resolve, Renji fought Byakuya, the one man he had wanted to surpass. For Renji, it was do or die, make it or break it. If he lost, chances are he would be dead. If he won, that was one step closer to rescuing Rukia. He couldn't loose. It was just out of the question. But he did loose. But while doing that, he raised his own bar, achieving bankai, pushing his limits, pushing his breaking point. Maybe that was why he hadn't died. He really didn't know.
His next fight was with Aizen. That treacherous bastard had fooled Renji, and it had come crashing down on his head. He could remember the searing pain that had ripped throught his body every time the blade sliced through his flesh. He could remember his blood falling on the ground, staining his uniform. But he never let go of Rukia. He held her, and even though he knew he was going to die, he kept her in his protective grip. He didn't die then, either. His will to protect Rukia was probably the reason for that.
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes.
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Journeys to plan.
After the Aizen incident, patrols began being sent to Heuco Mundo. Renji regularly went on these endeavors, His company was one of the best, so it had to be where the action was. The patrolling shinigami normally slept outside, without any tents or shelter. He watched the sun set every night, thinking about Rukia. He wrote lots of letter to her, some short, some long, some just said "Hi." She would always write back, telling him about the goings on in Soul Society, like who fought who or who got promoted, stuff like that.
He still had one of the letters she had sent him, after he had been wounded on a patrol. He pulled it out of his pocket and read it, probably for the thousandth time. 'Renji, what the hell were you thinking? You were nearly killed, and you write to me saying that it was just a flesh wound?! How could it be just a flesh wound when they have you on a respirator and had to give you a blood transfusion? Do you have any idea how much that worried me when Byakuya told me that you were nearly killed?
Renji's reading was interrupted by the sound of soft footsteps approaching him. He put the letter back in his pocket and turned to see Rukia walking towards him. "What're you doing?" She sat down next to him.
"Nothin'. Just watchin' the sunset." Renji looked back at the setting sun. Maybe he should tell her now. It would be the perfect time, when it was just the two of them.
"What are you thinking about, Renji?"
That question surprised him. "I'm thinkin' about my life. And every time I do, I wonder how I could have been a better person. And every time I wonder, I come up with a million reasons."
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes.
How do you measure the life
Of a woman or a man?
"What do you mean by that?" Rukia asked, confused.
"I mean I've made nothing but wrong decisions from day one. I should've died a long time ago, but I'm still here. How is that fair to everyone else who's died?"
"How the hell can you talk like that?" Renji looked up, surprised by Rukia's sudden outburst. "What do you mean you've made nothing but bad decisions? You're one of the best people I know. Why would you say that you should've died?"
Renji didn't really know how to answer that. Did he really think he should have died? "Wh-"
"Why do think you should die, Renji?"
"Because I can't protect you. I couldn't when the order came to arrest you, I couldn't in Soul Society, and I still can't. It's always be Ichigo that's protected you. You're better off with him than you are with me." Renji tried not to make eye contact with Rukia.
"But I don't love Ichigo. I love you. Is it really that hard to see?" Rukia was practically yelling. She loved him? Renji had always thought that she loved Ichigo. "I don't care if you can't protect me. That's never mattered and it never will."
"So, you don't love Ichigo?"
"No, I never had. Why would you think that?"
"Oh, just wondering." Renji gave a sarcastic grin, his eyes reflecting the setting sun. A wave of relief fell over him as he fully realized that Rukia loved him.
In truths that she learned,
Or in times that he cried.
In bridges he burned,
Or the way that she died.
"You're a real dope, you know that?" Rukia laughed.
"Well, I try." Renji's cocky grin widened. "I can't take all the credit, though. You've driven me to the point of insanity." Rukia leaned against Renji and laid her head on his shoulder. "I love ya too, Rukia." They both sat in contemplative silence at they watched the sunset together.
It's time now to sing out,
Though the story never ends.
Let's celebrate
Remember a year in the life of friends.
Remember the love.
Remember the love.
Seasons of love!