Title: Duty
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Bleach, however, I do own many of the wrongs :D
Word Count: 683
Summary: Byakuya finds Renji working late
"Abarai?"
Renji looked up from the paper in front of him and blinked at the light coming in from the open doorway. He looked around the squad room office where he was working and realized the light had faded outside hours before and he had been working by the light of one small lamp on the desk. He frowned at himself as he looked up to see who had disturbed him.
"Captain?" He hadn't expected his visitor to be Byakuya – especially not at this time of night. Whatever time that was.
Byakuya walked across the bare floor of the office, the hem of his hakama brushing lightly across the floor as he made his way to the desk where Renji was sitting, brush still in hand.
"Are you not finished for the night, Abarai?" the captain asked, quietly.
Renji looked up, then out the window and back. "It is late, isn't it?" he asked, rhetorically. "Thing is, I have this really mean captain who has given me a lot of paperwork to get done."
"Hmm, really?" Byakuya said, thoughtfully, as he moved to stand next to his lieutenant and leant his hip against the desk, their legs just about touching. He smiled, softly "Tell me more about this mean captain of yours?"
Renji smiled as he leaned over the desk towards Byakuya, fingers laced together and an expression of mock concentration on his face. "Well, you see… My captain is a great man. Strong and powerful and proud. But he can also be forgetful and distracted and unobservant," he paused as he saw a frown start on Byakuya's face. "None of these are done purposefully – he just gets so tied up in being who he believes others' think he should be that he forgets who he really is. And he gives his lieutenant too much work!" he added with a grin.
Byakuya looked down and tilted his head to one side, questioningly. "So. Who is he really?"
"Ah, that's easy!" Renji came back, almost immediately. "He's a kind, honest man, who respects other people – and is really good in bed!" He grinned as he saw the resultant flush of embarrassment creep up his captain's neck and enjoyed watching the man try to fight his inner emotions, wanting to keep a cool exterior from years of training, but knowing he was with the one man with whom he could let that mask slip.
"You are tiresome, Abarai." Byakuya tried to scold his subordinate, but it didn't quite work.
"I can't be that bad. You still keep me around!" he pointed out, and Byakuya had to at least give him that one. Truth was, he admitted only to himself, that he had come to, if not enjoy, then at least like having his headstrong lieutenant around. If nothing else, it certainly made things a lot more interesting. In many ways.
"Hmm," Byakuya replied, absently. "Who says I am still keeping you around?" He watched as Renji's face fell, the grin wiped off his face within seconds to be replaced with a more wary one.
"Captain?"
Byakuya rolled his eyes slightly. "Renji, it wouldn't hurt if you engaged your brain once in a while, really." It was his own turn to smile as he saw the resultant scowl. He leant forwards and reached out his hand to curl two fingers underneath his lieutenant's chin. He tilted Renji's face up towards him, and smiled faintly as he leant towards the other man, and brought their lips together.
They parted after a few seconds, both of them breathing heavily. Renji looked up at Byakuya with dark eyes, and then closed them as he rested his head in his captain's hand.
"See, you are mean." He said, eyes still closed.
Byakuya gave a low chuckle. "You haven't seen how mean I can really be." His voice was light and almost playful. Renji opened his eyes suddenly and looked up.
"Is that a threat or a promise?" he asked, a smile on his face.
His captain looked back at him and raised an eyebrow.
"Would you like to find out?"