Disclaimer – Bleach and all related characters used in this fanfiction are property of Tite Kubo-sama.
Chapter 1Ichigo yawned silently and rested his head on his hand as he stared through half-open eyes at the teacher. Today was boring. Since the ordeal in Soul Society, he hadn't much to do except rid the city of random hollows which was second nature to him so much so that he didn't remember doing so later. But anything seemed better than sitting in class right now and he glanced out the window as if hoping to see a hollow prowling somewhere.
Rukia was caught in the middle of a yawn when her cell phone vibrated against her chest. She jumped slightly and carefully took it from her pocket and opened it. Her fine features furrowed slightly and she glanced at Ichito, hoping to catch his attention. But the bright-haired boy was still in his reverie, his eyes dull and focused on nothing in particular.
Rukia scowled before carefully selecting a book. She waited until the teacher had turned away before throwing it as hard as she could at Ichigo's head.
Her precaution to not catch the teacher's attention was wasted however as Ichigo let out an involuntary cry and grasped the spot where the book had hit. After making up a hasty excuse as to why he had yelped, he glowered at Rukia.
"Oh my gosh! Ichigo you're bleeding!" Rukia gasped, jumping up and grabbing the other's arm, forcefully dragging him from the room, "I'll take you to the nurse's office, excuse us!"
Completely ignoring the awkward looks from his classmates, Ichigo waited until they were out of earshot before confronting her. "What the hell was that for?! I figure this is a hollow call right? But you didn't have to throw a book at my head!"
"You weren't paying attention and what other excuse was there for me to use?" Rukia growled back, taking Ichigo outside.
Having no response to her question he completed one last rub of his bruised head with an annoyed frown on his face. "So where is it?" he asked.
"It's near the park, about five minutes away from here." Rukia put away the phone and started to put on the red glove with the flaming skull on the back of the hand.
"Don't bother with that old thing," Ichigo said with a grin. He reached down to his side where a talisman hung by a rope from one of his belt loops. Gripping it firmly with his hand, his soul was instantly separated from his body and he waited for Rukia to find a suitable hiding spot for the motionless thing before continuing with her on his back.
"Almost there," Rukia said, holding onto Ichigo's shoulder with her eyes trained forward, "Should be here somewhere..."
A cloud of dust caught their eye and the hollow emerged from the side of it but not in any offensive position. In fact, it looked as if it were being attacked. A second object flew out of the cloud and darted toward the hollow, which was disintegrating as Ichigo finally reached the battlefield. The dust settled quickly to reveal Renji sheathing his zanpakuto.
"Renji?!" Rukia gasped, staring at the shinigami with surprise as she slid off of Ichigo's back, "What are you doing here?"
"Yo! Nice to see you too, Rukia," he replied humorously, "What took you so long? Too heavy a load for Ichigo to carry so fast?" He bent over so he could look at her face-to-face and smirked.
Rukia scowled at him in turn.
"Are you calling me fat?" Her eyes started to blaze.
"Not at all!" he straightened up laughing and then looked over at Ichigo, "I'm just saying he's is weak."
"Oh. Then that's okay." Rukia gave a small shrug and straightened her skirt.
"What did you say?" Ichigo growled as he grabbed Renji's shihakushou. "And you," he yelled, pointing at Rukia with his other hand, "Why is that ok?!"
"You'll need to get used to it," Rukia responded, "Not everyone is going to respect you, you know," she reminded with a small smirk.
Renji brushed the hand off his clothes. "You'll get in trouble if you harm a Vice-Captain, Shinigami-daikou-san," he teased.
"Are you implying that I can hurt you?" Ichigo said with an angry smile as he reached up to grab Zangetsu.
"Wanna find out?" the other snarled, grabbing his own sword and assuming a fighting stance.
"Stop it!" Rukia snapped, kicking Renji in the face and burying her fist in Ichigo's.
Both of them clutched their faces and glared at her. When the pain subsided Renji stood up again and massaged his nose. "Anyway... You wanted to know why I'm here right? Usually the dispatching of hollows isn't a job for a Vice-Captain. Even a substitute shinigami could do that."
"Then why didn't you leave it up to me?" Ichigo asked incredulously.
"But because there's still confusion lingering since Aizen's betrayal," he continued, ignoring Ichigo, "we're a little short on organization so I was sent to clean a few things up here."
"Ah... I can understand that then..." Rukia murmured, looking thoughtful, "No others to take the positions?"
"The captains can't leave Soul Society right now and they need someone of substantial standing in the Gotei 13 in the human world incase Aizen starts anything here. So a few vice-captains have been sent out. Including me."
"Don't I count as 'substantial standing'? I can handle anything that goes on here. I can protect my town." Ichigo said stubbornly.
"Substantial standing in the Gotei 13, idiot. You don't report to Soul Society and we can't even tell whether it's you or Rukia who dispatches the hollows. It all comes in through one cell phone: hers!"
Ichigo couldn't think of any argument and could only clench his jaw tightly out of frustration.
"That gives me an idea..." Rukia said slowly, taking her usual thoughtful stance.
Renji and Ichigo looked at each other with blank expressions then to her inquisitively.
"Ichigo, why don't you become part of the Gotei 13?" Rukia suggested.
The two boys simultaneously let out cries of shock.
"You want him to join the Gotei 13?! " Renji exclaimed, jabbing a finger at the orange-haired shinigami.
"Rukia…" Ichigo looked at her with a stunned appearance.
"I think he could pull it off. He saved more than one shinigami at once before," Rukia stated, "As long as we can impress the others, then we'll be okay," she said.
"He may get in but..." Renji trailed off in mid-sentence. Ichigo was standing with his arms limp at his sides and his eyes fixed on Rukia. They were filled with a mixture of surprise and gratitude. Rukia had given him a chance to protect everyone. "He can't join, he's still human!" Renji's protests cut through his trance.
"What's wrong, Renji?" he asked with a smirk, "Worried that I'll surpass your ranks or something?"
Renji tensed but he replied smoothly, "More worried about the condition of the Gotei 13 if you join. Plus, the only way for you to surpass my rank would be for you to become a captain which is highly unlikely."
"There's no better time to try," Rukia said firmly, a faint blush dusting her cheeks as she glanced away, "Renji, you're going to help, won't you...?" She turned to him with a sweet, innocent smile.
Taken aback by her request, he blushed slightly and then looked at Ichigo. He couldn't turn her down so he sighed heavily and agreed to help.
"Thanks, Renji," Rukia murmured, smiling still. She glanced at her watch, "But for now, we better go back to school."
Ichigo helped Rukia settle on his back and before he took off he turned to Renji. "Thanks," he said with a smile. He tried to hide his gratefulness but it showed through in every contour of his face.
Renji stared after them as they left. He moaned and put a hand to his head. Being a high-class shinigami in the Gotei 13 was the only thing he had left over Ichigo. Ichigo had beaten him in Soul Society, he had saved Rukia, he had defeated Byakuya, and Rukia had fallen for him. But no matter how he looked at it, Renji couldn't be mad at Ichigo. He could only help him. "That's what friends are for," he said to the long-gone Ichigo. He summoned a Jigokuchou and went to Soul Society to report a shinigami with interest in becoming a captain to replace the traitors.
Rukia and Ichigo raced back to school, getting Ichigo back into his human body before returning to class.
School was uneventful after that. Rukia looked around after they got out of the building, her face pensive.
Ichigo walked to her, his face turned up to the sky and holding his bag over his shoulder in the usual fashion. He peered at her out of the corner of his eye as he approached.
"Oi Rukia... How exactly are we going to go about this plan of yours?" he asked with his face still upturned.
"I... I'm not really sure..." Rukia admitted softly, "I think I want to contact Nii-sama to help too. He can help train you."
"Byakuya?!" Ichigo exclaimed, surprised. "Will he actually help?"
"I hope so... Maybe we can convince him; you've fought him before right?" Rukia said, looking up at Ichigo, "He knows how powerful you are."
"Was that supposed to be a reason for him to help?"
"It means that he can justify to the others that you are fully capable of doing this. You've fought a few captains and won most of the time."
"Most of the time?" he asked in an insulted tone, "Of the two I fought, I beat them both." He paused in remembering the events of the past month. "Kenpachi and Byakuya..." he trailed off as the realization occurred to him that he had indeed defeated two of the 13 captains. Was he really capable of joining them?
Rukia shrugged.
"I wasn't there, how would I know?" she asked, then without waiting for an answer she continued, "They'll both be able to testify of your strength. And you defeated Soukyoku," she added.
Ichigo continued to walk in silence for a while before saying anything. "Rukia... thank you."
The other blinked and cocked her head slightly.
"Thank you? For what...?"
Another long pause followed. "Nothin'. Never mind." he said simply.
Rukia scowled at him before huffing.
"Fine," she muttered, looking back down at the sidewalk.
Renji stepped lightly onto the ground as he entered Soul Society and made his way swiftly toward the 6th Division building.
Byakuya was there already, filling out some paperwork. He wore his usual blank look, but that was broken once when he glanced at the strand of hair in his face, scowled and huffed it out of his face.
"Taichou," Renji addressed his captain as he entered the room and bowed at the waist. He paused, unable to think of what to say.
The captain's grey-blue eyes glanced up and closed for a moment.
"What is it?" he asked in a normal quiet voice.
Renji stared at him with a similar calm expression though he was struggling with words in his mind. "Who... Who is going to take the place of the traitorous captains?" he asked quickly.
For a moment Byakuya looked startled.
"It... hasn't been decided," he said, getting his cool demeanor back.
"Who do you think could take their places? If they were willing to?" Renji had regained a shred of confidence having seen the momentary confusion on his captain's face. It meant that he wasn't angry with him yet.
"Someone who is strong enough to." A suspicious light glinted in the captain's eyes as he moved to stand.
"What about... the boy. Kurosaki Ichigo?" At this point Renji had to force out the words and avert his eyes momentarily. Now would not be a good time to cause more confusion with anger between captain and vice-captain.
"What about him?" Byakuya asked softly, turning to fully face his vice-captain.
"Would he be able to take one of the positions?"
The captain's brow furrowed and his eyes hardened.
"He has naught but strength."
"But he could be trained," Renji protested finding himself getting more involved. "And he wouldn't be the only one to have gained a captain's seat by brute strength, the 11th division captain doesn't even know the name of his own zanpakuto!"
Byakuya stared Renji down. But he had to admit it; Renji was right. Kenpachi had done that.
"Do you want Kurosaki in the Gotei 13?" he inquired.
The question struck Renji hard and forceful and left him breathless for a moment and speechless for a while more. His eyes dropped to the floor as he probed his mind for an answer. "I..." after another pause he raised his eyes to Byakuya's and said firmly, "I do. Whether I like it or not he is strong and dependable and has proven that he is willing to do anything to protect people. Isn't that what the Gotei 13 is about, captain?"
Byakuya couldn't remember a time when Renji talked like this before. He gave a soft sigh and sat back down in his chair, eyes closed. For a moment he was silent.
"It is, vice-captain."
Renji's determined eyes didn't leave his captain but he didn't reply. He remained quiet and waited for Byakuya to continue.
The captain was silent a few minutes more before continuing. "I will talk with the others... if they agree, then Kurosaki will be probably allowed to start training."
A flood of relief rushed over Renji and a smile crossed his face. He bowed again at the waist and thanked his captain.
Byakuya leaned back slightly against the back of his chair. "Anything else?" he inquired quietly.
"No sir. Thank you again." He turned and left the room trying not to sprint forward with the unexplainable excitement that had overtaken him.
The captain's blue-grey eyes watched Renji go. He gave a soft sigh, looking down at his desk. Those two, Kurosaki and Renji, were similar in the sense that everyone seemed to like them or respect them greatly... The shadow of a smile ghosted across his features before he stood and left the room to talk to the other shinigami captains.