Volare
Renji had been summoned into his Captain's office by an alarmingly terse Hell Butterfly, immediately assuming that it could only be for one of three possible reasons. Either something was amiss in the Kuchiki household and Byakuya didn't want to deal with it, there was an overabundance of paperwork to fill out and it was time for some delegation, or Ichigo Kurosaki had finally made his move on Rukia and it was necessary for the two of them to go cut off his head.
Renji highly doubted it was the last of those possibilities, but his anxiety was replaced by shock when Byakuya pulled a fourth option out of nowhere. The words came out of the Captain's mouth just fine, and Renji heard them as clearly as he could hear the birds chirping outside the window.
But he couldn't believe what he'd just been asked to do. Since directly voicing his incredulity would be asking for death by Senbonzakura given the circumstances, though, he restrained himself to blinking slowly and looking like he'd just been hit in the chest by Ikkaku's bankai.
"If you have something to say, Renji," Byakuya said evenly, his eyes focused on a piece of parchment as his brush traced across it in smooth, controlled lines, "please do so. You standing there like a fool is only wasting your time, and you do not possess that luxury at this moment."
"Well, Sir, I don't know quite how to say this, but…" Renji forced himself to begin, hesitating mightily before he plunged on into the finish,
"Are you serious?"
Byakuya's steel gray eyes rose at that, the look in them walking the line between disdainful and deadly as only the Kuchiki Clan Head could manage.
"Have you ever known me to be a joking man, Renji?"
The Lieutenant almost swallowed his own tongue at that, trying to reconcile the image of the hardened Shinigami before him with the request—with the order he'd just been given and failing miserably.
"No, Sir, not at all," Renji promptly demurred, "but… why wouldn't you just do it yourself?"
"Because, Renji," Byakuya replied in the tone he was accustomed to using when informing small children why they needed to stay away from Hollows, "if I go to the Human World myself to perform such a menial task, it builds up a precedent. Besides, she will know it is from me, and that is enough."
Renji could only nod with practiced terseness, reaching forward and taking the long box that was resting on his superior's desk like it was made of glass.
The box that was Rukia's birthday present from her oh-so-affectionate brother.
The birthday present he was being compelled to deliver, despite not knowing what it was.
Just wonderful.
At times like this, Renji wondered what in the name of all that was sacred he had done to make the fates hate him so much.
"What do you mean 'she's not here,' Orihime?"
"What it sounds like, Renji," Orihime answered matter-of-factly. "Rukia's not here right now."
Renji waited a few beats for the continuation, but when it didn't come he felt compelled to prompt the human girl.
"Well… would you mind telling me where she went? I have something I need to give her. Official business."
Not that it was terribly official, or very businesslike either, for that matter, but Renji knew a chance to sound important when he saw one. His feeling of self-worth was quickly replaced by a steadily-rising sense of impending doom, however, as Orihime's gray eyes shifted around nervously and she began tapping her fingers together in a nervous twitch.
"Well, you see…" she began to reply slowly, "I can't tell you that. I'm sorry, Renji, really, but I promised them I wouldn't say anything."
"'Them'?" Renji pressed, catching on all-too quickly as his mind began producing images of him and the Captain gate-crashing some kind of elopement and dragging Ichigo back to Soul Society. "She's with Kurosaki, isn't she?"
"Yeah," another voice spoke out from within the classroom, and Orihime and Renji both turned to find themselves looking at Tatsuki Arisawa.
"You figured that out fast, Abarai," she jibed, a teasing glint in her eyes. "Honestly, I must say I'm surprised."
"Tatsuki!" Orihime exclaimed indignantly, inwardly relieved that her friend had given her a way to cover up her own slip. "Why'd you say that?"
"'Cause Ichigo didn't ask me not to," the spiky-haired girl answered, the teasing glint in her eyes turning positively mischievous for a moment before her expression returned to normal.
"Besides," she finished lazily, turning her attention to the world outside the classroom window, "I'm sure it's fine. If Abarai was here for anything bad, I doubt he'd have come here and told you straight up that he was looking for Rukia, right?"
"I guess so," Orihime acquiesced, looking back down at her unfinished homework. Renji sighed and leaned against an empty desk, wondering if he would get weird looks were he to go and buy a bottle of beer at 8:30 in the morning.
Screw it, he thought as he pushed away from the desk and walked out the door of the room, waving a casual goodbye back to the girls. It's totally worth it. After all, facing the brunt of Byakuya's disappointment while being anything less than drunk out of his skull would be a decidedly unpleasant experience.
When he got to the little market near the school, though, Renji was greeted from behind the counter by a surprisingly familiar face and an equally familiar feline grin.
"Yo, Renji!" she said, her golden eyes mirroring the smile on her face. "Long time, no see!"
"Y—Yoruichi?" he sputtered. "What are you doing here? I thought you worked over with Urahara at his shop." Which I specifically avoided because I'm not in the mood for this right now.
"Nah, I just sleep there," the former Captain replied easily as she took the bottle of beer from Renji's grip and scanned it. "Kisuke said he didn't want any competition, so I came to this place for a bit of a... hostile takeover, I guess you might say."
"Right," Renji replied succinctly, quickly turning around and beginning to walk towards the door. "Well, I'll be going now, then," he said by way of clipped goodbye, only to be stopped cold in the doorway by Yoruichi's unexpected reply.
"Do you want to know where she is, Renji?"
The Lieutenant turned his head back over his shoulder, searching for a lie in the other Shinigami's expression and finding none.
"What do you mean by that, Yoruichi?"
"I mean I know where they are," she repeated impatiently. "Geez, have you had your physical yet, kid? I think you might be going deaf."
Renji chose to let the barb pass him by, instead weighing the pros and cons of accepting Yoruichi's proposal. If he went after them, best-case scenario was he came off looking like a huge asshole, and even if she accepted the gift it would still diminish the kindness of the Captain's gesture. But if he didn't try to find them, he would have outright failed in his responsibilities and that wasn't acceptable, either.
But even if both of the options worked out badly for him, there was still certainly a right way to handle the situation.
"No," he answered dismissively at last, turning his head away, "don't worry about it. I'll think of something." The question of how the hell Yoruichi knew about this too flitted belatedly through Renji's mind, but he chalked it up to Urahara's virtual omniscience and kept on walking. That sandal-and-hat wearing shopkeeper was only slightly below Byakuya on Renji's list of people he had no desire to interact with at the moment; except while he was sure alcohol could help him cope with pain, he was pretty sure even beer would be powerless against the endless singsong prattling of Kisuke Urahara.
But what was he going to do now?
"Jesus, man, what happened to you?"
Renji was thrown out of his melancholy thoughts by the pointed question from Tatsuki, who had meandered over to the bench where Renji had thought he would be able to drown his sorrows in peace.
"I'm going to get eviscerated by my superior officer," he grumbled, taking another swig from the green glass bottle, "and Rukia won't even know I laid down my life to give her an afternoon alone with that jerk Ichigo."
"Sounds harsh," Tatsuki commiserated, taking a seat next to the Shinigami. "But if you're trying to get drunk and forget about it, don'tcha think you'd want to drink a beer that actually has alcohol in it?"
"What?" Renji breathed out, taking a moment to glance at the bottle he held in his hand. After a moment his eyes widened, and the next sound to issue from his lips was a borderline-feral snarl.
"God damn it!"
The green glass bottle that Renji thought contained Heineken had turned out to instead be home to 12 ounces of utterly impotent O'Doul's. Not only had Renji been brought as low as to try and get a buzz on before 10 am, but he'd managed to screw up even that. Still, he had paid for it, and there was no reason to let it go to waste.
"So, what exactly do you need to see Rukia for, anyway?" Tatsuki asked after a few heartbeats as Renji continued to drink, and the Shinigami shrugged.
"I have to deliver something," he answered obliquely, and Tatsuki's brow furrowed into a frown.
"And?" she pressed. "It must be pretty important if it's gotten you this rattled. C'mon, spill it."
Renji wavered for a moment on whether or not to tell her, but since Ichigo had finally given Tatsuki full disclosure on Soul Society following Aizen's defeat, he saw no harm in it.
"The Captain," Renji began, making his tone as laconic as possible and drawing a chuckle from Tatsuki, who had no doubt heard stories of Byakuya from Ichigo, "ordered me to bring a birthday present here to give to Rukia on his behalf. Because clearly, it would be too much to ask him to set foot on the unclean soil of Karakura Town."
"Wait," Tatsuki replied after blinking once and making sure she'd heard that right, "that's what has you so worried? Tell me you're joking."
"Not about this, Arisawa."
"Okay," Tatsuki rebutted after taking a breath, "lemme get this straight. You're a soldier in an army of crazy-powerful warriors, you hack monsters to death for a living and you can occasionally shoot fireballs out of your hands without blowing yourself up. You can do all of this, and you're scared of performing a totally harmless gesture of goodwill on behalf of your commanding officer for the benefit of your best friend? How does that make any sense?"
"I never said it did, woman," Renji grumbled back, "and I'm not scared. I'm just being considerate."
"No," Tatsuki parried, "what you're being is ridiculous. Why should it matter that you're butting in for all of five minutes? Do you just not want to see her with Ichigo?"
The words slipped out before she could stop them, and Tatsuki bit back a curse as Renji's frame went rigid for a few moments before he sighed again, not so much relaxing as deflating.
"I'm sorry," she apologized after a moment. "I shouldn't have gone there."
"Nah, it's fine," Renji replied with a nonchalant wave of the hand, even as his eyes spoke loudly to the contrary. "Maybe you're right; maybe that is part of it, but I guess I gave up on her the moment I let her go the first time. I should just leave her behind, huh? Is that what you'd suggest?"
There was no bite to the words, only a bitter sense of defeat. But rather than agree, Tatsuki shook her head.
"No, not at all," she replied. "Actually, just the opposite. You still need to be there for her, because trust me when I say there'll still be times she'll want to talk to you about things she won't be able to tell Ichigo… but you just have to accept that there's a role in her life you just aren't gonna fill."
Renji's eyes studied her face and voice with the keen perception that came with so many years of learning to read Byakuya's emotions from the slightest tic. By the time Tatsuki was done, Renji's mouth had curled up into a commiserating smile.
"I take it you never told him, either?"
"Huh?" Tatsuki asked, surprised by the question. "Who do you—?" she began, but the look in Renji's eyes as he glanced at her sidelong told Tatsuki that she'd been seen though. Sighing, she suddenly became very interested in the shape of her hands as she steepled her fingers together.
"No," she answered at last, "I didn't. I was going to, once upon a time, but then Rukia swooped in and beat me to the punch. How about you?"
"Yeah," Renji said with the same smile on his face, only now it acquired a bitter tint, "me too. Except Ichigo actually did swoop in and beat me to the punch. Literally."
"What d'you mean by that?"
"I mean the bastard flew in and stopped Rukia's execution by way of giant phoenix. By himself. In midair."
Tatsuki's eyes widened at the image that spread out in her mind.
"Really? Holy shit, that sounds awesome! I mean—" she backpedalled shamefacedly, aware that she was rubbing salt into the wound, but Renji just shook his head.
"It was pretty unbelievable, actually. That bastard always had a way to steal the scene, I'll say that much."
"You got that right," Tatsuki agreed, and a few more moments passed in silence before she realized they were accomplishing less than nothing sitting here and reminiscing.
"D'you know where they are?" she asked, and Renji just shrugged.
"Yoruichi does," he replied, "but I didn't bother to ask her. Why?"
"'Cause I'm bored, Renji," she said as she rose, with an edge of something in her voice that the Shinigami couldn't quite place. "Come on," she said, grabbing his wrist and hauling him to his feet with surprising ease, "let's go. I'll buy you a beer that actually has beer in it, how about that?"
Renji considered the terms and nodded, following Tatsuki as she walked on ahead of him.
Soon enough the two of them were in front of Yoruichi's small shop, and the proprietor greeted them as Tatsuki handed her a bottle of beer.
"Tatsuki, good to see you. And Renji, too; this is a surprise. What can I do ya for?"
"Mind telling us where the strawberry-head went off to?" Tatsuki asked. "Renji here's got business with Ichigo's sweetheart."
"I thought you'd never ask," Yoruichi replied slyly, her eyes twinkling with mirth as she told the pair where to go. Tatsuki thanked her and they left, but Renji's expression remained clouded by something as they reached the parking lot. Fed up with his silence, Tatsuki turned to face him.
"What now, Renji? You getting cold feet?"
"Not at all," the Shinigami answered defiantly, before scaling his tone back as he continued. "It's just that I… travel differently from you. You wouldn't be able to keep up with me, since you're a human."
Tatsuki bit her tongue to keep from replying aggressively to what was clearly meant as a statement of fact and not something patronizing, thinking for a few moments before she replied.
"Well, I'm not getting left in the dust," she said, "and Lord knows you'll probably cut and run if I'm not there to kick you in the ass. So how's about we compromise," Tatsuki finished as she started walking again, stopping a few paces in front of a sleek, black vehicle Renji recognized as a motorcycle.
"You ever ride one of these before, Renji?"
"Yeah," the Shinigami answered as a smile spread across his face, his thoughts recalling the feeling of exhilaration and power that racing along the road in a motorcycle had given him the last time he'd done it.
"This could definitely work."
"I can't believe I'm doing this."
"The hell're you talking about?" Tatsuki spoke back loudly over the traffic as she guided the motorcycle through it with uncanny precision. "I thought you said you'd done this before!"
"I have done this before, woman," he growled. "I meant riding passenger. It's bullshit."
"You get on this bike and your name ain't Tatsuki Arisawa, your hands aren't touching these controls. You don't like it, quit bitching and go buy your own damn motorcycle."
"Whatever," Renji grumbled, fuming for few moments before he decided to make the most of his demotion and wrapped his arms around Tatsuki's midsection, with the twofold goal of both balancing himself and making her as uncomfortable as possible. His eyes widened in surprise behind his helmet's visor as he found it similar to holding on to a steel pillar; her core muscles had more definition to them than the Captain Commander had scars. But at the same time, he could tell that there was nothing rigid about them, either: she was clearly a trained martial artist, and a frighteningly competent one at that.
Tatsuki reflexively considered telling Renji to get his hands off of her before she beat the crap out of him, but quickly realized that not only would she probably be unable to follow up on that threat, but that she also rather liked his arms where they were. It had been ages since she'd been this close to anyone other than when she was beating the crap out of Chizuru; being known as 'The Karate Chick' tended to alienate her pretty quickly where romance was concerned. After all, no guy wanted to say that, yes, his girlfriend could, and did, kick his ass on a regular basis. Ichigo had been the only person who'd tolerated that side of her, if only because he'd sworn that, one day, he was going to beat her.
And as irony would have it, now that he finally could, it was the last thing on his mind. But there was no point in ruminating over that now; Tatsuki forced herself to think instead of the ridiculous face Ichigo was going to make when they gatecrashed him, probably complete with ridiculous sputtering and spastic hand gesticulations. That alone would be more than worth the price of admission.
Renji felt Tatsuki sigh as her back slumped over slightly against him, and could easily guess what was going through her mind. He scooted forward in his seat ever so slightly, briefly tensing his grip on her waist as he did so. She responded almost instantly to the gesture, sitting upright again but making no move to separate herself from Renji. As he attempted to scoot back, he found that he couldn't; looking down, the Shinigami saw that Tatsuki had hooked her feet around his own, holding him in place. Renji smiled, lifting his head up and allowing his focus to drift once again along the air currents that raced by him as the scenery melted into a blur.
It was the most liberated he'd felt in years, and for a few moments all the stress of the morning was forgotten. Minutes passed by as the pair rode, and it soon became clear to Renji that Tatsuki had chosen the longest possible route to get to their destination. He stayed silent, but it was clear she needed some time of her own to reconcile her own feelings; Renji had struggled with them for centuries, but Tatsuki didn't have the luxury of a Shinigami's lifespan. She accelerated sharply a couple of minutes later, apparently as ready as she was going to be for the encounter to come.
Tatsuki brought the motorcycle to a gently rumbling halt near the lip of a hillock that overlooked a small meadow, the place where Yoruichi had said Ichigo and Rukia had been planning to go for the day. As they walked leisurely down the slope, taking care to remain inconspicuous, Tatsuki furtively broke the quiet between them.
"Twenty bucks says he brought her roses," she whispered. Renji scoffed at the wager, but nodded his acceptance all the same.
"She likes orchids," he countered. "Besides, Ichigo would never do something that cliché."
As soon as the words left his mouth, Renji had to fight to keep himself from shouting as he realized that yes, Ichigo would do something that cliché, and that he had just been foxed out of twenty dollars. But that frustration only piled on top of the tightening tension he'd been feeling all day that was now surging back to the fore, and he could tell the shout was going to come out regardless of whether or not he wanted it to.
Tatsuki could see his body tense and knew what was about to happen, eyes widening as she realized their cover was about to be blown. Acting on instinct, she grabbed Renji, turned him towards her and shut him up in the fastest way she knew how, her lips moving forward determinedly and closing over his own.
Renji was surprised at first by the unexpected action, but he quashed that emotion and reciprocated as soon as he'd regained his footing. He delighted in the thrill of sparring with someone who could actually keep up with him for once. The iron that seemed to reinforce every inch of Tatsuki went molten at his touch, losing none of its strength but gaining a mercurial quality Renji found at once aggressive, unpredictable and alluring. Their hands mutually moved from their embraces, beginning to move under fabric and over flesh as their self-control slipped further and further away.
It was only the sound of Ichigo and Rukia's mingled laughter that kept Renji and Tatsuki from surrendering to their baser instincts altogether, and they broke apart abruptly while swallowing groans of regret. After spending a few minutes taking deep, calming breaths, trying to look like they hadn't just been making out and struggling not to pick up where they'd left off, the pair continued on into the clearing. The first thing Renji saw was a bouquet of roses resting on the ground to the side of the conversing couple, and his red eyebrows knit themselves into a frown as Tatsuki rubbed her fingertips together and grinned while Renji grimmaced.
"That son of a bitch."
Tatsuki chuckled briefly at Renji's fury before cupping her hands together and putting them up to her lips.
"Oi, Rukia!" she called out, and the girl in question turned in surprise to face the unexpected guests.
"Renji here's got somethin' for ya!"
She punched Renji on the back with enough strength to make him buckle, forcing the disgruntled Shinigami to take center stage. He walked over to Rukia, who had gotten to her feet, and pulled the box Byakuya had given him that morning out of the inside pocket of his leather jacket. He held it out to Rukia, who reached out slowly to accept it.
"It's from the Captain," he explained as Rukia took it gently, her eyebrows arching in surprise at the name of the gift-giver.
"He says 'Happy Birthday'."
Inside the container was an elongated jewel box, and attached to it were two pieces of parchment, one addressed to Rukia and the other addressed to Ichigo. Renji could see the not-so-subtle change in his Captain's penmanship between the two names, and was surprised that Ichigo's letter had stayed in one piece considering how broad and authoritative the strokes were. Rukia's name, on the other hand, was flowing and delicate, to the point that it seemed as though the characters might start moving and glide right off the page.
Rukia took the parchment addressed to her and opened it, her violet eyes drinking in the letters and words like a fine sake; getting any kind of missive from her brother was an occasion worthy of celebration, and the fact that this had been voluntary made it even more precious. Renji couldn't begin to guess what Byakuya had written, and he didn't dare ask Rukia to read something so personal out loud. Judging by the tears that had welled up in her eyes and the smile on her face that was as bright a grin as Renji had ever seen, he assumed it was just what she'd always dreamed of hearing from him.
Ichigo, however, was frowning a much more intense version of his trademark glare, and didn't hesitate to recite out loud what Byakuya had written to him.
"Ichigo Kurosaki," he began, in what Renji thought with approval was a surprisingly good Captain Kuchiki voice,
"I will have it be known that I do not like you. In fact, the mere trace of your reiatsu emanates such brashness and headstrong disregard for good sense that it gives me a migraine. Your manners are abysmal, and your lack of respect for our traditions and customs reaches an even baser level of sheer contempt.
"But that does not mean that I do not trust you. If there is one thing you have demonstrated time and time again that you will carry out to the best of your ability, it is to make sure that Rukia is as safe and cared for as she deserves to be, and as her brother, that is the most I can ask of you to provide her.
"However, know that if I hear the slightest whisper of melancholy from my sister, there will be no force in existence that will stop me from cutting off your head.
"Well, that sure was nice of him," Ichigo finished dryly, folding up the letter and tucking it into the breast pocket of his shirt. Rukia swallowed the lump in her throat and gently unclasped the jewel box, gasping as she saw what was inside. A golden replica of the upside-down orchid that was the Kuchiki family crest rested on a chain of the same color, and Rukia withdrew it slowly, as if she was afraid it would disappear if she so much as blinked. Ichigo moved over and clasped the chain gently around her neck, and as he moved away Rukia looked over at Renji and gave him a wide smile.
"Thank you for giving this to me, Renji," she said, but the red-haired Shinigami just shook his head.
"Don't thank me," he said. "Thank the Captain. I'm just the messenger."
"Still, Renji," Ichigo broke in, "she's right. Thanks."
The single word changed meaning completely as it changed speakers. The two men exchanged a long look, the significance of which wasn't lost on the women standing to their respective sides. It was Renji who nodded first, before turning around and beginning to walk away as Tatsuki fell in step beside him.
"Happy Birthday, Rukia," he said, waving behind him and feeling much lighter as more than one weight rolled off of his chest.
He and Tatsuki walked in silence for some steps before Tatsuki spoke, a smile lingering on her face.
"So, Renji," she said expectantly, "you still owe me the twenty bucks from our bet earlier. How exactly do you want to… pay it off?"
Renji could read the blatant suggestion in Tatsuki's eyes, but as greatly as he was tempted to take her up on her offer, he also wanted this to be more than just a one-time fling.
"How about I buy you lunch," he answered as the motorcycle finally came into view, "and we call it even?"
Tatsuki's suggestive smile shifted at that, becoming something much softer and warmer indeed.
"Yeah," she said lightly as she climbed into the driver's seat and Renji slid in behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist once more,
"That could definitely work."
A/N: I dunno why, but these Tatsuki one-shots are just a ton of fun to write. Must be because she's freaking awesome. Anyhoo, I hope you enjoyed it, and please review; feedback is what keeps my engine going.
Hope it was worth the wait, F1yMordecai! Speaking of F1y, you guys should go read her stuff here and check out her deviantart page; she's a damn good artist.
Also, for those who are wondering, the title means 'To Fly' in Italian.