Fandom: Bleach
Pairing: Rukia/Renji
Community: 31days
Prompt: The only thing he knows
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Stability
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i.
They were little and thieves in the beginning. Small hands, tiny feet, and soft bodies running on the streets, they belonged to the orphans and the poor. No one else wanted them, no one else sheltered them. They were their own family and their world was limited to what they could take and what they couldn't.
It was a harsh life they had and Renji wouldn't have traded it for anything.
It wasn't that he wanted nothing, no, he wanted many things. The red-haired boy wanted to have more food, a better place to live in, a warm and loving touch, a…
(Rukia)
He wanted many things back then. Renji wasn't the only one—his friends wanted respect and power, money and a mother.
What they had instead was nothing but each other.
(That was the first thing they wanted—and actually got.)
When Rukia came, that changed slightly. They were able to steal better than before, had another member to their disjointed family, and began to earn respect and power.
It seemed small, but to them it was everything and more. There were still cold days, still times when their stomachs grumbled and the dirt looked tasty, but those days slowly disappeared.
When he thought about it now, his world back then was happy. Not perfect, that thing that everyone tried to achieve but never got. Nobody could ever get perfect; that was just impossible.
However, compared to how the world changed drastically, it was the closest to happiness he'd ever gotten to.
ii.
The end isn't very different to the beginning. In fact, it is very similar, when he thinks about it. She is little, ever so small, in his arms and he is stealing her away. True, he is taking her in order to save her life, but they are still back in their old positions.
Small thieves. That's a past they can't escape from.
There are slight differences, though. Renji is stronger now, capable of protecting himself and, even though she doesn't need it, Rukia. She has more friends now, maybe even a love interest—
For some reason, those words break his heart a little. Why does everything change so much?
—and many enemies. There are questions that hang in the air, awkward silences, and they don't see each other as much. Death hangs heavy over their shoulders and their eyes don't meet when they speak.
(What happened to us? Where did happiness go?)
She curls up into his chest and he concentrates on the present.
Renji will still protect her, still save this little piece of their past and his future. That much doesn't change.
iii.
At first, Renji's world consisted of Rukia and stealing. Then, after getting accepted in the academy, it grew to accommodate more and more people. There were more places, more foods, and…
The only thing that disappeared is Rukia. Even if she was a single piece of the puzzle, everything else felt emptier and hollower now that she was gone.
It wasn't too bad at first. There were so many friends, so many new sights that Rukia wasn't missed too much. Momo was fun to tease (she didn't fight back like Rukia, though) and Izuru was silent sometimes, but with an obvious crush on Momo.
He teased and joked with them all and for a while, his world was nearly complete. It was filled with light and truth, something he could stand on without fear of losing.
Then he realized that this was all a façade. Aizen wasn't the kind man they thought he was. Instead, he was a cruel, power-hungry man, one capable of destruction. Other captains and seats were found to be involved in this web of deceit.
(Renji was living in fantasy, surrounded by an illusion and a thick cover of falsehoods. Eventually, as all things do, the truth came tumbling out.)
His home slowly faded and twisted as he discovered the lies around him. Was there anything that was unchanged by the tides of time? Were there things that were solid in the crumbling world?
(Rukia gave him a soft smile that he saw when he was a child.)
iv.
"Renji?" she asks softly, "Are you ready?"
"Of course," he smirks at her, "Does this mean you aren't?"
"Why, Mr. Leader-of-the-second-group," she taunts, "I didn't know you cared."
They tease and joke for a little longer. It's as though they are delaying their departure. The moment they put on their fighting faces, they are leaving one life behind for another.
Permanently.
Some things are going never going to be the same again. Since when are they ever?
"Hurry up. We haven't got all day," Rukia prods him rudely—like she did years ago.
v.
"Renji," Rukia speaks at out loud, her voice confident and strong, "We're going to get them today."
It isn't a question or a statement. It just is, like a fact but more pronounced. She spoke as though it is a truth, something the world is based upon.
"Maybe," he replies back, uncertain. He'd like to be certain, to cock a tattooed eyebrow at her and tease her for actually asking. Renji would like to act as though that was a bothersome comment.
It isn't because he doesn't fully believe they can win. There are so many things in the past that they found out to be lies, that changed until they are hardly recognizable. This might be one of them and he fears trusting it too much. If it collapses, he has to be strong enough to continue on.
"Renji," Rukia firmly speaks, "We are going to win today." She's waiting for him to speak and he is dragged back into the past. When they used to plan out a robbery, she'd always look at him like this. Her eyes would be dark and serious, waiting for him (always waiting, but for what?).
She sounded confident and fully believed they could win.
It hits him then what she is waiting for. "Of course we will," he smirks, "Why do you need to repeat that sentence twice? Scared?"
She is waiting for him to join her. It's that simple. It doesn't have to be a belief in their victory, an idea that they can do anything.
All she wants from him is a trust that she can do her part and he can do his. Rukia is simple in that way.
For that, he is relieved and places his trust in her, believes in her. She won't hurt him the way the rest of the world did.
There are many things that change in his life. Rukia isn't one of them.
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A/N: …Yeah, one of my first Bleach fics, and I'm pretty sure it's a terrible story. Criticize harshly.
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