This fic is rated MATURE. You should not be reading unless you're at least fourteen. (And for the dude who's counting- this is my responsible deed for the day.)
WALK LIKE A SHINIGAMI
second set: the bone-crushing fall
6. POSSESSION
Shiny strands of black hair sway over his thin face. "Lets try something new," he says. Renji settles into the couch. Rukia is not home. It's just them. "I got this for you. Just for you," he says, he coos. His fingers come around Renji's arm, cool and dry. Renji watches through heavy lids, another substance already working through his system. A cool prick rests on his forearm.
"What's this?" Renji asks quietly. Byakuya smiles.
"Sweet Lady H."
"That's pretty serious shit."
"I know," he brings his lips onto Renji's forearm.
"Do it," he whispers, clenching his fist. His veins pulse in his arm, thickening and protruding. Byakuya smiles and brings the cool metal into Renji's skin. He pushes it into the flesh; a drop of blood oozes down the forearm. "Easy," he breathes and the pressure of the needle alleviates.
"Sorry," Byakuya murmurs and slowly presses the syringe with his thumb. The cool liquid flows into the blood. It's carried away. The needle recedes. He brings a palm onto Renji's face, his thumb sliding across the other man's lips. Renji was his creature- his, and not Ichigo's.
7. WE ARE SHADOWS
Where was the sun? Had it sunken into the darkness so early? The clock blinked with red numbers. Only seven p.m. Ichigo rested his arms against the counter, listening to the outside traffic and watching the musty sky through large plastic windows. Byakuya walked in through the door. Ding.
"Ichigo," he smiles. "How's it?"
"We should get paid more."
"Yeah," he says. "Pumping gas is a bitch." He leans against the counter and breaths in. "Still haunted?"
It was a sudden question.
"Um," Ichigo answers. "Yeah."
"You don't tell me about them anymore. You know, the ghosts?" And he seems genuinely concerned. His slight brows lift.
"There," Ichigo points to an empty corner.
"For real?"
"No."
Byakuya laughs, "Seriously, dude. When was the last time you saw one?"
"You in the mood for a scary story or something?"
"It's creepy out," he says, glancing out the window. "Dark and quiet. I think it's only right." Ichigo sighed. The refrigerators hummed.
"I see them all the time but… There was this one time," His eyes drift onto the cameras that silently watch. "A few months after I started working here, I was at therapy. I was calling my Dad in the hall." He thought of how to form his next words. "And I see this guy coming towards me. He walks right by me, doesn't even look. I felt him pass by me. He was smoking, and I could smell it in the halls… as if it were real. He was dead though, just a ghost."
"…That wasn't scary."
Ichigo laughs. "The thing is, after a few days, I'm at the bus stop and I smell that same cigarette smoke. And there he is, alive, but I could've sworn he was dead just the other day. I could've sworn it."
The raven-haired man paled. "For serious?"
"And he knew my name. He knew you. I shook his hand. He introduced himself as Renji Abarai," a faint smile played at Ichigo's lips, his gaze simple and forward.
"Hold on, there! …You're telling me you saw Renji's ghost like half a year ago?"
"Obviously I didn't. You and me both know that he's very much alive."
"And kicking."
"Yup," Ichigo sighs.
"Is that why you've been spending so much time with him?"
Ichigo's gaze jumped to Byakuya. "What?"
"Ichigo?" Byakuya looks down. "Do you… like Renji?"
"What the fuck are you getting at?" His voice is agitated.
"Just never mind."
8. NOISE
A choke caught in Rukia's throat. She struggled to push it out. Just get it all out. She breathed heavily in the face of the grubby toilet. Mucus ran down her nose and she sniffed forcefully. A waft of odor hit her. "Fuck," she cried. "Doesn't anyone clean this fucking toilet?! God!"
Renji looked at the encrusted ring of substances in the bowl. It was like the color of Ichigo's hair. "No. No one cleans the toilet," he said, holding Rukia's hair behind her head. The mucus dripped between her lips and her cheeks popped out. Her eyes bugged and she dipped her head back into the toilet. Her body racked against her pumping stomach. Renji glanced in the toilet bowl. "Doesn't look like you've been eating," he said, noticing that she was only vomiting mucus.
"Well, la-de-fucking-dah. Look at that, eh?" she whined miserably. Her eyes were red and leaking, along with her nose and mouth; drool gathered at the corners. She breathed through her lips, strings of spit sticking between her teeth.
"Why aren't you eating?"
"Can't fucking afford to eat," her voice was thick and angry. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and Renji flushed the toilet.
"You're going to starve to death. You should eat."
"Are an idiot? I just fucking- fuck you!"
Renji scooped her up from her armpits and escorted her out of the bathroom. Ribs popped out of her waxy skin. She looked like a walking skeleton.
"Stop forcing yourself to throw up," he said. Rukia sat on a stool in the kitchen. He dug into his pocket and produced a pack of cigarettes. He pressed one between his lips and placed the other between Rukia's. She stared lazily at him. "Smoking well make you skinny too," he said lighting his cigarette. Tendrils of smoke curled out of his mouth and floated above him. "So," he offered his lighter to Rukia, "This way you can eat at the same time."
She took the lighter and struck it, letting her cigarette hover above it. "And this way," Renji continued, "I'll be able to smoke in the apartment."
9. TORCH RED
"You shouldn't smoke so much," Ichigo said, breaking the silence. Renji looked up from the sidewalk. He pulled the cigarette from his mouth and breathed out the smoke before taking another drag. "Seriously, How many packs do you smoke a day?"
"Two." Renji spit out the butt and lit another cigarette. Ichigo snatched the pack of Marlboro Reds.
"Not around me, 'kay?"
Renji rolled the lit cigarette between his fingers, staring at it thoughtfully. He ran his tongue over his bottom lip and bit into it. He wanted the cigarette, but he'd already thrown it under his shoe. "Fine," he said and they continued walking. Renji shoved his hands into his pockets.
"…Don't even get angry," Ichigo sighed.
"Not angry."
"Good."
"…You hate it that much?"
"Yeah, I do." Ichigo looked into Renji's blood colored eyes. "I hate how you smell like them all the time." Renji lifted his brows and looked forward, almost smiling. "And it tastes really gross when you kiss me."
Renji frowned, "If you hate it that much, then… I quit. I won't smoke anymore, but," Ichigo held his breath, "now my excuse to visit you at work is gone; since I won't be buying cigarettes."
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