The next day Renji couldn't help but going at the tree again.
When he arrived he saw her sitting there. On the same thick branch they had sat together, Rukia was sleeping peacefully.
Not wanting to disturb her, Renji sat down at its base and made himself comfortable. The weather was nice and soft. It was the middle of the day and the sun was shining brightly. Bugs were buzzing in the grass.
Renji let his eyes pass over his surroundings. Not everything was the same as he remembered. Their old shack was still there but it was a ruin now. The shrubbery around it had grown thicker, obscuring the rest of the forest from sight.
He sighed and looked up towards the other shinigami. He hadn't had the chance to have a good look at her in a while. She looked relaxed now, not her usual frenzied self. Her head was slumping forwards and some black bangs were obscuring her face.
Renji remembered seeing her for the first time after she had went to the real world. They had been strangers to each other back then, even before she was reassigned they had been. The redhead wasn't sure whose fault it had been. Was it Rukia who had started to act distant after she entered the Kuchiki family or him? He did remember thinking he should not interfere, but why had she not sought him out? Even when they had spoken back then she had just acted polite, not at all like the friends they had been.
At some point Renji had tried to distance him mentally from her, he had tried to see her as nothing more than a fellow shinigami. But he had been too involved already. So when he went to the real world to arrest her, he had been pretty annoyed by her. Why did she always have to act like the damn victim?
The way she had stared up to him with those big, pathetic eyes had only made him angrier. She was Kuchiki Rukia, a noble from a great house and now she had screwed it up. Of course he hadn't wanted her to die. He hadn't actually expected them to sentence her to that. But that had been Aizen's work.
Renji sighed again and let his mind go blank. No use in dwelling on the past. He rubbed his face and felt his eyelids grow heavy. The warmth was so pleasant and everything was so quiet.
He fell asleep.
'Oi Renji! What are you doing here?' a voice demanded.
Renji opened his eyes to see Rukia standing there. 'Rukia. I was just thinking about you.' Why was he telling her this?
'Really?' she said sarcastically.
'Yea… I came to here to see you. I knew you'd come.'
The girl narrowed her eyes and shook her head, 'You're so pathetic.'
'Eh? What?'
She started to turn away from him. 'All you can do is follow others; you didn't even try to save me before Ichigo came. Weakling!'
'N-no! Wait! I didn't think it… There was no hope for me to…'
But she was already gone.
Rukia watched Renji trash around below her. She considered waking him up but then he grew calm again. She stretched and leaned back again. What had he been dreaming about? She doubted he'd ever tell her. He was good at hiding his thoughts.
Like when she had been adopted by Byakuya. She still wasn't sure why he had said the things he had back then. Did he really not care about their friendship breaking apart or was he just not showing it?
She knew now it was probably the latter. After all, he had made some considerable efforts to renew their friendship. Fighting against Byakuya had been one of them, though not her most favorite. Having people you care about fight each other was never pleasant.
But today he had come here again and she was happy that he had.
A/N: Yea I made a follow up. Hope it's better then the last chaper. But I really should stop writing in the middle of the night, it doesn't improve my skills (especially not English grammar). So if there are any bad mistakes, please tell me.