Author's Note: I do so apologize for going on Hiatus for such a long time. I believe when I dropped this story I was working full time on my MBA as well as working two jobs and trying to have a social life. Then I just lost momentum on this story and, honestly, I haven't written much of anything in the past few years. So, I wanted to say a great big Thank You to PhoenixVenom for reading this story and leaving such a wonderful review, that I decided to pick up on it where I left off. Thank you to everyone for reading it, and I hope to start posting regularly again now that I'm back in the swing of things!
When Renji awoke he popped his head out the door and noticed that Takayama and Tetsuya seemed to be waiting for him in Byakuya's quarters. Byakuya, however, wasn't in the room. "Hey," Renji started warily. "What's going on?"
"We figured we should warn you, I have not given the Master his dose of opium today, so he is in a foul mood. Also, Master Ginrei is at breakfast along with Master Byakuya, and they have already had some… words." Takayama was speaking, but Tetsuya looked apprehensive at the older butler's wording. Apparently it had been a bit more of a fight than just words. Well, as much of a verbal fight as Byakuya ever had.
"Thanks for the warning," Renji said as he headed into the bathroom. He couldn't afford to have even a hair out of place if Byakuya was irritated. He'd never hear the end of it.
By the time he'd fixed his appearance to pass muster, Takayama had left, but Tetsuya was still waiting for him in Byakuya's room. "I shall take you to the dining room for breakfast," he said softly with a bow.
"Lead on!" Renji said with a big smile and a casual toss of his head toward the door. He followed the scurrying servant down corridors and through a courtyard before reaching a room that felt like it must have been pretty close to the kitchen. Yep, he was thoroughly lost again.
Tetsuya went down to his knees to open the Shoji door and announce Renji's presence. Renji entered the room with a big, disarming smile on his face and sit at the only place at the table with food at it. Byakuya and Ginrei sat glaring at each other. It looked as if they had just finished a shouting match, but knowing his Captain, Renji was willing to bet money that the volume of the fight hadn't raised a single decibel.
"So…" Renji started as he politely picked up his chopsticks. "How was the women's society meeting last night?" Then he said the traditional "Itadakimasu" and began to eat at a normal shinigami pace. "You got in late last night, Captain."
"It ran long," Byakuya said tersely. His angry eyes never left his grandfather's face. "I have several pictures ready to present to Rukia about the topics of discussion when next she returns."
Okay… that was a dead topic. "How are you feeling?" Renji asked next.
"I am in pain," was the curt reply.
"Then take your pain meds," Renji said. He noticed a bottle of tablets on the table between the two Kuchikis. "Are those them?"
"Yes, they are," Byakuya replied. "I will not have my judgement diminished by drugs…"
"They won't do that, Captain," Renji said quickly when he noticed Ginrei opening his mouth to cut Byakuya off. "They'll take the edge off the pain and make it so you can concentrate on work. You should take them so Captain Unohana doesn't yell at me."
Byakuya shot a sharp glance over at Renji, who had been seated directly next to him at the table. "She would yell at you?" he asked.
"Well, I didn't want to tell you this, sir, but while we were at the Fourth Division and I was filling out your paperwork, Captain Unohana told me that you need your rest. In fact, until you come back in to work I am the acting Captain of our division, and she told me that if I felt you needed an extra day of bed rest I was to order you to stay home for another two days." It was a lie, but Renji put his hand on his hip and flipped his hair over his shoulder with a carefree toss of his head, as if he had all the power in this. "So, she put me in a position where I can say: take your medicine and you can come to work, or don't take it and stay home again. It's your choice."
The shocked look in Byakuya's dark eyes nearly had Renji breaking eye contact. A quick glance at Ginrei showed the old bad-ass was trying not to laugh into his tea. One of them knew for sure that Renji was full of shit. After a moment of tense silence, Byakuya glanced at his grandfather, noticed the laughter, and said, "You put my Fukutaichou up to this insolence, didn't you?"
"Me?" Ginrei asked with false shock in his voice as he set his tea cup back onto the table. "Would I do such a thing to your innocent Vice Captain?"
"Yes," was the simple, angry response.
"Uh… He didn't," Renji said. "I'm just full of sh… I'm full of it." Renji admitted before taking a small bite of food. Too bad Ginrei was there. Too bad Byakuya was in a bad mood. He wanted it all in his belly as fast as possible – that's where it belonged! Pissy Byakuya = lots of scolding.
When Byakuya just glared in that way that made it clear he wasn't going to relent any time soon, Renji sighed and put his chopsticks down. "Fine, how about this: you go to work and I'll take your pills?"
The surprise on both Kuchiki faces was priceless, so Renji continued, "Honestly, if your pain is going to make you this irritable, then you may as well put me out of my misery by letting me get high. One of us shouldn't be miserable, and if you aren't going to do it than I may as well do it for you."
Fortunately, Ginrei managed to hold in his laughter while Byakuya's eye twitched as he thought through Renji's craptacular argument. However, much to Renji and Ginrei's surprise, Byakuya suddenly picked up the bottle of pills and took one with a big gulp of tea. He gently placed his cup back in its place on the table. He shot Renji a look as if to ask, "Are you happy now?"
Renji shot his Captain his biggest, brightest smile ad said, "Thank you!" in much too chipper a voice.
Byakuya stood up and left without saying a word. Ginrei leaned toward Renji and in a conspiratorial whisper said, "If you don't catch up to him quickly, he's going to leave you behind."
Forgetting his manners, Renji downed his breakfast in a record minute and raced after his Captain, using Shunpo to catch up.
xxxXxxXXXxxXxxx
The day had started out rough. Byakuya noticed the odd looks being given to him and his Vice Captain as they approached the Gotei 13, and he realized belatedly that they had never before arrived together. It was made even worse when that blond Vice Captain from Squad Three. He had known for a long time that the two were friends as they often came in to work on Mondays together whilst hung over, but today the blond man was awake and sober and intent upon his course toward Renji. When Renji noticed a pained and irritated expression came over his face.
"Dude, where were you last night?" the blond demanded. "Momo and I waited for a couple hours, but you never showed."
"I'm sorry, Izuru," Renji said, stepping away from Byakuya's side. Byakuya stopped moving when Renji and Kira did, listening in without permission.
If his grandfather knew he was overtly eavesdropping, he would be in so much trouble!
"What kept you? You didn't even send a Hell Butterfly to let us know that you weren't going to show!" Kira demanded.
"Captain was injured in a fight against a couple of Adjuchas and a bunch of Gillians. He kicked ass! But he was hurt, so I went to the hospital and had to get him out in the middle of the night. I had to do his work and mine the other day, but yesterday I…" Renji hesitated before taking a strengthening breath and saying, "I spent the day with him."
Some knowledge that Kira and Renji seemed to share but of which Byakuya had no knowledge passed between the two friends. The surprise radiating from Kira was much more than it should have been, and wide blue eyes turned to Byakuya before quickly turning away. "Did you… stay with him?" he asked. The question seemed to have a deeper meaning than what was on the surface.
Renji turned back and noticed Byakuya waiting, so he said, "I'll tell you more at lunch time. See you later."
"Later," Kira said, his subdued tone thoughtful as he watched Renji and Byakuya continue on their way to their office.
Once there, Byakuya noticed that not everything was in place. It wasn't bad enough to truly be called a mess, but things were not all as they would have been had he come to the office on Saturday as he had desired. Still, Renji had done the important things. Plus… he had returned to the manor in such an exhausted state… A little mess was understandable. Just not desirable.
But after two days of rest, Byakuya found that it was hard to concentrate on his work. He managed to power through a lot of it before lunch, but he found his mind wandering to the Kira boy, or Renji's kiss the previous day, or – worst of all – to his grandfather's accusations that morning.
Really, he already knew that he had been holding a torch for Hisana for far too long. It was unseemly that he still was unattached. They had this argument more often than naught lately, and it was becoming truly bothersome. But, the thing that truly bothered Byakuya and had driven him into outright anger directed at his grandfather was that one flippant statement: "If you cannot see the love shining from directly in front of you, then I truly do despair of you."
What in the Gods' names did that mean?
With a sigh Byakuya tossed his pen down on his desk and pinched the bridge of his nose. The pain in his ribs was back, the pain cutting through the fog of his medication like a knife. He reached for a pill just as a fresh cup of tea was placed on his desk. He looked up to see Renji moving back to the other end of the room with a steaming cup of his own. "Renji…" Byakuya started, a thought occurring to him.
"Yeah, Captain?" Renji asked as he kicked his feet up on his desk. Apparently they were taking a break.
Love… That's what Byakuya wanted to ask about. What had Grandfather meant when he said that thing about love shining directly in front of him? He needed an outsider's perspective – was there a member of his staff who loved him from afar? Renji was good with people and observant of the nuances of human interaction, so surely he would have noticed if one of the servants had a crush on the Captain.
But, Byakuya didn't know Renji well enough on a personal level for that. Even though they had certainly enjoyed their time together the previous day and Byakuya had let down his guard a little, they were now back at work and a certain amount of deportment was required to maintain an acceptable level of professionalism.
Besides, that interaction between Renji and that Kira Fukutaichou was odd. It almost felt as if he was the one they had been talking about; as if there was some secret the two of them knew regarding Byakuya that they didn't want him to know. Regardless, until he was on more solid ground with his Vice Captain, Byakuya didn't want to disturb the calm waters they had managed to attain. Besides, he was in too much pain to hear anything he didn't like at the moment.
"Never mind. I believe that it is time for lunch," Byakuya said instead.
Renji looked at the clock above the door and casually asked, "Are you sure?"
Byakuya's eyes followed Renji's and saw that it was an hour before he normally released Renji for a meal. "You may go and come back at the usual time," he said, feeling generous. And just irritable with the other man and all the questions surrounding him. "Depending on how I feel, I may leave early today."
Renji nodded, but instead of heading directly out the door while using Shunpo like he normally would, he gave Byakuya an uncharacteristic look of concern before he asked, "Are you sure you're going to be okay if I leave you?"
"Certainly," Byakuya said with his usual tone. "Go meet your friend."
With that Renji nodded and headed toward the door. He stopped and turned back toward Byakuya for a moment, but then headed out without another word.
Well… That whole interaction was just… odd.