Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or its characters.
A/n: Sorry for the long delay.
Renji walked out of his taicho's room feeling relieved and glad that he was still alive. Even though it was Shihouin Yoruichi, long time friend of Kuchiki Byakuya, who had assured him that it was true that his taicho wanted a party, but still, it IS the Ice Prince.
But that did not matter now. He had a party to plan. Sitting down in his office, he decided to at least clear two piles of paperwork before he started to plan the party. However, it had not even been half an hour when he felt his taicho's reiatsu leaving the office. Is the taicho leaving early? Renji wondered. He did hope that Byakuya was not unwell.
Worried and concerned, Renji made the mistake of involving Matsumoto into the committee for the party. As expected, the first thing the woman does was to broadcast the fact that the Ice Prince of Sereitei is holding a New Year Party in his own manor. This resulted in Renji being swamped by requests to be included as guests to the party.
Looking at the messy pile of letters on his desk, Renji groaned out loud. After all his taicho was not in the office. Sighing, Renji started to sort through the letters to draw up a guest list. He does not feel that Byakuya would take to it kindly if hordes of shinigami ran through his manor even if he had given permission to hold a party.
Renji quickly decided that he would invite all of the taicho of the other Divisions as well as their fukutaicho. Then he stopped, unable to continue since he did not actually know who and which House that Kuchiki Byakuya socializes with.
Rukia picked that exact moment to waltz in looking very smug. "Does somebody need my help?" she asked in a sing-song voice. Renji looked up….and practically grabbed her, dragging her to where the list he had made lie.
"Rukia, bless you! Who am I suppose to invite to the party? Who does your brother socialize with? Or, more importantly, who shouldn't I invite?" Renji asked frantically all the while pulling on the girl's hand. The bemused girl just went along and waited for her friend to stop his antics.
But before Renji could stop of his own accord, a cold voice cut in. "Abarai-fukutaicho, release my sister now." Startled, Renji dropped the delicate hand that he was holding and whirled around to see the one he thought had left. "Kuchiki-taicho!" he gasped. The cold noble was standing behind him, looking calm and collected to the untrained observers. But Renji knew better than the others that Byakuya was extremely annoyed right now. After years of being fukutaicho to the Ice Prince, Renji was able to read the expressions on the noble's face.
Byakuya do not acknowledge Renji's salutation instead heading towards his office. Rukia looked after her brother and turned to Renji with a smug smile. "Renji, you do realize that you only needed to go in ask him what guests does he want to invite, do you?"
Renji only groaned and put his head on his arms. He had made the taicho angry again! Twice in a same day too. He must be breaking all records. Now his taicho probably thinks that he was someone who was unable to follow protocol. He groaned again. Rukia was right. He needed to go and ask for the noble's opinion on the party. Deciding there is no time like the present, Renji stood and knocked before going into his taicho's office.
Inside, he saw something unfamiliar. Piles upon piles of paperwork were decorating the desk. Renji stared. His taicho was usually so efficient that the paperwork were never more than an inch thick. He was startled out of his thoughts by a frigid voice. "Abarai-fukutaicho, what do you want?"
Rudely reminded of his mission, Renji asked with a slight tremble. "Kuchiki-taicho, I needed your opinion on the New Year Party you will be holding on your manor. I needed to know which guests needed to be invited and which to be avoided." Byakuya replied coldly, "I will provide you with a list who will needed to be avoided. Otherwise, you can make all the decisions."
Renji quickly thank the taicho and went out of the room, relieved to be still in one piece. He began to finally work on his own piles of paperwork. He was soon so deeply engrossed in the reports that he was startled when a messenger tried to hand him a list he had asked for.
"Ah, thank you." With the list of people needed to avoid in his hand, Renji went back to planning the guest list. Before he knew it, it was night and he can go back home. Before the battle, Renji would probably be the first to race home. However, his guilt had prevented him from leaving earlier than his taicho. Now, he found that he enjoyed his work enough to want to finish them before the new pile started.
He finished his paperwork, then brought the guest list home intending to finish it before morning. He worked the whole night, his lone light burning bright in the dark of nighttime Sereitei.
The next day, Renji showed up for work with bloodshot eyes. Everyone sneaked a second glance at him. Renji was extremely annoyed and wished that everyone would stop staring.
However when his taicho did not even look at him, Renji felt a pang in his heart. This had just confirmed what he had suspected since the unfortunate encounter with the ryoka. His trust with his taicho was forever broken and now Byakuya hated him with all his heart. Needless to say, Renji's heart shattered.
It was a very subdue Renji who brought the guest list to Byakuya. "Kuchiki-taicho, this is the list of guests for the party. Please look through it and I will gladly make any changes you required."
"Alright. You may go, Abarai-fukutaicho," replied Byakuya without even glancing upwards from his paperwork. Renji left the office quietly…
