"Stars, Strays and Anxious Authors "
Pairing: Renji x Hinata
Anime: Bleach and Naruto
Requested By: sKyLaR KnIgHt
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"I can look after myself- achoo!"
Hinata laughed, and her laugh was like liquid silver. "I can see that, Abarai-kun. N-now, please relax and lie back." And she gently pressed her hand against Renji's tattooed chest and pushed him back into the messy lump that was his sheets and ignored the fiery glare he shot her. Her lips curved in an angelic smile, Hinata softly placed a wet and folded flannel over Renji's fever-red forehead and pressed her fingers to the centre, pushing it gently closer. Then she stood and walked to the door, her dress rippling around her long legs, and disappeared into the hallway, with a "I'm going to get some soup," announcing her departure.
Once the Hyuuga had left, Renji let out a low groan and allowed his face to twist in pain. His head pounded like nothing else and his fever ran high. His bare limbs were slick with sweat and he could barely complete a single sentence without exploding into a sneezing fit: achoo, achoo, achoo! Gah, how Renji hated being sick. Not only did it confined him to his quarters where soccer balls and tattoo-artists dare not tread, but it forced him into a helpless situation where he could barely move a meter without his head going crazy throbbing and white flecks dancing across his vision.
The fact that Hyuuga Hinata, an eighteen year old high school graduate and helpful neighbour, was taking care of him didn't help much either.
You see, Renji had certain...feelings for Hinata. Since Rukia started dating Ichigo, Renji had seen no further reason to continue pursing the raven haired beauty and had fallen into a depressed revive. And that was when Hinata swooped in, her silky midnight black pulled back in uneven twintails and her clear lavender eyes sparkling like full moons and her cheeks rosy from her seemingly permanent blush. She was a year older then Renji and Renji had never intended to fall for an 'older woman', but her insane looks and innocent charm made it near impossible not to like the girl.
But...Hinata was so great.
Renji groaned and this time his groan had nothing to do with the annoying pain in his head and he rolled onto his side, his amber eyes far away.
Hinata was so perfect.
She had to have half the male population of Karakura and Konoha chasing after her heel like dogs without even realizing it. And that's what really got Renji. Hinata wasn't even aware of her own good looks. And she was painfully shy. Shielding away from crowded places and hiding away in the secluding, tree-choked areas of the local park. Renji knew this for a fact; she had shown him several of her 'hidey-holes'. She felt inferior to everyone else in society and didn't dare try to make something of herself, even though she could be a star among stars with her writing talent.
And then there was Renji, poor and lonely and street-wise Abarai Renji, with his ga-zillion tattoos and wild crimson hair and icy amber eyes. He was a stray dog. A nobody, trying to make something of himself, trying to climb up and out of rock-bottom via the social latter...
"Here you go, Abarai-kun." Hinata suddenly appeared in the door way and hurried to Renji's side with a cooling bowl of chicken soup held carefully between her petite and pale hands. She sat the bowl on Renji's desk and helped him sit up and placed a pillow on his lap before actually giving it to him. At first, he just stared in horror at the chucks of pale yellow chicken bobbing at the surface, his lips curling in disgust, but the second he caught of Hinata's downcast eyes he wolfed down the stew, and found the poisonous-looking lumps tasted utterly delicious.
"That was grea-achoo!" Renji's hand flew to his mouth just in time to spare Hinata's hands the full blast of the blow, as she had dived in to fetch the bowl off his lap the moment he'd finished licking it spotless. She flinched away and then, strangely, laughed and then left the room, returning a few minutes later with a newly washed flannel.
"Lie back down, Abarai-kun." She commanded and Renji fell back without hesitation. She padded it onto his forehead and then straightened herself and tucked a lock of lavender-smelling hair behind her ear. She smiled. "Have some rest, okay? It'll be good for you." And then she turned to leave, only to gasp in shock and embarrassment as Renji grabbed her hand and forced her to stay.
"Hinata-san," He coughed. "Publish your book."
"E-Eh?" Hinata's cheeks went bright pink and she looked away. Yes, Renji knew. He knew she'd finished a children's book of her own not long ago and that it lay unknown in her storage closet. Begging to be read. Practically crying out for someone to flick through its pages. And Hinata, being her anxious little self, tuned out its pleas and went along with life as though she'd never had an interest in writing in the first place.
"Wh-what are you t-talking-"
"Don't lie to me!" Renji snapped and Hinata's mouth slapped shut. "I know you wrote a damn book, and if you don't pub-achoo!" The veins in Renji's forehead popped. "Damn sneeze! Gah, Hinata-san, publish the damn book! I read it, you know, and I enjoyed it even though its for little kids!" Had he just insulted himself? "Just publish it, alright? It's a great stor-ACHOO!" His head fell back and bashed against the pillow. He groaned quietly and Hinata gasped in fear.
"A-A-A-Abarai-kun?" She stammered.
"P...Publish the...the book..." Renji mumbled. And then he lapsed into sleep and Hinata's face grew sullen.
And quiet suddenly it brightened as she imagined her book, her book, published. Officially. Read my children everywhere. She swallowed and glanced behind her, toward her bedroom. Where her book like sobbing.
Then she turned back to Renji with tears in her eyes and she lightly kissed the top of his head.
"Thanks, Abarai-kun."
!I own neither Bleach nor Naruto!
Ha, this came outta no where. The plot was kind a random, but I like it. And I hope everybody else did, too~
The holidays have ended. And with it my opportunity to spend all day reading/writing fanfiction, with home work and projects and what not...I started Year Eight today. I'm in 8W ^^
Anyway...I hope everyone enjoyed it! Thanks for reading! Please review!
[I also ask anyone with spare time to give Insanity is Sweet a go ^^ BRS-Naruto cross over, with BRS and Hyuuga Hinata as main characters. Gah, I feel so silly, self-advising, but please have a look ^^]
