Chap 10: Tallies and murder

A/N: Sorry this took so long! My computer crashed. Here's an extra-long chappy for you all!

Renji slipped down the hospital hall, trying not to be seen. It had taken him a long time to get back to from the mansion, having to #1- find his way back #2- look for something to tie his hair up with. Otherwise he would have been bombarded by desperate girls all the way back. He managed to stumble into Rukia who gave him a bright pink ribbon he could use. Not the most manly thing, but at least it kept the girls away.

By the time Renji reached the hospital, it was long past the time visitors were allowed in, so Renji was trying to get in without being noticed. The fact that he had a bandage wrapped around his head helped, but then again, the neon pink strip keeping his hair up didn't exactly avoid unwanted attention. He knew he could have come back tomorrow but he figured that the wrath of Unohana was far better than the wrath of Byakuya.

The redhead ducked around a corner to avoid a group 4th squad volunteers, pressing himself to the wall so they wouldn't notice him when they passed.

"Abarai-san?" Renji sighed. So much for stealth. He turned his head to see who had caught him.

"Oh. Hello Kotetsu-san." He said regretfully. There was no way he could lie his way out of this with Isane. She was eccentric but sharp.

"What are you doing here at this time of night Abarai-san? And what's with that weird headband?" Her eyes narrowed in suspicion, "You're not doing anything strange are you?" Renji waved his hands frantically.

"No! Kuchiki-taicho asked me to run an errand for him and I was a bit late getting back." He grinned sheepishly. The flower was tucked into a pocket on the inside of his uniform so there was no need to explain that. Isane's eyes regained their regular shape but still wore a worried expression.

"You can't be in here right now Abarai-san. The visiting hours are over. I don't want you to get in trouble."

"Please Kotetsu-san." Renji pleaded, the desperation obvious in his voice. "I really need to get to him." Isane cocked her head questioningly.

"That's rather strange Abarai-san. You usually do whatever it takes to avoid your taicho. Even if you are running an errand for him. Why the change of heart?"

Renji flinched at the last note. That was just it wasn't it? A change of heart. Nothing weird about that. He was young. He was prone to them. Taking a deep, mental breath, he

thought about how to reply.

"Well, it's just that he took that hollow for me. I'm really grateful. I don't want to appear otherwise y'know?" Isane seemed to take in what he said for a second before nodding and smiling.

"I understand." She said simply. Renji was getting impatient. Time was ticking and the later he was, the worse the consequences would be.

"Kotetsu-san, is there absolutely no way I can get in to see him?" He said it a bit more abruptly than he intended and Isane jumped a bit. She looked to the ground as if she was debating something in her head.

"Okay, I can get you in but you have to just go along with me alright?" She half-whispered, still looking at the floor. Renji nodded enthusiastically and before he knew what was happening, Isane raised the clipboard that she had been holding in her arms and brought it down on his head with unexpected force backed by kido, sending Renji sprawling across the hospital floor. Again.

"Oh no! Abarai-san! Are you alright?" Isane shouted so that anyone nearby could hear. Renji's head was swimming and hung limp as she grabbed his arm and started dragging him down the hall. "Hold on! I'll get you to a bed!" She quickly dragged him through the remaining halls to Byakuya's room, 4th squad members parting the way for them.

Isane opened the door to the hospital room and dragged Renji in, dropping him on the floor, then hurried out. The redhead was face-down on the floor but he could feel Byakuya's cold gaze, causing hairs to stand up on the back of his neck. Renji sat up quickly and bowed, keeping his eyes locked on the floor.

"Sorry I'm late Taicho! I got, uh…lost."

No answer. The only sound was the sound of a pen scratching on paper. He sensed his Taicho's eyes were no longer on him, so he cautiously glanced up.

Byakuya was sitting up in his bed, leaning on the pillows that he had propped up against the wall. He had a pad of paper in his lap and was writing something on it, giving no further acknowledgement to Renji. The redhead's eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. He didn't like being ignored.

"What are you writing?" Byakuya's hand froze for a second before placing the pen down on the pad.

"It is rude to question someone's personal matters Abarai." He said emotionlessly.

"So it's personal?" The corners of Byakuya's lips twitched down to a frown.

"No."

"So I'm just not allowed to see it?" Renji pressed. This was getting the better of his curiosity, which got the better of his judgement.

Byakuya smirked. It was so light that you wouldn't have noticed it if you hadn't been looking closely but it was enough to startle Renji into silence.

"I suppose you can see it as it concerns you." The dark haired man delicately picked up the pad of paper, the pen rolling into his lap, and turned it to face Renji. On it was three perfectly drawn, straight lines. Renji wrinkled his nose.

"Lines? What's that got to do with me?"

"It's a tally of how many times you've fallen on your face today Abarai. Pitiful." He tsk'd, his gaze slightly warmer than before.

Renji's expression changed into a mix of shock, anger, bewilderment and embarrassment, then hardened into a light glare as he pouted angrily and snorted.

"You look like a child Abarai." Byakuya said placing the notepad and pen on the bedside table.

"Why'd you keep tally of that? Just to bug me with it?"

"I kept tally in case you suddenly had brain damage and I would have stats to present to Unohana-taicho as of why." Byakuya seemed hardly cold at all right now and Renji couldn't help but break out into a smile. Suddenly Byakuya's expression faded to nothing once again as he gazed at the smiling redhead on the floor.

"What is so pleasing to you Abarai?" Regardless of Byakuya's change of demeanour, Renji's smile didn't fade at all.

"I dunno," he said, "You've never been this friendly with anyone before that I've seen. Certainly not with me." That obviously confused the regal man but the redhead didn't really care.

"Something that simple is what is making you happy? You seem very easily pleased."

"It means you're beginning to consider more equal to you than before." Byakuya's eyes narrowed.

"You are jumping to conclusions Abarai. I suggest you deflate your ego before it gets you in trouble. I will never consider you equal with me." Renji flinched and his smile faded. He stood up, walked over to the bed, and peered over his taicho, hands in pockets. His smile had disappeared and a familiar anger was festering inside of him.

"Then why did you save me?" Renji knew he shouldn't be talking to Byakuya like this. And soon it would blow up in his face. But this was one of the things he hated about Byakuya and someone needed to tell it to his face.

'I hope they give me honourable mention at my funeral.'

"I told you before Abarai. It was…"

"That's a lie! If I was scum to you, you never would have sent me away to protect me! Or taken that hollow for me! And what about everyone else?! How can they all be scum to you?! What makes you any better than them?! Your name?! Names are just words on a piece of paper! GET OFF YOUR FUCKING HIGH HORSE!!"

That was it. He had done it. Not only had he cut off Byakuya, but them shouted at and insulted him. He was going to die.

Byakuya's eyes widened, in shock or anger Renji couldn't tell, and so did Renji's as he realized what he had just said.

Renji felt a cold air restricting his lungs and he froze. Suddenly the weed that Renji had retrieved for his taicho only hours before, hoping to make him happy, was in Byakuya's hand. He gazed coldly down at it.

"You are quite the weed Abarai Renji. Crawling in off the streets to grow with the flowers, without realizing that eventually…" His eyes narrowed again. "you will get your own dose of pesticide."

Renji knew that he was already in deep and the last thing he should do is say anything more, but what he knew and what he did were two different things as that last comment outraged him.

"You think I haven't had more than my fair share of 'pesticide'? I've worked hard for what I have now. Far harder than you have." Renji was hissing out his words through clenched teeth. He had never been this angry before. He twisted out of the grip Byakuya's power had over him and lifted Byakuya up by his collar, bringing him up to his eye level so he could see the fire burning in his eyes. Byakuya tried to overpower him but he was weak from the hollow. Renji gathered his all his power and sent it crashing down on Byakuya. He watched in devilish satisfaction as Byakuya's eyes snapped open in pain.

Renji didn't feel like himself anymore. He felt like he was hovering above as he watched himself causing his Taicho pain. No. Not just pain. He was killing him.

He barely heard the door slam open as Unohana, Isane, Jushiro and Shuuhei burst in. Renji couldn't identify their yells as he fought to regain control of his body.

"STOP!!"

As soon as he screamed that in his head, his hands released Byakuya's collar and the regal man fell onto the floor. Renji had just enough time to stagger back a step before his arms were grabbed and a sword was pressed to his neck.

Shuuhei appeared in his line of vision, worry and anger coursing in waves over his face.

'what's the matter with you?!' he saw Shuuhei's mouth form before his brain shut down and he faded into blackness.

A/N: Huh. What to say. Bet you weren't expecting that. From funny to sweet to insane…huh… Please review! I know you'll have a lot to say about the change of direction.