Wow, I am so so sorry for how long this chapter took, but every time I sat down to write it my mind just went blank and nothing would come out. It was amazingly difficult to write this chapter, and I think I lost track of the story about halfway through it. But anyway, I know where I am and where I'm headed now, so here's a longer-ish chapter to make up for not posting for a while. I hope it was worth the wait :P
Rukia's eyes opened wide with surprise.
"Renji?" she asked, momentarily unsure. "Is that you?" Renji's lips widened into the fakest smile Karin had ever seen.
"Yo!" he said casually, rubbing the back of his neck like he did when he was nervous or uncomfortable. "Long time no see! How ya' been?" Rukia considered him for a moment, then walked right up to him and pummeled him square in the nose, causing him to fly backwards and land with a sickening crunch on the hard packed snow.
"Long time no see?" she seethed, fuming worse than a lion with a toothache. "Are you kidding me? It's been what, ten years since I last saw you? What's the matter, you couldn't find time in your busy schedule to drop by? Heck, you couldn't even send a damn letter?" She leaned over and yanked Renji up by his collar, shouting into his face at the top of her lungs. "You've got some balls to be showing your face here after all this time. If you think I'm letting you set one foot inside my house you've got another thing…"
"Um, Rukia?" Ichigo cautiously broke into his wife's tirade. "Who is this guy?" Rukia turned away from Renji to glare at her husband.
"My best friend," she answered, tightening her grip on Renji's collar and causing him to turn slightly blue. Ichigo shrugged.
"I figured as much," he said nonchalantly. Hanataro was gaping at the scene, his mouth hanging open like a dead fish. Karin was trying with all her might to stifle her laughter, her hand clamped tightly against her mouth as she struggled vainly to keep her snorts to a minimum. Orihime clung fearfully to Hitsugaya's hand, thoroughly confused by all the yelling. Hitsugaya simply sighed.
"This is so clearly your family," he said to Karin. That did it. Karin's precarious hold on her outburst broke like a dam and torrents of laughter flowed out of her so hard she almost choked.
Renji, who could no longer speak due to lack of oxygen, waved his arms frantically to get the attention of someone who would help him. Unfortunately, no one was willing.
"What?" Rukia spat. "You think someone like you actually deserves air?" She gave his collar a violent shake, his head wobbling wildly as his neck quickly turned to jelly.
"Um, Rukia, maybe you should let him breathe," Ichigo advised, keeping a noticeable distance away from the predator and her pray. Rukia rounded on him.
"Don't you side with this pathetic waste of space!" she barked, shaking the rag doll formerly known as Renji.
"I'm not," Ichigo assured her. "But if you kill him in our front yard, we'll have to deal with the body, and I don't feel like doing the paperwork. If you're going to kill him, do it somewhere else." Rukia seriously considered this, then glanced at Renji who had turned as blue as a smurf and sighed.
"Fine," she said as she grudgingly released him. Renji held his throat as he gulped down enormous quantities of air and Hanataro rushed to his side to ensure that he was actually still alive. Rukia turned to the visiting party and her facial expression did a complete 180 from passionate rage to genuine pleasure as she looked at Karin.
"Yo, Karin, how've you been? I heard your dad hung you out to dry." Karin laughed.
"You have no idea. But it hasn't been so bad recently." She waved a hand at her traveling companions. "Having people to share the road with has really helped keep the boredom away."
"I think I'm supposed to take that as a complement, but I don't," Hitsugaya grumbled. Karin flashed him a bright grin.
"Well, everyone come on inside and you can tell us all about it." Ichigo cast wary glances at Karin's new male companions, as he herded them into the house. "I want to hear why you actually let oyaji get his way." Renji looked fearfully at Rukia, but she simply stuck her nose in the air and marched inside. He took this as as good an invitation to enter as he was going to get, so he followed the others. Ichigo led them down several long hallways lined with fresh shoji and elegantly painted wall scrolls and told them to sit in a decently sized room with a stunning table decorated with mother-of-pearl and gold leaf inlay depicting scenes from the epic tale, Journey to the West.
"Did your brother do the decorating?" Renji asked without thinking. "This is really his taste." He then started as he remembered that he probably shouldn't be speaking to Rukia, but she seemed to have gotten over the worse of her tantrum and settled for a glare as cold as death before responding politely.
"Yeah, he insisted on arranging the house, and since neither Ichigo nor I care that much, we just let him. It was easier than arguing, although personally, I would have liked something smaller. There's too much space in here for just the two of us."
"Then let's make it three…" Ichigo began, but was interrupted by a sharp jab to the gut, courtesy of Rukia.
"Go get tea!" she ordered, and Ichigo caved like wet paper.
"You don't want a baby neesan?" Karin asked, completely accepting the spousal abuse as a normal daily occurrence. Rukia shook her head.
"With that one?" she asked sarcastically, jabbing a thumb at the door Ichigo had just used. "The world has enough freaks as it is without bringing his child into the world. I know better." Karin snickered.
"Am I a freak?" Orihime asked, her eyes round and soft, and the question was so innocent that everyone in the room, including Hitsugaya laughed.
"Only if you want to be," Hitsugaya replied gently, a smile playing at the corner of his lips.
"Yay I'm a freak!" Orihime cheered, throwing her arms in the air in celebration and causing the room the break out in laughter again.
"Oi, Karin, who is this girl?" Rukia asked joyfully. "And, come to think of it, why the heck are you traveling with that lump of coal over there?" Renji did his best to appear as small as possible.
"I'll explain everything when Ichi-nii gets back," Karin assured her. "It's a great story. But really, I had no idea that your childhood friend you told us about was actually this Renji. Although I guess I can totally see him being the wild child you described him as." Renji looked hopeful. Rukia had actually mentioned him! But she continued to purposely ignore him as she engaged only Karin.
"Is he still as crazy now as he was when he was little?" she asked. Karin nodded fervently.
"He's almost as insane as I am!" Rukia laughed.
"Why am I not surprised?" Ichigo returned with tea and Karin launched into her story, starting with the letter her father had sent her, then chronicling her time with Hanataro as they bar hopped their way across the country. When she got to the part about meeting Hitsugaya and asking him to be her fiancé, Ichigo bolted to his feet.
"FIANCE!" he screamed. "Who, him? Says who?" Karin rolled her eyes.
"Relax Ichi-nii, I said temporary. As in, all I'm doing is introducing him to oyaji and then he's going to leave before the wedding. Oyaji sent me out to find one, so if I go home without one this whole thing was a waste of time remember?" Ichigo seemed to have lost his voice. He cast around for something to say, made several incomprehensible sounds, and was ripped off his feet by Rukia, who gave his kimono a violent tug.
"Relax idiot," she demanded. "It's Karin's life, she can do what she wants with it."
"Yeah but marrying some random guy she met in a random restaurant in a random city far from home? I mean who does that?" Rukia gave him a pointed glare.
"You." That shut Ichigo up and he crossed his arms in childish defeat.
"I'm still against it!" he insisted.
"What part of temporary don't you understand?" Karin asked in annoyance. "You're such a little kid Ichi-nii." Rukia laughed. Hitsugaya furtively avoided looking at any of them under the pretense of pouring more tea for Orihime.
Karin continued her story, and told them about meeting Renji at the sake drinking contest, the quest for the dancing rocks, and the exciting battle of the elevens vs. the wonder bubbles. They talked and talked as the sun disappeared and the stars came out. They paused briefly to light candles and eat dinner, and at some point, Orihime fell asleep, her head resting serenely on Hitsugaya's lap. Since she was asleep, Karin felt it was safe to add the tale of Mizuki and how Orihime joined their party.
"You've been through a lot in the last few months," Rukia noted. "It sounds like it was fun though."
"It was!" Karin beamed. "I hate to say it, but I think oyaji may have been right to send me on this ridiculous mission after all. I've had more fun in the last few months than I've had in my whole life." She yawned widely, stretching her face to the maximum. "But now I want to sleep. I'll take Orihime-chan," she told Hitsugaya. "I'm not letting her sleep alone with a lollicon like you." Hitsugaya looked like he wanted to retort, but he settled for a scoff and placed Orihime in Karin's arms.
"I'll show you where your room is Toushiro," Ichigo offered. Hitsugaya raised an eyebrow at this unusual gesture of kindness from a man who he thought hated him for breathing, but didn't say anything. "Hanataro, you remember where you're staying right?"
"Of course Ichigo-dono," Hanataro replied merrily. "Have a pleasant evening." The three groups went their separate ways, leaving Rukia and Renji alone. Renji shifted uncomfortably.
"Um, well, I guess I should find somewhere to sleep too," he said awkwardly, slowly getting to his feet, but Rukia wouldn't hear of it.
"Sit!" she ordered, and Renji complied. There followed a rather tense moment, but Rukia wasn't about to let it loiter.
"I think you have a lot of things you need to tell me," she began in a kinder voice than she had used towards him all evening. "I get it that you showed up here completely by accident, but why? Why did you avoid me all this time? Why didn't you come visit on your own? I know nii-sama gave you that letter, he told me so. What took you so long? And why…why did you leave in the first place? Why did you leave me alone?" She looked into his eyes and Renji was shocked to find that there were tears twinkling in the corners. "Why didn't you take me with you?"
Renji looked away, worried that if he gazed into her eyes any more, he would lose control of himself. He took a deep breath, wanting to ask the question he had been dying to ask ever since he met the angle in the plum tree. But as the opened his mouth to speak, the words that came out were not the ones he was expecting.
"Rukia, you never loved me did you?" As he heard those words linger in the room, echoing loudly off the silent walls, Renji realized that he knew the truth. He had always known the truth. The reason he had left without saying anything, the reason he hadn't had the courage to propose to her face, the reason he had never come to visit after all this time. It was why he kept traveling without settling down, why he sought escape in the arms of countless geisha, why he drowned his sorrows in sake. Why he had learned to fight. Because the truth had been obvious. She didn't love him. She never had. Some part of Renji had always known that, but he had refused to believe it, had locked it away deep in his heart so that he wouldn't have to listen to it, instead finding countless other activities to distract him from facing reality. But now, sitting in that room lit only by the flickering candle light, with Rukia closer than she had been in ages, it had never been more apparent. He couldn't deny it anymore.
Rukia sighed. She gave Renji a glance filled with longing, affection, and apology.
"Renji, I honestly don't know what I would have done without you. You gave my life purpose again. You smiled for me when no one else would and you were there for me when I needed someone the most. But no. I never did love you. I mean come on. Your nose is way too big." Renji almost chuckled.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. You always hated people with big noses. Hey, remember the time we found old man Yamamoto asleep and painted his nose purple with berry juice?" Rukia laughed.
"Nii-sama wouldn't let me out of the house for a week but it was so worth it." She gave Renji an incredibly fond look. "I've missed you you know. You should come visit again." Renji nodded.
"I will."
Don't worry, the conversation between Hitsugaya and Ichigo, as well as Hitsugaya's thoughts on the whole "temporary fiancé" matter will appear in the next chapter. I didn't forget about him, but I thought that since I started this segment with the whole Rukia/Renji thing, I should finish with them before moving on to the HitsuKarin part. It's coming, I promise. I think you'll all really like the next chapter :)