Boys in Blue

Pairing: Byakuya x Renji OR Renji x Byakuya

Warning: None (subtle feelings in this one) Rating: T

A/N: I wrote a book! It's a supernatural romance. If you're interested check out my profile for a description and my Amazon link.

"Chief, don't do this," Renji begged.

"I don't care about you saving face in front of your men," Byakuya said. "I'm not going to make decisions based on your pride."

"That's not it at all," Renji insisted. "If I'm right, then there are people even here, fellow officers, working for these guys. My men know that. If you shut down the investigation the whole thing will stink. It will look like you're purposely looking the other way, or worse, are a part of it."

Byakuya scowled at the idea that someone would even dare consider him a crooked cop.

"I'm just asking for a little more time. I don't need additional resources, just let me keep my team a little longer," Renji said.

"I admire your passion."

"You're about to add in a 'but' there," Renji complained.

"One week," Byakuya decided.

Renji sighed with relief. "Thank you so much, Sir."

It was less than a week later when the alarms started going off. Byakuya was semi-isolated in his big office at the very end of a long wide hall full of cubicles, but he could have sworn he heard gunshots. Then the intercom went on, calling out codes, and Byakuya knew he had been right.

He hadn't run, that would be unseemly, but he had hurried to the scene. Still, he almost tripped over his own feet when he saw Renji lying in an ever increasing pool of blood. His comrades were already trying to staunch the bleeding and were ordering an ambulance.

He's not breathing, Byakuya thought, his own breathing becoming erratic.

He wanted to kneel down next to Renji, but he'd just be in the way at this point. Instead he starting trying to figure what the hell was going on. The fact that he didn't see anyone in cuffs or being detained already was raising his ire. It was terrible for Renji to get shot, and in the police station right next to his own desk; it was even worse if the people responsible had gotten away despite the massive police presence.

Byakuya clenched his hands in rage even as he forced his breathing to even out. He gave terse orders, occasionally looking over at Renji with a troubled frown.

It was a while until he made it to the hospital. He hated hospitals and always felt useless in them. They were full of people who needed help that he couldn't provide. I can find and capture who did this though, he promised Renji in his mind.

Renji was out of surgery, but wasn't awake yet. He was told that Renji wasn't in a coma he just was recovering very slowly from his general anesthesia. They weren't sure how long he didn't have oxygen and weren't sure about how much brain function could be damaged.

When Byakuya walked down the hall to Renji's private hospital room he was upset that for some reason the set of guards he had ordered to be at Renji's side at all times wasn't there.

I won't forgive that, Byakuya thought, whoever those two are better like being desk jockies from here on out.

Byakuya stepped into the room and forced himself to look at Renji. He was covered in pads and gauze, oxygen going into his nose and an IV slowly dripping something into his arm. The machine reading his heart rate made gentle rhythmic beeping noises.

I wanted you to stop because I thought you weren't on the right track. If I had thought it was dangerous, I would have…Byakuya paused, wondering if Renji had been keeping things from him. If he did know that it was escalating, would he have not reported it, afraid that I would take the case away from him? the police chief wondered.

Even now, Renji wasn't completely still. Although he wasn't awake, he'd twitch and move almost violently, as if trying to shake off something. Perhaps he's fighting off his attackers in his mind, Byakuya thought.

When he heard the steps from down the hall, loud against the soft noise of Renji's breathing, Byakuya dodged behind a privacy curtain. He wasn't sure what impulse led him there, but he accepted it. There was a small cabinet against the wall and he sat on it, pulling up his feet so that no part of him was in view.

He could still see Renji's face and upper body through a separation in the curtain.

The nurse came in and looked at his vitals.

It was the fact that she looked over her shoulder before reaching into her pocket that somehow sent warning bells off in Byakuya's mind.

By the time the woman had pulled out a syringe, Byakuya was on his feet again, visible now and with his gun trained on her.

"Put that down," he ordered her.

She froze, and for a moment, Byakuya wondered what in the world he had just done…but then she tried to bolt out the door.

The gun shot echoed in the quiet room, and Byakuya once again was surrounded by alarms and code calls. There was another body bleeding on the ground, but this time Byakuya felt no fear or pain, just anger.

He almost wished he was a worse shot and hadn't just taken out her knee.

There was still a sliver of doubt in his mind, until a doctor confirmed that whatever substance she was about to inject Renji with wasn't something that came from the hospital. The nurse, unwisely, admitted that it was a poison cocktail. Byakuya wondered if that would be admissible as a confession in court, or if her lawyers would claim that she was delirious with pain. Regardless, they'd test the syringe and find out what deadly substance was in it, which would stand as evidence of her crime even if she recanted.

Somehow, remarkably, it was quiet again.

Byakuya stood next to Renji, and reached out for his hand. The second he touched Renji, the tall red haired man's eyes bolted open.

"Calm down, we're in a hospital," Byakuya assured him.

"You're ok?" Renji asked, grabbing Byakuya's hand with both of his.

"Me? I'm fine," Byakuya said.

"It was you that they were after," Renji told him. "That's what I was so stupid and just leapt at him. I'm sorry I'm such an idiot."

"You…"

He did this for me?

"I'm ok, and you're ok," Byakuya said, clasping his free hand onto Renji's.

Please don't leave me Renji; you're the only one I can trust, Byakuya thought. Even if you get it wrong once, even if you get it wrong a thousand times, I'd still rather have you at my back than anyone else in the world.

"We'll get those bastards," Byakuya promised.

Together.

"Yeah we will," Renji agreed.