Title:
Come Alive
Rating: PG
Pairing/Character/s:
Renji+Rukia, IchigoxRukia
Word Count: 690
Warning/s:
Spoilers for the Soul Society Arc
Summary: Renji thinks
that everything should be okay now.
Dedication: Shirong,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! (though I'm technically half an hour late now… )
A/N: Just felt like writing something in honor of our
ex-prez's birthday today. CONGRATS!
Everything's okay now. At least, that's what Renji wants to think. Rukia's fine and the Gotei-13, while fractured in some parts, has also grown stronger in others, if Shuuhei's monumental efforts to keep the ninth division together after the departure of their captain means anything. As for himself, Renji finds that his relationship with his captain is stronger and more mutually understanding than it was before, an easy friendship and respect rather than the previous, grating rivalry.
So Renji wants to think that it's because of things like that that everything's fine in Soul Society again. In fact, he wants to think that it's even better than it used to be, because Rukia's here, and with his own two eyes he saw her shoot down that orange-haired brat and choose to stay here, with her friends and her family instead of going back with him.
And to Renji, that means that everything should be fine. Absolutely perfect.
Except that that runt Yamada is visiting her again and they're talking away, exchanging stories and experiences and reminiscing together… most likely about the very orange-haired super-brat that she'd supposedly rejected in favor of her friends and family, her home.
And really, it shouldn't be a problem, because Renji likes to believe he's practical enough to acknowledge the fact that no matter how much she likes to talk about Kurosaki Ichigo, she's still here in Soul Society with him and not out there with that guy. That's what should matter.
It should be fine, really.
Except that ever since that spiky-headed loud-mouthed idiot left, it seems like part of her went with him.
And it's only when she's talking about that snot-nosed human shinigami-wannabe that her eyes light up like she's really alive again.
And that's all it takes for him to know that even though she chose to stay here, even though she knows she belongs here, she's still hung up on that too-tall, smart-ass, freaky-haired human kid. He knows that even though she's here, all she's really doing is waiting for Kurosaki Ichigo to come back, however long that may take.
And while everything should be fine, is as close to fine as it can be since this whole mess began, Renji can't help but feel like it couldn't be more wrong, because even though Rukia's here with him, she's not really. She's somewhere off in the human world, the place she remembers in her head. She's off in the place that makes her eyes light up like she's genuinely happy again, as if she's somehow found that person she'd once been a long time ago, back when she'd first joined the thirteenth division and met the legendary Shiba Kaien. Only this time, it's even more than that somehow, because this time, Ichigo's proved his strength and that's given her hope that history won't repeat itself, that she can put all of her dreams on this kid and they won't be shattered again.
And Renji thinks that that's what makes him believe that even though everything should be fine, it really isn't. At least, not for him.
Because when the person you love only comes to life at the thought of someone else, it makes everything in a world that might be okay seem horribly wrong somehow.
That in mind, Renji sighs and turns around, forcing himself to get back to work when all he really wants to do is jump between her and Yamada and wave his arms up and down while screaming that he's here with her in this place where she belongs, and that she shouldn't be thinking about anyone else when he's the one that wants to bring those eyes of hers to life and that he's right here to do it.
Except he can't, because he's tried. He has. And it never works, not the way he wants it to.
She never quite comes as fully alive for him as she does at the mere memory of Kurosaki Ichigo.
And he thinks that what he hates most about all of this is that no matter what he does, he's always losing to too-tall, loud-mouthed, spiky-haired idiots.
END