So this is a little idea I've had and will upload it before I start to second guess myself. I sort got into this couple recently and with the premier well old frustration making a comeback I guess.
Well hope you enjoy
- O- O - O -
He was running late, but he honestly didn't care for once… Kira Izura had just shared the latest gossip with him and a large part of him still couldn't begin to believe it. He would never have guessed it to begin with, however the more he thought about it, the more everything from the last months started to make sense. Rukia had become distant after the end of the Winter War, he had believed it was because she had to say goodbye to the strawberry and he gave her space. A few months passed and when he went to look for her, she was never at her barracks and her Captain never stated where she was.
Nonetheless, now it all made sense, Rukia had been with him… training was what Kira said; that it all began because Toshiro Hitsugaya offered to train her. If he looked at it objectively it made sense, he was the only other user of an ice/snow Zanpakuto and could train with her in ways he could not. Renji sighed and turned towards his division, deciding that it may be best to stop avoiding his Captain, yet before he could take another step a familiar weight crashed into him.
The petite black hair Shinigami landed head first into his chest and she skipped to a stop. Renji saw how it took her a minute to process that it was him that she nearly blew by and when she focused her eyes, she gave him a polite smile. "Hi, Renji."
He could feel the smile stretch uncomfortably across his face and he returned the greeting, "Rukia," his eyes drifting to the side not able to keep eye contact with her beautiful violet eyes. "I haven't seen you in a while."
She scratched the back of her neck and shrugged sheepishly, "sorry, Captain Ukitake isn't doing very well."
Renji's mind came to a halt and he had to try his damnedest to not curse at the petite girl. He had been constantly at her division's barracks and she was never around. It was how casual she was with the lie that broke him. "You're not in your squad now," he couldn't stop himself from pointing out.
She smiled softly and he could see her whole expression softened within a few seconds. "I have training."
He couldn't help it and at the direct reminder of his earlier thoughts, his whole façade dropped and his displeasure showed clearly on his face. "With Captain Hitsugaya," he stated, nearly cursing out the said captain's name at the end; just the thought was enough for him to want to summon his Bankai in anger.
Her smile froze and he could tell that she noticed his darkening mood, "yes… I've been training with him for the past few months."
Renji snorted and his scowled deepened, he knows that she isn't telling him the full truth and that angers him more, isn't he supposed to be her friend. He couldn't help himself and just let everything come out, "from what I've heard that has not been the only thing you have been doing with the prodigy." Renji couldn't force himself to refer to the Captain by name and spat out the last word. He saw her smile drop completely, but he didn't care and continued not giving Rukia a chance to respond. "Well, I get it. You don't have to explain, your brother has got to be ecstatic and the nobles as well. Another captain with the Kuchiki name…."
He was cut off and it took him a second to register the sting originating from his cheek. Renji had not expected her to slap him and the sound of it echoed around them and the empty street. He saw the cold fury in her eyes and knew that he had crossed some invisible line. "You don't know him, Renji, and who I court is none of your business."
Renji couldn't stop himself even if he wanted to, he narrowed his eyes and went on, "Momo has told me plenty about him, Rukia."
She snorted, "what does she know of him? Hinamori only knows him as her little brother, not the man he is…"
Renji couldn't listen to her anymore and stopped short, and said the first thing that came to his mind, "you can hardly call him a man Rukia. He's still practically a kid." He looked down at her and crossed his arms, looking at her smugly. She couldn't argue with him about that, thanks to Momo the Captain's age was public knowledge and he knew that he had her there. He didn't know the prodigy well; he could only remember him from a short time in the academy and then years later in the World of the Living.
Renji for many years only knew of the Ice Captain by reputation and what little Momo talked about him. She never could understand how he was able to complete the Academy within a year's time and then Toshiro Hitsugaya in record time became Captain of the 10th Division. Renji couldn't understand it and it frustrated him, there was a brat that entered the academy even later during the year then him and he finished first. It made him wonder if it really matters that he trained so hard every day and yet he knows he may easily never be on the same level as the Ice Captain.
Her eyes narrowed and smugly crossed her arms, "we are closer in age then you may think Renji, were just both frozen waiting for time to affect us. I may one day be 300 years old and I may still look very little different then what I do today."
He gave her a closer look and still could not identify what she was referring to, she looked nearly identical to how she looked when they entered the academy. She took a deep breath and straightened her uniform and took a few steps away from him, though it felt as though she was on the other side of the world.
"I don't expect you to understand Renji, but I hope you can be happy for me," she smiled shyly, an expression she had never shown him before and he could literally feel his heart breaking into tiny little pieces. "I can't exactly explain how I feel when I am with Toshiro… but I can say with certainty that I love him and I want to find out what that is…"
A shiver passed through his being and he saw how her eyes widened and she grew red, she had instantly recognised what was going on. But for Renji, it took him a second to understand the sudden drop of temperature and what accompanied it.
Rukia was frozen in her spot and he could see that she was cursing her existence, it would seem that she hadn't been prepared for the young captain to hear her confession. Renji turned slightly to see the newcomer and he gave the younger shinigami the cold stare, but it seems that it was lost on Hitsugaya and he only had eyes on the petite dark hair reaper.
"Captain…" Renji started not even sure what he was going to say, but he was probably saved from himself as Captain Hitsugaya interrupted him and gave him a valid reason for him to leave, the implied threat was more than clear.
"I believe that Captain Kuchik was searching for you, Abarai," he icely turned his gaze to him and silently dared him to disagree. It was clear that he wished to speak with the younger Kuchik alone and Renji only wondered for a slight second if Rukia desired that, but he saw that while she may be nervous she had yet to run away; which was telling in its own way.
Renji tightly nodded, easily understanding when he wasn't wanted or needed, he took his dismissal, however he did not go far, his curiosity betraying his already damaged heart. It seems that he has to hear it to actually believe the rumor that was obviously true.
He stayed closed and hid his reiatsu to the best of his ability, aware that if either of the two felt him, then it could be debated if he would leave with his life. The scene he saw was worse than any nightmare and the words he heard told him how truly far away she had become from his reach. When it happened he couldn't be exactly sure, but for now he knows that it was never the strawberry that he had actually had to fear.
In the moment that it took him to find a place to eavesdrop, Hitsugaya had closed the distance between them and Rukia wasn't looking down at the floor. The captain's teal eyes were shining and were intently staring into violet eyes with an intensity that Renji himself had not dared.
Rukia it seems was the one who decided to break the silence between the two of them and Renji wondered if either feared of being found out. "How much did you hear?" she asked in a shy voice and lowered her lashes as she looked up at him, and it was with that last glance that Renji understood that the Ice Captain held a part of Rukia that he never had.
"Enough," he said slowly, "though if you could say it again…?"
Renji saw how Rukia gained her confidence and clearly did not care who could possibly hear her. "I love you, Hitsugaya Toshiro." and the emotion and truth in her voice were so raw, Renji could not possibly deny it any longer. He did not stay to hear the Ice Captain's response, he did not have to and perhaps he was avoiding adding more salt to his wound.