Author's Note: I know it's been months since I last updated but life and the job happened. Over the summer I was put on a new route that gave me less time to write and when I got a better route I just couldn't get back into it until last week. So I'm gonna try and get more chapters posted for this story every Monday.
"Juha Bach"
"Shiro"
"Aka"
"Ao"
"P.O.V."
'Thought'
"Attacks"
Shikai/Bankai
Chapter 32: The Star and the Stray Dog
{Opening Theme: "D-tecnoLife" by UVERworld}
The battle between Ichigo and Renji had finally reached it conclusion with Ichigo as the victor, leaving Renji badly injured and frozen in place against a large slab of concrete. Renji struggles as he lifts his head and looks towards see Ichigo walking towards him but his vision was blurry and in place of the walking Ichigo was none other than Rukia. Renji's eyes widen in shock as flashes of Rukia in different outfits appear in his mind as he begins reaching his right arm forward towards her.
'When she left, I was the one who didn't go after her.' Renji thought mentally as he remembered the day, he met Rukia.
[Flashback, 60 Years Ago, 1941]
In Rukongai, a certain district was lively during the day as souls were out and about in the streets.
"Inuzuri (Hanging Dog), the 78th district in South Rukongai. To the North, South, East and West, Rukongai has 80 districts. District One has the highest standard of living. So to be poor kids like us, living in a place like the 78th district…" Renji's over voice says as a young Renji, wearing a sleeveless yukata and pants, and brown haired boy in a striped yukata walk up to a merchant selling jars of water to the residents. "Well, that made us pretty much the lowest of the low." He says as the merchant says good bye to a customer before swing a piece of wood at the two boys.
"Get out of here, you street rats." The merchant threatens.
"Hey. Watch it, you old grouch." Young Renji says as another boy sneaks underneath the table.
"Every day was a challenge. And it wasn't the kind of place where grownups cut you slack, just because you're a kid." Renji says.
"Aah! I said beat it!" The old yells swinging the piece of wood again.
"All right, all right." Young Renji says moving along.
"Come on." The brown haired boy says following after Renji as they meet up with another one of their friends, a short, chubby, black haired boy.
"But we did whatever we had to do…to survive." Renji says.
Young Renji and his friends look back at the merchant's table and see the boy underneath it gives them the thumbs up.
"Okay, let's do it." Young Renji says as he rushes back to the table and grabs a jug of water off of it while his friend crawls out from underneath.
"Hey. I'm going to beat the living daylights out of you!" The old yells angrily as he attempts to attack him but then finds out that his ankle has been tied to one of the table's legs by the boy who was underneath it, causing the old man to lose his balance and falls forward, knocking the table's contents onto the ground and spilling water everywhere. "Ow!" The old man cries in pain.
"Take that, you old goat. Go, grab whatever you can." Young Renji says as his friends each pick up a jar of water and other items as well.
"This is water." The curly haired boy, who tied the old man to the table says.
"This one's candy." The cubby boy says.
"Why you, thieving little bastards." The old man growls starting to get back to his feet.
"All right. Let's get out of here, guys!" Young Renji shouts as they run away while the old man grabs the piece of wood and unties his ankle and chases after them.
"Put that stuff down, you worthless street vermin, or I'm going to pound you all into jelly." The old man says.
"This is bad, Renji. I think he's really pissed off this time." The brown haired boy says.
"Then you better just shut up and keep running." Young Renji says as he and his friends turn down an alleyway.
"Oh, you think you can outrun me, you thieving little punks. Just wait. You've got another thing coming." The old man says still chasing after them.
"Life was hard in that town. And we hated every minute of it." Renji says.
"You maggots are gonna be sorry you messed with me!" The old man yells as Renji grits his teeth before looking forward causing his eyes to widen in shock. "Now I've got you, you little brats!" He yells before a young girl runs past Renji and his friends and slides into the old man's ankle, tripping him up and sending him crashing to the ground.
"Huh?" Renji and the brown haired boy look behind them to see the person who slide into the old man was a young Rukia wearing a purple and light purple petal yukata.
"I'll kill you-" The old man begins to say before Rukia repeatedly stomps on the back of his head to keep him down.
"Now follow me. Hurry!" Young Rukia shouts as she runs past Renji and his friends.
"Hey, wait. Who the hell are you?" Young Renji asks in shock.
"You want to stand around asking questions or do you want to get away?" Young Rukia asks halting her escape to look back at them.
Renji and his friends look back at the old man lying on the ground, and decide to run after Rukia.
"Let's go." Young Renji says.
"Good call." The brown haired boy says following after Renji.
A while later, Renji, his friends, and Rukia were walking along a riverbank with a few tents and boats beside it too.
"It was on those mean streets that I first met Rukia." Renji's over voice says.
Sometime later, the group arrived at a hut with several kids either hanging out outside or playing with tops. Young Renji and his friends head inside the hut with Rukia following.
"Here." Young Renji says handing Rukia a small cloth containing something for her.
"What do you got in the bag?" Young Rukia asks.
"I divided up all the stuff we got." Young Renji explains. "Here. This is your portion." He says pushing the cloth closer to her.
"Thank you." Young Rukia says accepting the cloth and opens it to see what inside and inspect it.
"See, it's rock candy." Young Renji informs her.
"Rock candy?" Young Rukia asks looking at the small candy in between her right pointer finger and thumb.
"You're kidding, right?" Young Renji asks chuckling. "Don't tell me you've never even heard of it. Try it. It's sweet." He tells her, urging Rukia to try it.
"Okay." Young Rukia says with a chuckle about to put the candy in her mouth.
"Give it back." A boy's voice cries.
"Huh?" Young Rukia asks halting her action as she looked to her left to see noticing an older boy holding a younger boy's sack of candies out of reach
"No, it's mine. Give me back my candy." The younger boy demands trying to get it back.
"You want it back? Then take it back, you shrimp." The older boy taunts but the younger boy manages to grab onto the sack, which is ripped open by the boy's weight, sending the candies flying all over the room causing the boy to begin to cry at this. "Oh, great. Now look what you've done. If you'd have let me have it, I might have given you some, you stupid kid." The older boy says in annoyance as the younger boy continues to cry. "Ah, cut out the crying, you little baby. It was just a little candy. It would have been wasted on you, anyway." The older boy says, not noticing Renji about to move towards him but was stopped when Rukia, with a stoic expression on her face, gets up and walks towards him. "You don't have an ounce of Reiryoku. So what good are you? Oh, just shut up already." The older boy says.
"Hey." Young Rukia says grabbing him by the shoulder to get his attention.
"Huh?" The older boy asks looking over his shoulder to see Rukia behind him.
"What kind of a pathetic creep steals from a little kid?" Young Rukia asks with an angry expression on her face.
"Why you. I'll teach you to mind your own business." The older boy angrily dismisses her as he attempts to attack her, but Rukia kicks the back of his legs, causing him to fall on his back, as she pins him down by climbing onto his chest.
"We may not get hungry, but we can all smell, and we can all taste. You got that? We're all the same. And happiness should be shared with every one of us." Young Rukia says as her words caused the other kids watching them to pay attention. "If we hurt each other, than we're no better than those horrible grown ups." She says as the others begin muttering and gasping at her words. "Agreed?" She asks and receives a nod from the older boy she was sitting on before gets off of him and walks over the crying younger boy. "Don't cry, little one. Here, take this." She says soothingly as she hands the boy her own bag of candies.
"Huh? Oh." The boy says, no longer crying as he and the others watch Rukia walk out the hut.
"I knew she wanted it for herself, but she gave it away, just like that. That's the way she was." Renji's over voice says as his younger self runs outside in search of Rukia. "But it's not like she was soft. Rukia was tougher than most men I know. She didn't take any crap from anyone. She even kind of talked like a man." He says as his younger self looks in all directions from Rukia, unaware that she was close by.
"Hey, Renji." Young Rukia calls out.
"Huh?" Young Renji asks turning around to see Rukia was sitting in a tree.
"Watcha doing? Did you come looking for me?" Young Rukia asks.
"Um…no, I-I just-" Young Renji stutters to say while blushing before scoffing and crossing his arms. "Why would I be looking for you?" He asks turning away.
"You're so weird." Young Rukia says giggling.
"How dare you laugh at me." Young Renji says feeling insulted as Rukia continues laughing. "You're the weird one. You got a lot of nerve, you know that? I'm going to be a Shinigami someday…" Young Renji rants as Rukia continues laughing.
"It didn't matter what she was doing. There was something classy about Rukia." Renji's over voice says.
Sometime later, Renji and his friends were run through a crowd of people in the marketplace. As she follows them, Rukia comes to a stop and places a hand over her stomach while panting.
"Rukia, what's the matter?" Young Renji asks.
"Nothing. I'm right behind you." Young Rukia says before continuing to run along and eventually, Renji's friends come across a rickshaw.
"Whoa. Look at that rickshaw." The brown haired boy says coming to a stop in front of it with the curly haired boy and chubby boy joining his side.
"That's the coolest one I've ever seen. It must belong to someone famous." The chubby boy says.
"Check it out, red leather seats." The brown haired boy says looking inside the rickshaw.
"It's so shiny you can see your face in it." The chubby boy says looking at his reflection in the rickshaw.
"Whoa. Look at that." The curly haired boy says looking at his reflection as well.
"Can you believe he's going to become a Shinigami? I remember when he was still just a skinny kid in the neighborhood." A man says to two others.
"Yeah. Now he's the local hero." The second man says.
"I'm going to be a Shinigami, too." The third man says.
"Oh, yeah, sure. You don't have a chance. Shinigamis have to have a ton of Reiryoku." The second man says.
"He's right. The three of us put together don't have enough Reiryoku for that." The firs man says piquing the interest of Rukia and Renji.
"Ah, I can dream, can't I?" The third man asks as the driver of the rickshaw emerges from a nearby building.
"Argh! Get you sticky fingers off that paint job." The driver says scaring off Renji's friends before he moves to the front of the rickshaw.
"Thank you, sir. I'll be on my way now." The Shinigami inside the building says with a bow.
"Hey, look! He's about to come outside." The third man announces.
"We're all rooting for you. You can do it." The second man cheers as the Shinigami emerges from the building and the rest of the citizens begin cheering as well.
The Shinigami begins walking towards the rickshaw and as he passes Rukia, she suddenly collapses to her knees and then to the ground shocking everyone.
"Hey, Rukia, are you okay? What's wrong? What happened to you?" Young Renji asks helping Rukia to her knees,
"What's the matter with your friend?" A voice asks making both Rukia and Renji look up to see the Shinigami standing in front of them. "I imagine you must be weak from hunger, aren't you?" He asks.
"No. Why would you think that?" Young Rukia denies.
"Feeling hunger in this world where no one is supposed to get hungry, I was also confused about it at first, too. But it's a reality that we all have to accept eventually. I think what happened just now is that your body felt my Reiatsu when I passed by you, and it instantly used up all your Reiryoku." The Shinigami theorizes as he opens a small basket containing three onigiri, making the two kids gulp in hunger. "Here, why don't you eat some of these." He says giving the basket to Rukia. "That should help to restore your strength." He says before getting back up and making his way to the rickshaw.
"Oh, thank you." Young Rukia says.
A few days later, Renji, his friends, and Rukia were in an alleyway as they watch Renji attempting to summon his Reiryoku. At first, he was having some difficulty but eventually he was able to channel his Reiryoku into a glowing blue orb above the palm. Renji's friends cheer and congratulate him.
"That's awesome, Renji." The chubby boy says.
"You've going to get to be a Shinigami someday for sure!" The curly haired boy says.
"You're damn right!" Young Renji boasts about his success before a bright light caught their attention as they turned to see Rukia managed to create a blue orb of Reiryoku as well, only hers was bigger and with little difficulty.
"Whoa, yours is even bigger than Renji's." The curly haired boy comments about Rukia's orb.
"Amazing, Rukia." The chubby boy praises while Renji looks away as he crosses his arms in irritation.
"Rukia, you and Renji are both going to become Shinigami, huh?" The brown haired boy asks.
"Nah, I wouldn't worry about that. I'm not going to go anywhere, you guys." Young Rukia says.
"Really?" The curly haired boy asks.
"We're going to keep this gang together forever." Young Rukia says.
"Excellent!" The chubby boy cheers.
"That's fantastic!" The brown haired boy says.
"Right, Renji?" Young Rukia asks.
"Uh, sure. Why not?" Young Renji says rubbing his nose.
"Yay!" The three boys cheer together.
"We're going to be friends forever!" The curly haired boy says.
"Forever!" The brown haired boy and chubby haired boy repeat loudly as they celebrate being together forever as they run off.
"With or without Reiryoku, didn't seem to matter so much back then. At least it didn't to Rukia. We may have lived among the lowest of the low…but she always shined." Renji's over voice says.
Later Rukia was wading in the river as she slow approached something before quickly attempting to grab it.
"Renji, there's one coming your way." Young Rukia says.
"Okay. I got it!" Young Renji shouts as he jabs a spear into the water further along the river, only for the fish he was aiming for to briefly emerge from the water a couple feet away, annoyed by this, Renji begins walking around the water and stabbing into it in an attempt to catch the fish
"Hey, you're just going to scare all the fish away doing that." Young Rukia tells him as Renji loses his footing and falls completely into the river. "Now what are you doing? Trying to make friends with them down there?" She asks in an irritated tone as Renji emerges from the river.
"No, I'm okay." Young Renji says panting heavily moving to the shallower part of the river. "Thanks for asking." He says sarcastically looking towards Rukia to her staring at flowers flowing down the river.
"They're flowers." Young Rukia says picking one up in her hands.
"Flowers?" Young Renji asks but then his attention is caught by the fish near his leg and jabs his spear into the water once more, successfully impaling the fish on it. "Hey, check this one out, you guys. Am I talented or what? If you've got that fire ready, then we'll cook this baby up." He says but notices his friends weren't listening to him, instead; they were staring in awe at Rukia, who continues to hold the flower and smiles as the setting sun shines on her.
Renji was also enraptured by this but shakes his head and walks out of the river.
"Why are you just standing around? Get the fire ready." Young Renji says as he kicks his friends down in annoyance.
"Day after day, night after night, we were always together. And so, though we didn't realize it at the time, we had become a family." Renji's over voice says as his younger self, young Rukia, and their friends were laughing around the fire. "That was what we had to do. It's how we survived. But we knew it was still no king of a life. We were still pathetic people, living pathetic lives in a terrible, ugly place. All the grownups were either thieves or murderers. And all the kids were delinquents. And to get out of that life…well, there was only one way." He says.
[Ten years later, 1951]
"Renji…" An older Rukia, now wearing a violet colored kimono, begins to say. "I think we should become Shinigamis. If we do that, then we can live in the Seireitei." She says to an older Renji, wearing the same style outfit from ten years ago only large to fit his grownup body. "I've had enough. Lived in this ugly place too long." She says looking over a cliff down at Inuzuri.
"Each of us came to this merciless town on their own. Each one of us had struggled alone, until finally we had come together out of necessity. In order to survive…we became a family. But in the end, that cruel place had still proven to be too much for us, too much for any makeshift family of kids. It had been ten years since Rukia had come. And now we looked around and all the rest of our friends…we gone." Renji's over voice says as Rukia and Renji stand in front of the makeshift graves of their departed friends.
"Yes, let's become Shinigamis." Renji says.
Sometime later, Rukia and Renji enroll in the Shin'ō Academy and begin their school life among the arrogant nobles.
"Shortly after the day we made that fateful decision, we both entered the Shin'ō Academy. We quickly learned we were different from the rest of the spoiled brats from noble families." Renji's over voice says.
The classroom was filled with students all wearing the same uniform, similar to the standard Shinigami shihakushō uniform, but with a different color scheme; the women's style consists of a redshitagi(under shirt), a whitekosode(shirt) with red stripes, redhakama(trousers), white socks and sandals. For the male version of the uniform, the red is replaced with blue.There is a circular symbol on both breasts of the outer shirt. This appears to be the emblem of the Academy.
"Yes, yes, I know that one!" Renji, wearing the men's uniform of Shin'ō Academy, shouts standing up in his seat. "Let me give the answer, sir. I know it." He says.
"Glad to hear it. And in the future, if I need a substitute, I'll think of you. But as I am not dead yet, I'll do the explaining in this classroom. And you'll do the listening if you don't mind, young man." The professor says as the other student laugh at Renji's embarrassment as he sits back in his seat.
"What a total loser." A male student mocks.
"You'd think it's his first time in a real classroom." Another male student says.
"Well, honestly, what do you expect? You know where he's from, right? He's just District 78 trash." A third male student says using his middle finger to adjust his glasses.
"All right, quiet down. Let's move on to the next problem now, class." The professor says walking to the blackboard behind him.
Later that day, while all the other students mingle outside, Rukia finds Renji still sitting in the classroom with two books on his section of the elongated desk in front of him.
"Renji." Rukia says getting his attention.
"I- I was just studying. I have lots of extra work because of this, uh, advanced placement class I've been promoted to. So I don't have much time to hang around, like you do. I've got so much work to do." Renji says quickly as he gathers his books.
"About the other students, I know they were making fun of you earlier, but I liked your eagerness." Rukia says.
"Uh, oh?" Renji asks in a little shock at her statement.
"Keep it up! Don't let a bunch of stuffed shirts keep you from being yourself. You got it?" Rukia asks.
"What? What do you mean, be myself?" Renji asks as he watches her walk away.
"You know what I mean, Renji. Most of the other students here come from nobility. They don't understand the kind of existence we had back in Inuzuri, so they'll never accept us. And that's something we can never change." Rukia says with a gloom look on her face.
"That's true." Renji says as Rukia continues walking away.
"So even though we had left the Rukongai behind and made it into the Academy, there was still a huge gap between us…and them. I swore then and there, I would make them eat their words…somehow." Renji's over voice says.
Sometime later, Renji frantically runs through a hallway and weaves around the surprised students.
"Sorry about that!" Renji says to two female students after narrowly avoiding crashing into them and continues running towards the sliding doors to Rukia's room at the end. "Rukia…guess what just happened. I passed the second exam. Isn't that great? Now if I pass the next one, I-" He begins to say before realizing that four strangers in Rukia's room, two of which were Shinigami while the other two were wearing noble robes, one of whom was Byakuya Kuchiki. 'Those are kenseikan. What are nobles doing here?' He wonders.
"Well…it would seem our deliberations have been interrupted." The elderly man says as Byakuya walks away. "Take a few days and consider the situation. We are looking forward to hearing a favorable answer." The man says following after Byakuya with the two Shinigamis following behind.
'This amazing Reiatsu. It's so strong.' Renji thought as Byakuya passes by him. 'I can't even look into his eyes.' He thought as he is left in a stupor even after Byakuya and his entourage left.
"Renji." Rukia calls, snapping him back to reality.
"Oh, uh, Rukia, how are you doing? You had some pretty important looking visitors there, huh? Sorry to interrupt. So, tell me, what was that all about anyway?" Renji asks but Rukia remains silent for a moment, not sure how to answer. "Oh, so it's a secret, huh?" He asks.
"That was the Kuchiki family, Renji. They want to adopt me as their daughter. They said that they're going to let me graduate right away and then, after that, they can make arrangements to put me straight into one of the Gotei 13. Renji…I don't know what to do." Rukia admits as she lets out a small whimper.
"Ah!" Renji says as he suddenly grabs Rukia by the shoulders. "Rukia, what do you mean? Of course, you know what to do. You say yes, Rukia. This is fantastic! Don't you see? You're in. The Kuchikis are a powerful noble family, and now you're going to become one of them." He says laughing. "You're going to live the rest of your life in luxury, Rukia, wearing fine clothes. Hey, I wonder what nobles eat. Man, I'm jealous. And not only that…wow! You're going to get to graduate immediately. This is wonderful news, Rukia." He says laughing while patting her shoulders.
"Oh. You think so?" Rukia asks.
"I'm practically speechless." Renji says still laughing but stops when Rukia removes his left hand from her shoulder and positions it sideways in front of his abdomen with both hands. "Thank you." She says tearfully and runs away from him.
"Rukia had finally found a family…a real family. And I knew I must not interfere. That's what I had to keep telling myself." Renji's over voice says.
[End Flashback]
"But now that I think back…I think I was just scared to lose her…to lose the only family I ever had. Not only that, I didn't want to face the fact that I'm nothing more than a stray dog. And I'm so sick of it." Renji says noticing Ichigo was now standing beside his frozen body within arms. "All I do is bark wildly at the moon. I don't have the guts to actually bite." He says coughing up more blood as he raises his left arm and grabs Ichigo's collar. "All this time I've been blaming you for the fact that Rukia has been imprisoned. I blamed you for the smile you seemed to bring to her face whenever she talked about you. Every time I thought of you it made my blood boil. But I was wrong. It wasn't you. It was me from the start, because I didn't stop Rukia from going to the Kuchikis. I didn't want her to go. But I never imagined that if she did, she'd end up being a condemned criminal. I thought she would find happiness. I really believed that. And hearing about her time in the World of the Living, I believe she true found the happiness I wanted for her, even if it was with you. She said she truly enjoyed every moment she was with you but how could I have ever known it would end up like this? And I wanted so badly to surpass Captain Kuchiki…for taking Rukia from me. From that first day I saw him, I pursued him. I trained with only that thought in mind. But even to this day, not once have I been able to beat him. He's just too strong. As much as I wanted to, I just didn't have the strength to get Rukia back that way. So Ichigo Kurosaki-Shiba…now I'm swallowing my shame, my pride, and my hatred towards nobles. And I'm asking you to save Rukia. Will you promise? I'm begging you. Will you save her?" He asks sobbing.
"Yes." Ichigo simply says.
'Light a fire to the fang that cannot be reached…so that I do not have to see the star…so that I do not slit this throat.' Renji thought.
{Ending Theme: "Hōkiboshi" by Younha}
Author's Note: Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Tune in next Monday for the next chapter.