A/N: after re-reading some of the manga...thought i'd do this really short drabble...
Title: Equal Ties
Pairings/Characters: ByakuyaxRenji (kind of)
Rating: PG
Genre: Dark-ish
Disclaimer: Don't own Bleach
Words: 298
Number: #2
He fights the darkness, hand trying to reach up into the unknown. His fingers reach something, light and silky. Clean, straight, and firm. Pain wracks his body, grabbing his lungs and squeezing them until his breath comes out in nerve-wracking gasps and choked noises.
His body is pained, the blood still refusing to stop, he knows it and accepts it like a sin.
Memories flash in his mind. But he shoves them aside and clears his mind of everything.
He waits for death to claim him. Waits for justice and damnation. He wishes to atone what he could not correct and what he could not carry on. The pain eases, perhaps part of his mind, a figment of his imagination that warps his five main senses.
And then he feels something grab him, gently taking his hand and intertwining their own with his. The spasms subside and just when he thought death won him, a holy light illuminates his vision.
Opening his purple eyes weakly he stares up at the ceiling, feverishly he tries to think, tries to make sense. Tries to piece it all together.
His face grows hot, but his body feels like ice. He lets out a faint moan and flinches at the adding of something on his forehead. Water dribbles down the sides of his face and down to his nose.
He swallows painfully, like sand grains instead of saliva and lifts his gaze. Relaxing instantly.
Greeting not the grim reaper, but his vice captain.
Clasping his hand, smiling wearily and uttering,
"Ohaiyo Kuchiki-Taichou"
With eyes of the forgiving, never asking why, how, or when.
Nor the position that either is in.