Rise of Renji
Renji gets tired of being treated badly, so he challenges the other lieutenants to prove his worth
I don't own Bleach
A/N: I will try to make this chapter easier to understand, there is no actual time during the story when this might happen, so just consider it an AU. Also this is NOT a yaoi fic, but there will be a pairing late in the story.
Renji was still embarrassed that he lost to Omaeda, but he didn't have time to mope about that now. He was standing in the squad three offices. He walked into Kira's office and said confidently, "Lieutenant Kira Izuru, I hereby challenge you to a contest of... uh..."
Kira wasn't there. Instead, Captain Ichimaru was sitting cross legged on top of what should have been Izuru's desk. Gin smiled, which is a given, and told him, "Oh sorry, Kira isn't here at the moment, but I'll happily take a message for you." Renji was a little creeped out, "No thanks, do you know where he is?" Gin did that weird thing where he stares at you with his eyes closed and said, "My little lieutenant stepped out to use the bathroom about three hours ago, so I'm waiting for him to come back. Would you like to wait for him with me? I know a fun game we could play." Renji just went from a little creeped out to scared out of his mind. "No thanks," Renji told him, "I have to be somewhere else." Renji dashed out of the room.
"Yo Kira, You in here?" Renji asked as he walked into one of the many bars of Rukon. "Hey Renji," Kira greeted him after finishing off what looked like his sixth bottle of sake. "Sorry to do this while you're drunk, but I have to challenge you," Renji told him. What are you challenging me to?" Izuru asked. "You're supposed to decide that," Renji replied. "Can it wait until tomorrow?" Kira complained. In his defense, Kira was drunk. Having Gin as your captain is very stressful. "Alright, tomorrow it is," Renji decided.
The next day came. "What do you mean you can't do it today!" Renji yelled. "My captain was sitting on my desk, again, so I went back to the bar, again," Kira explained. Renji was still mad. "He muttered angrily, "Well that's still not an excuse to get hammered on the day of our competition!" Izuru sighed, "You didn't see what he was wearing..." Renji placed a hand on Izuru's shoulder, "Kira, I'm sorry I yelled at you." Izuru brightened, "I have an idea for the challenge, meet me here tomorrow at noon with your captain." "Okay," Renji agreed.
The next day at noon, Byakuya, Gin, Renji, and Kira were all standing outside of the bar in Rukon. Kira started to explain, "This will be a contest to see who can avoid their captain the longest. Each of us will start running, then our captains will start chasing after two minute have passed. The first one to be caught by their captain loses." "Ooh, this sounds fun, I get t chase around my naughty lieutenant," Gin cooed. Kira retched. "This will be a good chance for Renji to practice his stealth," Byakuya said expressionlessly. "Sounds simple enough, let's go!" Renji declared. Both lieutenants flash stepped out of the area.
Gin and Byakuya were left alone together in front of the bar. "Hey, Byakuya, I bet you're going to enjoy chasing around your lieutenant just as much as I'll enjoy chasing mine," Gin inferred. "I do not find any of this amusing," Byakuya told him. "Hey Byakuya, we've still got about a minute and a half left, do you wanna make out?" Gin asked softly. "No," Byakuya replied bluntly. "Why not?" Gin asked, "do you think I'm unattractive?" "Well I would, because I'm strait," Byakuya told him. "Really?" Gin acted surprised, "You don't seem like the type to be strait." Byakuya was getting mad, but of course it didn't show. "I was married to Hisana for several hundred years. I think that's proof enough of my sexuality," Byakuya stated. "Well Byakuya," Gin smirked, which for him is slightly different from smiling, "People change. Are you sure you don't want to go get drunk and do something you'll never forget with me?" Gin asked. Byakuya responded, "Two minutes is up," and flash stepped out of the area. Byakuya was married to a woman. That makes him strait. Why don't people get that?
Renji was hiding in the squad eleven barracks. He used to be in squad eleven himself, and was good friends with Ikakku and Yumichika, so they were letting him hide there. It didn't work out. Byakuya found him in less than 20 seconds. Renji was shocked, "How did you find me so quickly?" Byakuya answered, "You didn't suppress your spiritual pressure, which is the most important part of hiding." At that time, Captain Ichimaru also walked into the room, "Renji, you really are an amateur at this kind of thing, as well as one other kind of thing. It's fairly clear your color is still white, if you know what I mean. Fortunately I can help you with both of these problems." "I don't need your help," Renji said with both horror and confusion, "Also, weren't you supposed to look for Kira?" Gin responded, "You'd think so, but no."
After escaping from Gin, Renji walked into the squad four treatment center. It wasn't really full at the moment, and that was good because he needed to distract their lieutenant from her work. Renji found Isane and told her, "Sorry for interrupting your work, but I need to challenge you." Isane was curious and asked, "What kind of challenge?" Renji explained, "You get to decide what kind of challenge it will be, I'm assuming it will be healing so I don't expect to win." Isane was even more curious, "Well then why are you challenging me?" Renji explained the details, "I need to challenge all of the other lieutenants to a contest of their choosing, and if I can't beat any of them, then I'll be demoted. So I'm challenging each of the lieutenants in numerical order to see if I can win." Isane was shocked, "Does that mean..." "What?" Renji asked. Isane continued, "you lost to Omaeda!" Renji fell over anime style, because that's just what you do in this kind of situation.
Renji got up and told her, "That's not important. He chose hakuda, hand to hand combat, as the duel; anyone but a captain would have lost to him." Isane understood, "Well, I don't want to pick something your terrible at and make you lose, but I can't just give you the win either. I'll have to pick something we're both equally good at." Renji was grateful she was being considerate of him, but he wasn't really sure what she would decide on for the challenge. There wasn't really anything they were equally good at at. Isane's face lit up, "I've got it! We'll play chess!"
There wasn't any official place to hold chess matches in the seireitei, so they put a chess set on one of the tables in the squad four cafeteria. Byakuya was their to observe. "Alright, let's begin!" Isane announced as she moved her white pawn forward. Unfortunately, strategic thinking was not Renji's strong point. The game lasted a while, but in the end, Isane still won.
"Aw man, I lost another challenge," Renji said sadly. "I don't want you to be demoted, but if you're not good at anything, you really don't deserve to be a lieutenant," Isane said in a comforting tone, but her words did not hold the same effect. "Renji, you've already lost four challenges. If you give up now, I might reconsider demoting you," Byakuya told him enticingly. "I want to accept, but I agree with lieutenant Kotetsu. I have to prove I'm worthy of this position," Renji proclaimed. "Good," Byakuya said, "If you had given up, you wouldn't even be a seated officer." Renji smirked, "Then I guess I'll just have to win."
A/N: I'm sorry I didn't have room for Momo in this chapter, the part with Kira and Gin was longer than I expected it to be. But she will definitely be in the next chapter. Along with Shuhei. I actually need an idea for Shuhei, so if you have one, review or pm me.