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: Finally got an idea for Shuhei, so he will be in this chapter.
Today Renji was standing outside the squad five offices. "It's just Momo, this shouldn't be too bad. But why do I get the feeling this is going to turn into a disaster/" Renji said to himself as he went into the building. "Hey Momo, I have to challenge you to something." Momo said cheerfully, "Oh hi Renji, what do you need to challenge me to?" This is before Aizen's betrayal, so she hasn't snapped yet. Renji sighed, "I'm kinda getting tired of explaining this, but you're supposed to choose what we're going to do." Momo brightened, "This will be a perfect excuse to show captain Aizen my tea making skills! We're going to make tea for our captains! Whoever makes better tea wins!"
Renji and Momo were both standing in front of kettles with jugs of water, an assortment of tea leaves, and a basic tea set with a pot, two cups, and a platter to hold them. In addition to this, Renji, Momo, Byakuya, and Aizen were all wearing kimonos. Byakuya was wearing a white kimono with a sakura blossom pattern. Renji was wearing a sky blue kimono with a white water lily pattern. Momo was wearing a deep purple kimono with a white dove pattern. Aizen was wearing a white kimono with black trim. Gin had shown up to watch the contest, but I'm not really sure if I should tell you what he was wearing.
"Why do we have to wear these stupid kimonos?" Renji asked, "Aren't these girls clothes?" Byakuya wanted to scream, but instead he calmly explained, "These clothes are part of an ancient Soul Society tea ceremony. If you do not wear them, then you will be disqualified." Renji didn't understand tea ceremonies. Renji whispered to Byakuya, "I feel like Gin wouldn't be here if we weren't wearing these." Byakuya told Renji, "Just ignore him and make the tea." "It's kinda hard to ignore him. Have you seen what he's wearing?" Renji asked quietly, "I think it's looking at me."
At that point, a loud whistling sound came from the other side of the room where Momo was making her tea. She had just finished mixing the leaves and had already placed her pot on the kettle, where the water was starting to boil. Renji hadn't even started yet. He began frantically mixing the leaves into the water. He had no idea what he was doing, but he had seen other people make tea before, so he had a rough idea of how it was supposed to go. With Renji's haste, they both finished at the same time.
Momo served her tea to Aizen. Aizen picked up the cup and took a sip almost immediately. Then he smiled at her and said, "This is very good, Momo. I can't believe you went through all that trouble just for me." Momo blushed, "Oh, Captain Aizen."
Renji served the tea he made to Byakuya. Byakuya looked at it. It was a very strange shade of brown, but it didn't smell bad. He hesitated, then took a sip. After that, he just stared at the cup. Renji panicked, "Oh crap, is it really that bad?" Byakuya didn't believe it. The tea Renji made actually tasted okay. Byakuya told him, "No, it's good."
Renji wasn't in the clear yet. Next the captains had to taste the tea that the other lieutenants made. So Byakuya was tasting Momo's tea and Aizen was tasting Renji's tea. Both captains were agreed that Renji's tea was good, but Momo's was still better. Even Gin agreed to this after they negotiated that he could try the tea if he changed into some decent clothes. "Aw man," Renji sighed, "And just when I finally thought I caught a break." "Don't be so glum," Gin told him from the sidelines, "You're going to be challenging the lieutenant of squad six next. That guy's a real loser." "Really? You think I can beat him!" Renji asked excitedly. Gin didn't respond.
After going back to the squad six lieutenant office, only to realize it was his own office, Renji went to find Shuhei. "Oi! Shuhei," Renji shouted. "Over here!" Shuhei shouted back. "Hey, Shuhei, I need to challenge you to something," Renji told him. "Oh really? I heard about that from Kira. I challenge you to guess the author's sex," Shuhei said confidently, "Go ahead, take a guess."
Renji stared at Shuhei blankly. Shuhei looked at Renji and said, "Come on, it's a no brainer." Renji laughed, "Oh right, it's obvious the author is a ****, right?" Shuhei stared at him, "Dead wrong." Renji was disappointed, "Aw come on!" Shuhei said sympathetically, "Well, I guess it really isn't that obvious." "Hey, how did you know what sex the author is?" Renji asked. "Kira told me," Shuhei answered. "How does Kira know?" Renji asked. "I think he heard it from Gin," Shuhei answered, "and you don't want to know how Gin found out." "Right," Renji answered, "Well, I gotta go find lieutenant Ise. See ya."
A/N: I don't really know how tea ceremonies are supposed to work, so sorry if that was way off. Next chapter is going to be Nanao and Iba.