In other news, anyone watch the Republican debates? Nah, who're we kidding? We escape to this website specifically to distract ourselves from the sad state our nation is in.

Sorry.

"This one's for the lonely child

Brokenhearted, running wild

This was written for the one to blame

One who believes they are the cause of chaos and everything."

Inoue Tani wasn't one to play dirty. She, unlike most girls, liked a good, clean fight: no politics, just head-to-head confrontation. But that Hikari Mari always seemed to evade her. The first day of school, for instance. It was only fair that she gave new girls a warning, and after the way she'd been staring at Yukimura in class, Mari was going to have a hard year ahead if she didn't stop.

She'd waited in the bathroom for her the first day of school. Tennis practice would start without her under the soft thumb of her vice, Chiyo Haya: a bit too nice for Tani, but oh, well. Mari had wondered off in search of a toilet, and Inoue fixed herself up in the closest one down the hall. She applied makeup, fixed her hair, and put on her most intimidating pretty-look.

A few minutes passed.

Then more.

Then ten.

She was losing patience; where was the stupid girl? Probably lost upstairs. Tani twisted her face; the smells riding underneath her lavender perfume was starting to seep into her nostrils: she gave herself another generous spritz and stepped outside. The tennis courts were high in motion today, and despite her foul mood, Tani smiled. She scooted closer to the window. The boys were wonderful. But she counted once...and then again: there were only seven.

Where was Niou?

Probably pulling another prank, Inoue's perfect lip curled up. The trickster.

She forgot about Mari completely, content to just watch them play, and, when they left to change, replay them all in action. Imagining them dressed nicely out of those disgusting, sweaty uniforms. Imagining how wonderful she would look on one of their arms.

Until two figures emerged from underneath. Her face twisted hideous with horror.

It was Niou.

And her.

A vein popped when he guided her to the changing room. And he invited her in. Blood burst out of her eyes, her ears, every pore. Fire burned out with it, and downstairs, the student council wondered if there was another heating issue: why was there suddenly a warm draft coming in from the vent? Inoue Tani was officially pissed off. The nerve of that girl. Acting so innocent, batting ugly and pale green eyes at every boy she took a fancy to.

Her warning was gone, Inoue decided grimly. She closed her eyes and forced herself to calm down. Her face got all blotchy and red when she was angry: it was extremely unattractive.

Inoue Tani didn't do 'unattractive'.

Breathe in, breathe out. In and out. It's okay. It's okay. You're okay.

She took another deep breath and gained her composure. She was meeting a shy boy for his confession (stuttered out entirely, most likely: it would take at least ten minutes for him to spit out more than 'ah') in private today, and it was the least she could do to turn him down looking stunning. The downstairs room was empty all day: it was mostly storage.

A good place to break someone's heart, Tani smiled, fully relaxed from the walk down. She was so busy smoothing back her shiny black hair that she didn't notice the tiny clouds of white her shoes made. She felt her eyelid to smudge her eye shadow when something cut abruptly into her left ankle- and then white: white everywhere.

Inoue Tani fell on her perfect knees, coughing up a cloud (of flour: that stuff was everywhere). Everything was falling apart around her. She was too shocked to do anything except kneel there helplessly.

When she finally looked up to the squeaking of shoes, the boy who was confessing was standing there, a red rose in his hand. She blinked and more white fluttered down.

"Ah-I..." He looked at her, then down at the flower, unsure, before tucking it behind his back. "Ah...ah-in that case, maybe never mind." He scurried off.

Tani's eyes narrowed and she ignored the powder billowing off as she stomped to her feet. Something more than anger sparkled in her eyes. "I will get you, Hikari Mari." She dragged a white wrist across her face and left, leaving prints of blankness wherever she stepped.

It was eerie, really, at first, watching Renji refer to that notebook like a bible. To a stranger, it might've seemed like an obsession, but Mari was beginning to understand. He put everything in that book. It was truth.

He depended on it like she depended on herself. It might not make exact sense to her, but she could respect that. Wanting security. Safety. She'd been searching for it for so long, she'd forgotten what freedom felt like.

Renji and his tutoring really weren't as awful as Mari had originally thought. She was expecting an irritating, annoying boy who pestered her with lessons and niceties and compliments (or sympathies, in the case of German). Instead, she got an OCD, minuscule-detailed hyperthymesiac with an eye problem.

No, just kidding.

There was nothing wrong with his eyes.

Mari wasn't particularly accident-prone. And if one had to name the clumsiest person they knew at Rikkai, Yukimura Seiichi would be one name you would not expect to hear. But one day leaving class, Mari was watching the back of Yukimura's head.

Talking with him was strange; it was just the way she lost her guard and let lost things slip through. There was a reason they were lost, anyway. But Yukimura didn't even pry. He just changed the subject.

It was weird.

That was her thought when her foot caught against a chair with an angry scraping sound, lurching her forward, and spilling her books all across the floor. Yukimura immediately turned and bent to help her. He tilted an ugly German textbook onto her pile.

"Thank you," she repeated from the polite track playing in her head and straightened. Don't let your guard down.

For a moment, he just looked at her with a perplexed expression before a smile swept over his face like a curtain. "No problem. Do you need a hand?"

"Ah, no thank you." She shuffled awkwardly, trying not to look awkward, making herself look so much more awkward. Too much awkward.

"Here," he took half of the books anyway, holding the door open for her.

"Thank you," she repeated. The halls were empty and airy, watery sun pouring in through the windows. Their footsteps filled the quiet stillness.

"How's German going?" he asked as they rounded a corner.

There were three corridors and a set of stairs until I'm free, Mari calculated quickly.

"Well."

"I hope Renji's treating you well?"

"Well."

Silence fell, and Mari couldn't help but turn to peer at Yukimura. He had plastered look of satisfaction on his face, but Mari felt guilty. He hadn't done anything against her. Why did she have to ruin everything?

"Ah, I..."

Yukimura turned to look at her.

"I- How's French?"

For the first time, he smiled.

"Well."

"I don't know. I give up," Mari sighed, putting her chin onto her book. Another set of failed questions added onto her list of utter failures. Renji looked up from his notebook for a moment.

He pondered her before saying, "I've worked out a program for you which might work." Mari started. Then she sat upright and leaned forward.

"Why didn't you tell me this earlier?"

"You wouldn't have accepted it," he responded simply, looking back into his textbook and letting her ponder.

Accepted? She thought slowly about it. Maybe it was true. Quite possibly, if it were only a week earlier, she wouldn't have considered asking for his help.

She wouldn't have wanted rules number one and three to be broken: asking and being noticed. It made her feel stretched thin breaking them...but Renji could help her. This was just German. This was just Renji.

"Okay..." Mari replied slowly. "I-I'd like your help." He nodded easily, though they both knew that that just now really was something special.

These were the first steps.

"Hikari? Out of curiosity, what do you do in your spare time?"

Mari looked up. It was lunch, and no one usually approached her. She was about to reply with something neutral like 'reading, and you?' or something like that, but relaxed when she saw it was just Renji.

"Um...why?"

He did something very strange then: bent down and scooted over to sit at the wall next to her. His perfectly cut trousers reached up to his ankles and the position was so undignified and un-Renji that Mari knew he was really making an effort.

"I'm curious how much free time you have."

Mari felt her face feel warm. What he meant was, 'how long do you usually have to study'? And by 'study', he meant 'slave over German, because you really suck'.

She had better make this good.

"Oh, well, I take care of my cousin after school and make dinner most days because my aunt's usually at work until late."

Renji's face looked unsympathetic.

"He's also a baby," she added, trying to at least get a tiny reaction from him.

No chance.

"My cousin, that is."

Nada.

"I mean, what do you like doing when you have free time?"

That question caught her off guard. Like? Between Nori and cooking, she barely had time squeezing in weekly trips to the hospital to visit, let alone like doing things.

"Well, I usually-" 'hang out' sounded incredibly lame, considering she really didn't have any close friends to talk with, let alone 'hang out'. Taking care of her cousin was out of the question. Mentioning her weekly visits to the hospital was never going to happen.

"I-I like...I like taking long walks, sometimes by myself. Um...on the weekends, I listen to music in my free time and run some...some errands downtown. That's...that's pretty much it, I suppose."

He raised his eyebrows.

"That's it?"

"Well, I write sometimes too," she offered weakly. Oh, I sound like a pathetic loser with no social life.

Instead of saying something else, Renji abruptly stood, gave her a polite nod, and departed to his usual table with the other Regulars. She frowned at the back of his head. He always had the answers but what were his own questions?

The most interesting thing she'd learned about him was his almost-failure at dance- and even that was from Yukimura.

Thanks to Sara Bareilles "Satellite Call" lyrics :)

Reviews to Reviews

Thanks to everyone who reviews- it means a lot to me as an author to know people enjoy what I'm writing, because I have major Writer's Insecurity and sometimes hate or feel supes embarrassed when I write things...like my old stories...yeah, don't read those...

dragonseatingme

GOD I LOVE THIS STORY SO MUCH.
When you posted this chapter a few, MONTHS, ago, I was so excited. And then suddenly you stopped updating, and I felt really bad.
I actually wanted to go and spam your stories with reviews, just so you'd update again, but I didn't. But I'll do it now, if you don't keep updating xD
I love Mari so much. She's complex and you don't get her, and it all so confusing, and she so enigmatic and I NEED TO KNOW HER MORE.
Please please update more often, you have an amazing writing style and you portray all tend characters so well :')
I can't wait for the next chappie. Post it after a few days and not months? :D

You're too sweet. In all honesty, I was seriously considering just stopping the story- I wrote a lot more, reread it, hated it, and deleted it. I'll start better, I promise!

thatgirlingrey

This is awesomeeeee and happy new year to you too :) this is my first time reading a renji fic btw

That's nice to hear :) I guess when I started I had this thing with getting to know Renji- he was so weird it...was interesting.

YunaBrown

I like this one..I like Mari. She's so...so...weird. Hehe

I like to think so too!

puja314

Interesting! I really want to read more! Please update soon!

Here you go! I'm glad you enjoy.

itte'sasprite

You've got me confused, i can't figure out your OC, and that's a good thing! Can't wait for the next update!

Thanks! You know what confused me? Your username :)

ANON

Wow this sounds really interesting so far! Keep up the good work!

Good to hear :) P.S. I love you.