Argh... so this is kinda short, and not really my best. It's been a somewhat stressful couple months - finishing my thesis, relocating, starting a new job, trying to find furniture (I've managed to get a bed, at least, but I still don't have a sofa) and for some reason my Muse has been throwing a hissy fit since about Christmas and I've been totally incapable of actually getting anything down in writing.
All I can do is offer my humble and abject apologies and hope some of you are still reading this. And say that the Muse is gradually emerging for her self-imposed isolation and has given me a couple good ideas for this story, which hopefully means she'll let me get up and running again!
Honestly. Hormanal Muses are a pain in the arse...
Flash step is wonderful thing, Renji reflects, as the air whistles past his face and the rooves come and go under lightning-fast feet. He is somewhat relieved to be away from the others, away from the heavy atmosphere, away from Orihime's tearful eyes and Rukia's tightly-drawn lips.
He needs this time, this space, to think. He is the leader of this expedition, after all. He is the only one that has faced that thing.
Whatever it takes… that's what Kuchiki-taicho had said.
He had become a shinigami to become stronger. To find the strength to protect Rukia, and others like the kids he had grown up with, kids who never had a chance. When he had been sworn into the Gotei 13 he had vowed to give his life if necessary to protect humans. When he had become Sixth Squad's fukutaicho, he had sworn to protect all those ranked below him.
He has to protect everyone from that thing, whatever it takes – isn't that right?
But that thing isn't just another monster – it's Ichigo, who had broken into Soul Society and turned everything on its head. Who had been near killed trying to protect Rukia – to protect Rukia from Renji. And it had been Ichigo that had shown Renji that the rules, his position, everything he had thought he was fighting for, meant nothing if he let Rukia be executed.
Without Ichigo… Rukia might have been…
Renji's fists clench at his sides.
This time, he can't just charge into battle headfirst. He has to protect Ichigo, too, if he can. If there is a way to bring the kid back, then he'll find it. For Rukia, and for all the humans who had stood by her.
The redhead pulls to a halt, staring down at the traditional-looking building before him.
He needs answers. And this time, he is damn well going to get them.
Outside the shop, a pouting girl huddles by the side of the building while a loud boy with flaming red hair pulls her pigtails.
Up until the point Renji lifts him up by the back of his t-shirt, and Jinta struggles and kicks in mid-air, shouting exaggerated threats at this unseen assailant.
"Is he botherin' you again, Ururu?" Renji winks at the timid girl, who blushes and looks at the floor. "Want me to teach him a lesson?"
"Put me down, you stupid freeloader! I'll… I'll kill you! Let go of me!" Jinta kicks ineffectually at the tattooed chest. "Why the hell are you even here anyway?"
"A…Ano…" Ururu begins, eyes downcast.
"Oi, kid. Aintcha got anythin' better to do than pick on girls?" Renji swings the boy round to stare him down, and Jinta sputters, kicks again, then scowls as he crosses his arms and simply hangs sullenly in mid-air.
"We should get back to work… Tessai-san will be angry…" Ururu manages at last, and Renji rolls his eyes as he deposits the grumpy boy back on the ground.
"You better not try that again! I'll be ready for you next time!" Jinta threatens, grabbing his broom and sweeping furiously in an attempt to hide the angry blush on his face.
"Yeah, yeah, kid. One day," Renji chuckles, and ruffles Ururu's hair as he passes. The girl simply sends him a nervous, but grateful smile as he passes. "Boss in?"
"In the back," Ururu murmurs.
Indeed, no sooner has Renji slid the door aside and stepped onto the tatami, than the behatted owner pops up from behind a desk, fan poised in front of his face.
"Yare yare, if it isn't Freeloader-san! And what can we do for you today? Some food perhaps? Or do you need a clean uniform?"
Renji scowls at the shopkeeper. He had stayed at the Shoten for a month or so, while they'd been looking for Ichigo and trying to keep control of the Hollows that had erupted after Aizen's betrayal. He'd swear Urahara had given him that nickname deliberately, knowing it pissed him off. After so many years fighting for food, stealing what they could get, he had sworn he wouldn't be a burden on anyone again – and the damned getaboushi knew it too.
"I ain't stayin'," he announces, then attempts to fix the man with a stare – quite a job with the blue eyes constantly shadowed by the brim of the ever-present hat.
"Ohhhh?" The fan flicks once, twice. "Then what can we do for you, Abarai-fukutaicho?"
"I'm here for answers. And this time, you ain't getting' out of it."
A laugh and a flutter of the fan, hiding the expression on Urahara's face, as his cheerfully mocking voice rings out. "And what could I, a mere handsome shopkeeper, know about anything that would interest a fukutaicho of the Gotei 13?"
Renji pulls himself to his full height, and puts his most impressive glare on his face. The effect is enough to make most of Sixth Squad tremble, but of course, it merely draws a smirk from Urahara.
"How 'bout you tell me how a dying human kid with his soul chain destroyed managed to become a Shinigami?"
The fan lowers, and Urahara meets his eyes straight on for the first time.
"Oh? And why would you wish to know about that?"
Renji shrugs. "Might be that somethin' didn't go quite accordin' to plan, maybe. Somethin' that might have to do with the kids disappearance, and some weird monster carryin' a zanpakutou…"
He hopes and prays that he's playing this game right. Subtlety is not his strong point. Rukia was better at this shit, but with Orihime so upset… girls needed to stick together, right? And besides, he'd tried to get answers out of Urahara before, and somehow ended up with a months worth of chores to do. The slippery shopkeeper wasn't going to wriggle out of it this time. Not when there were lives on the line.
And then Urahara sighs, and the jovial mask on his face shatters and falls. "You'd best come through to the back, Abarai-san."
Abarai-san – the use of his name alone, instead of some mocking nickname, is enough to tell him this is serious.
Still, Renji keeps a close eye on the shopkeeper's back as he follows him through the Shoten to the small back room. It's not that he doesn't like Urahara, it's just that he cannot, for the life of him, get a read on the damned man. Ex-captain of the Twelfth, and if not as outwardly crazy as Mayuri, at least twice as complex underneath. Mayuri is easy to work out – give him something to dissect, and he's happy. Urahara… Urahara has plans within plans within plans, and worse, has no qualms about using other people to make those plans happen.
Actually, Renji considers, he takes back his earlier thought. He doesn't like the man. Dealing with Urahara tends to leave him with a nasty taste in his mouth. If nothing else, he'd put that… thing into Rukia, that hougyoku, and that had led to this whole mess in the first place. And he'd used her, and Ichigo and the others, in some insane plan to get Aizen to reveal himself – but hadn't really done a damned thing to deal with consequences, not like everyone else.
Urahara was a snake, through and through. And Renji was going to have to be careful, very careful, if he wanted to bait the serpent.
He really, really wishes Rukia were here.
Renji folds his legs awkwardly beneath him as Tessai sets cups and a teapot onto the table, then pours. As the ex-Kido Corps captain begins to leave, Urahara stops him with a wave of his fan.
"Perhaps you had best join us, Tessai-san."
The burly man looks surprised, but gives a small bow a moment later, slipping out and returning with another cup.
The tension around the table is thick and Renji shifts uncomfortably, keeping his eyes on the shadowed face of the man opposite him as Urahara sips at his tea. Racking his brains, he tries to think of a way of asking the man what he needs to know.
To his surprise, Urahara himself breaks the silence.
"So it's finally happened, has it?"
Renji blinks. Processes. Then slams his hands down on the table, manners be damned.
"You knew this would happen?!"
His anger is somewhat deflected by Urahara's laugh, but Renji has to fight down the urge to strangle him. "Knew? Oh, no, Abarai-san… After all, how can anyone know anything for sure?"
The shopkeepers head tilts, and bright blue eyes regard Renji's face. "I merely suspected. Which, in some ways, is a good thing."
The fukutaicho retracts his fists, keeping them clenched by his side, as if afraid they might take on a life of their own. "A good thing? You knew this might happen, and you didn't… you didn't warn us about it, or do anything to stop it? You let Ichigo turn into a fucking monster?!"
Urahara's fan waves in front of his nose. "Oh, no no no, Abarai-san." Once. Twice. Three times – like scolding a naughty child. "I have been doing something about it. I've been working on a little invention… it might not stop that monster, as you so nicely put it, but it might give us a little time."
Renji feels his temper snap, and finally does what he's been wanting to do since he arrived – which is reach across the table, grab Urahara by the collar, and haul him partway across the table, spilling tea as he goes.
"Can we bring him back?" The redhead's voice is a snarl.
Urahara rolls his eyes, then simply reaches up and deftly disengages himself from Renji's grasp.
"I would never say anything for certain," he murmurs, the fan once again flicking in front of his face. "But it may be possible… However, it'll be dangerous."
Of course. Because nothing was ever simple. But after all… he's faced Aizen himself. What could be worse?
Renji settles back into his place, mouth set in a grim line of determination.
"Just tell me what I have to do," he returns, and Urahara's grin widens.
Aye, I know it's kind of short, and I apologise. You'll find out more next chapter, I promise... I'm not 100% hapy with this chapter. I blame Urahara, he's a bugger to get right.
Oh, and for Urahara fans out there, I don't actually dislike him. I just think he can't be trusted - he seems to set a lot of events in motion, but then leave everyone to deal with it themselves, apart from Yammy and Ulquiorra's first appearance. I'm still waiting for him to put in an appearance in the current manga chapters...
As ever, thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed it - reviews will encourage me to write the next chapter quicker (ha ha haaaaa, bribery....)