Requested by The Crazy Chick In Black- thank you
Renji x Rukia
Eventually
He had spent too long lagging behind her, too long feeling like the stray who still had not caught up, who still was not good enough for her, for the beautiful daughter of the Kuchiki house. He had been left out in the cold, left out to fend for himself and fight for his honour and everything he had reached his needy hands for.
But now she was kissing him, on a flight of stairs in his own division, three up from him so she was tall enough to reach over. Her eyes were closed, but he could only tell because his were open, too much in shock to react. Her brother was through that door just there, and what would he think if he were to walk in? Would she snap to her senses, jump away, realise her mistake?
He wasn't good enough. He wasn't good enough for her.
Why was she doing this?
"Renji?"
He spluttered, he blinked. She had pulled away, and was looking at him.
"You can kiss me back, you know."
And then she was doing it again, once more pressing the impossible against his lips, and her hands- calloused from training, with neat clipped nails- were on his shoulders, fisting into his uniform. He came to his senses, his own hands- far rougher than hers, dry and peeling skin- reaching up to cradle her face with an infinite tenderness that he did not know he possessed.
Right there and then he realised, eventually, that he would never feel good enough for Rukia, but as long as she thought that he did, it didn't matter at all.