Simplicity (Bleach, Renji/Hinamori, #15)
Title: Simplicity
Author/Artist: lucindathemaid
Pairing: Abarai Renji/Hinamori Momo
Fandom: Bleach
Theme: #15 - perfect blue
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Neither Bleach nor its delightful characters belong to me. They are property of Kubo Tite, among others, and I bear no ownership toward them in any way.
Author's Note: I took a fairly abstract take on the theme; please tell me whether or not you thought it worked out. Also feel free to give constructive criticism as you see fit, though compliments are fine by me as well. ^__^
The relationship between Renji and Rukia had always been simple. Having grown up in the seventy-eighth district of Rukongai, there was never much room in their lives for that which was elaborate or abstract, and so the two, as children, kept every encounter with each other as innocent as they themselves were. Renji had never wanted to be innocent; he’d never wanted a lot of things that had been thrust into his arms, now that he thought about it.
But every time Rukia accidentally fell into his, his denial that he wanted her waned just a little more.
Now, they were both training to be Shinigami, and nothing had been done to progress their friendship from the level of simplicity Renji had assumed to be inherent to it. Something inside of him screamed at him to take matters into his own hands (and as Renji like more than anything to achieve things by himself, he loved that idea), but truth be told, the biting sting of “what if” ate at his insides and made him unable to act.
Said hands clenched, and he grumbled a string of curses as his mind wandered away from the words making their way past his lips.
It was only seconds later that a cracking noise filled the air, and when the smoke cleared, Renji found his face and the ends of his ponytail singed with black.
“That was a good try at that binding spell, Abarai-kun,” said Hinamori, who was seated behind him, as she swung her legs back and forth. “Honest,” she added when he threw a scathing look her way. “You’re getting better.”
“Kidô will be the death of me,” he replied, wringing out his hair as though that would get rid of the char.
“You’ve just got to practice is all.” Renji could hear the smile in her voice, and it unnerved him how the sound reminded him so much of Rukia’s.
Rukia…
“And make sure not to let your attentions wander.”
Renji couldn’t help but grumble at the irony. Hinamori read him just as easily as Rukia did.
“You’re one to talk, with your constant squeals about your beloved ‘Aizen-sama,’” he shot back, and he couldn’t resist turning around to see the telltale blush sweep in waves across her face.
“I… um, I… I’m sure you’ve made a few advancements in your kidô today,” Hinamori said quickly, waving her hands and picking herself up onto her legs. “I’ll help you out again some other time, Abarai-kun.”
Renji opened his mouth to reply, but she was gone, face as red as ever, before he could say a word. He’d wanted to train a bit more on his Demon Arts, with which she’d offered to help him, but if she wanted to obsess over the fifth squad’s captain instead, it was ultimately her loss.
She was a predictable girl, that Hinamori. She was innocent, sweet… simple…
Renji clutched at something in his pocket and willed his thoughts to a halt. The vaguest mention of simplicity brought to mind Rukia, whom now, he needed to fix his attentions to.
This time, he would concentrate on what he wished to accomplish.
Rukia had done a great deal for him, he knew, and there was nothing in the world he could give to her to show how much he wanted to thank her for that. Their relationship had been too simple for thanks, even after so many years of knowing one another. At the very least, he could hand her something, a gift, something simple, just so she could hold onto an item that symbolized the two of them as a whole.
From his pocket, he pulled out the gift, a crimped blue ribbon he was convinced she would like and want to wear. He’d always wanted to see her with her hair tied back, a single black strand slashing across her face, the light shade of the hair tie helping to bring out the color of her eyes.
He was convinced that it would be absolutely perfect, and he, at any cost, would achieve that perfection for her.
Concentration higher now than it had been during training with Hinamori, Renji set out, waiting for the right moment to give it to her.
What he had no way of knowing was that Kuchiki Byakuya was heading toward her too.
-
It was funny how life could sometimes hold something that one wanted just before them, dangling it tantalizingly before their eyes until it was pulled away, just like that.
It was the world’s easiest, simplest way to tempt and torture, to burn and break apart.
Rukia - no; Kuchiki Rukia - had gone from the academy - hell, gone from his life - and while he accepted teasings about his former closeness to her with an indifferent façade, inside, something twisted and screamed in agony and defeat.
She’d been taken away from him, simple as that.
And now that she was gone, there was no need for him to hold onto simplicity any longer.
“Abarai-kun!”
He knew without turning around that Hinamori was calling him, and he heard without listening that she was smiling like Rukia used to.
A hand ducked into a pocket in his uniform to squeeze the blue ribbon tight.
“Do you want to practice your kidô, Abarai-kun?” Hinamori asked with a tilt of her head. “I think you’re ready for a more advanced spell now, since you’ve gone a few sessions without blowing anything up and…”
“Hinamori.”
He turned to face her in full and traced the path of the words in her throat as they bunched and were swallowed. Her face was streaked with red, a color normally reserved for thoughts of Aizen-sama or her dream of joining the fifth squad.
Before he could stop himself, Renji swept the ribbon out from his pocket and thrust his hand out in front of him, leaving the present intended for another out for her to take.
“I wanted to thank you for helping me out with kidô,” he said, voice laced with impartiality and face uncharged with emotion or pain. “It’s kind of a simple gift… but I wanted you to have it.”
Awkwardness pooled on her cheeks in the form of a blush, and Hinamori shook slightly though otherwise she did not move.
For some reason, Renji found himself concentrating on her much more than he ever had Rukia, as though by doing so now, he was making up for something lost, or something entirely different he had gained instead.
“Here.” He used one hand to grab her wrist and another to place the folded ribbon in the center of her palm, letting his fingertips linger over hers momentarily in what would be the closest to a kiss he would ever give. “It’s yours.”
It was his turn now to walk away prematurely, still feeling her eyes boring holes into his back.
And all Hinamori could do was touch her fingers to her lips and wonder why she suddenly felt so empty.
-
The next morning, Hinamori found herself staring at her reflection, her hair tumbling down past her shoulders, her fingers shaking as they made their way to her lips. She cast her gaze downward for a second to glimpse at the hair ties that normally did up her pigtails, but now, she wasn’t feeling very well disposed toward them anymore.
Renji’s pale blue ribbon beckoned her sight next, and she trembled as she took it up and reached for her hair.
-
The next time he saw her, Hinamori was wearing the ribbon. Her hair was in a bun, tied back with his gift, and she blushed as she met his eyes and sat down for class.
He was almost disappointed to see that it was the perfect shade of blue for her complexion.
Neither Renji nor Hinamori ever stopped to wonder why she never wore pigtails again. And yet both somehow knew that every time she chose to wear her hair up, his - her - their - blue ribbon would always be the one to bind it.
She didn’t feel quite so empty after that anymore.
And somehow, whenever Renji looked at her never-shaking form from then on, he got the sense that somehow, he’d finally achieved something that he’d wanted.
In a way, it was very nearly perfect.
Author/Artist: lucindathemaid
Pairing: Abarai Renji/Hinamori Momo
Fandom: Bleach
Theme: #15 - perfect blue
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Neither Bleach nor its delightful characters belong to me. They are property of Kubo Tite, among others, and I bear no ownership toward them in any way.
Author's Note: I took a fairly abstract take on the theme; please tell me whether or not you thought it worked out. Also feel free to give constructive criticism as you see fit, though compliments are fine by me as well. ^__^
The relationship between Renji and Rukia had always been simple. Having grown up in the seventy-eighth district of Rukongai, there was never much room in their lives for that which was elaborate or abstract, and so the two, as children, kept every encounter with each other as innocent as they themselves were. Renji had never wanted to be innocent; he’d never wanted a lot of things that had been thrust into his arms, now that he thought about it.
But every time Rukia accidentally fell into his, his denial that he wanted her waned just a little more.
Now, they were both training to be Shinigami, and nothing had been done to progress their friendship from the level of simplicity Renji had assumed to be inherent to it. Something inside of him screamed at him to take matters into his own hands (and as Renji like more than anything to achieve things by himself, he loved that idea), but truth be told, the biting sting of “what if” ate at his insides and made him unable to act.
Said hands clenched, and he grumbled a string of curses as his mind wandered away from the words making their way past his lips.
It was only seconds later that a cracking noise filled the air, and when the smoke cleared, Renji found his face and the ends of his ponytail singed with black.
“That was a good try at that binding spell, Abarai-kun,” said Hinamori, who was seated behind him, as she swung her legs back and forth. “Honest,” she added when he threw a scathing look her way. “You’re getting better.”
“Kidô will be the death of me,” he replied, wringing out his hair as though that would get rid of the char.
“You’ve just got to practice is all.” Renji could hear the smile in her voice, and it unnerved him how the sound reminded him so much of Rukia’s.
Rukia…
“And make sure not to let your attentions wander.”
Renji couldn’t help but grumble at the irony. Hinamori read him just as easily as Rukia did.
“You’re one to talk, with your constant squeals about your beloved ‘Aizen-sama,’” he shot back, and he couldn’t resist turning around to see the telltale blush sweep in waves across her face.
“I… um, I… I’m sure you’ve made a few advancements in your kidô today,” Hinamori said quickly, waving her hands and picking herself up onto her legs. “I’ll help you out again some other time, Abarai-kun.”
Renji opened his mouth to reply, but she was gone, face as red as ever, before he could say a word. He’d wanted to train a bit more on his Demon Arts, with which she’d offered to help him, but if she wanted to obsess over the fifth squad’s captain instead, it was ultimately her loss.
She was a predictable girl, that Hinamori. She was innocent, sweet… simple…
Renji clutched at something in his pocket and willed his thoughts to a halt. The vaguest mention of simplicity brought to mind Rukia, whom now, he needed to fix his attentions to.
This time, he would concentrate on what he wished to accomplish.
Rukia had done a great deal for him, he knew, and there was nothing in the world he could give to her to show how much he wanted to thank her for that. Their relationship had been too simple for thanks, even after so many years of knowing one another. At the very least, he could hand her something, a gift, something simple, just so she could hold onto an item that symbolized the two of them as a whole.
From his pocket, he pulled out the gift, a crimped blue ribbon he was convinced she would like and want to wear. He’d always wanted to see her with her hair tied back, a single black strand slashing across her face, the light shade of the hair tie helping to bring out the color of her eyes.
He was convinced that it would be absolutely perfect, and he, at any cost, would achieve that perfection for her.
Concentration higher now than it had been during training with Hinamori, Renji set out, waiting for the right moment to give it to her.
What he had no way of knowing was that Kuchiki Byakuya was heading toward her too.
-
It was funny how life could sometimes hold something that one wanted just before them, dangling it tantalizingly before their eyes until it was pulled away, just like that.
It was the world’s easiest, simplest way to tempt and torture, to burn and break apart.
Rukia - no; Kuchiki Rukia - had gone from the academy - hell, gone from his life - and while he accepted teasings about his former closeness to her with an indifferent façade, inside, something twisted and screamed in agony and defeat.
She’d been taken away from him, simple as that.
And now that she was gone, there was no need for him to hold onto simplicity any longer.
“Abarai-kun!”
He knew without turning around that Hinamori was calling him, and he heard without listening that she was smiling like Rukia used to.
A hand ducked into a pocket in his uniform to squeeze the blue ribbon tight.
“Do you want to practice your kidô, Abarai-kun?” Hinamori asked with a tilt of her head. “I think you’re ready for a more advanced spell now, since you’ve gone a few sessions without blowing anything up and…”
“Hinamori.”
He turned to face her in full and traced the path of the words in her throat as they bunched and were swallowed. Her face was streaked with red, a color normally reserved for thoughts of Aizen-sama or her dream of joining the fifth squad.
Before he could stop himself, Renji swept the ribbon out from his pocket and thrust his hand out in front of him, leaving the present intended for another out for her to take.
“I wanted to thank you for helping me out with kidô,” he said, voice laced with impartiality and face uncharged with emotion or pain. “It’s kind of a simple gift… but I wanted you to have it.”
Awkwardness pooled on her cheeks in the form of a blush, and Hinamori shook slightly though otherwise she did not move.
For some reason, Renji found himself concentrating on her much more than he ever had Rukia, as though by doing so now, he was making up for something lost, or something entirely different he had gained instead.
“Here.” He used one hand to grab her wrist and another to place the folded ribbon in the center of her palm, letting his fingertips linger over hers momentarily in what would be the closest to a kiss he would ever give. “It’s yours.”
It was his turn now to walk away prematurely, still feeling her eyes boring holes into his back.
And all Hinamori could do was touch her fingers to her lips and wonder why she suddenly felt so empty.
-
The next morning, Hinamori found herself staring at her reflection, her hair tumbling down past her shoulders, her fingers shaking as they made their way to her lips. She cast her gaze downward for a second to glimpse at the hair ties that normally did up her pigtails, but now, she wasn’t feeling very well disposed toward them anymore.
Renji’s pale blue ribbon beckoned her sight next, and she trembled as she took it up and reached for her hair.
-
The next time he saw her, Hinamori was wearing the ribbon. Her hair was in a bun, tied back with his gift, and she blushed as she met his eyes and sat down for class.
He was almost disappointed to see that it was the perfect shade of blue for her complexion.
Neither Renji nor Hinamori ever stopped to wonder why she never wore pigtails again. And yet both somehow knew that every time she chose to wear her hair up, his - her - their - blue ribbon would always be the one to bind it.
She didn’t feel quite so empty after that anymore.
And somehow, whenever Renji looked at her never-shaking form from then on, he got the sense that somehow, he’d finally achieved something that he’d wanted.
In a way, it was very nearly perfect.