Day 24: Courtyard (Shift 2)

[stray_shinigami]

Renji's quasi-peaceful mood from breakfast was well and gone by the time he got out to the courtyard. Rather than dwell on the all-new problems with Rukia - and the fact that he had absolutely no idea how to deal with any of it - he tried to occupy himself with a mental checklist of the things he needed to do today. Meet with Roy Mustang at lunch,

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[stray_shinigami]

He shook his head. "Because there's a Captain here, now," he said. "And it's obvious to anyone with half a goddamn brain that there's something going on between us. And if I were in Hitsugaya-taichou's position, I know what I would expect of my subordinates."

He hated thinking of it that way, but he knew it was also the right thing to do. As much as he wanted to tell duty to take a flying leap, there was a lot resting on them, a lot to do, a lot of people to protect.

And he was having a hard time with this, because no one worked better together than him and Rukia; they'd be more effective and efficient. But at the same time, he had to meet the expectation of a Captain, and the way they were involved made it very unsuitable for them to work together as far as most people would be concerned. It was unprofessional. And all of the Shinigami had to be able to work together and trust each other and respect each other, and from what he knew of Hitsugaya, he was rather uncompromising about certain things.

"Fuck, I don't know what to do," he said.

[haiiro_no_chou]

Rukia couldn't help shrugging a little, feeling a tinge of color creeping into her cheeks. "I, well, yeah..." She sighed. It seemed like something was always getting between them. But at least they had been able to admit their feelings to each other. Well, to be fair, Renji had done that already; Rukia was the one who had to play catch-up.

Rukia bit her lip. Logically, Captain Hitsugaya would probably choose not to partner them up for the night. And Rukia's rationalization for her refusal to become romantically involved with Renji had been a similarly logical argument: as a noble, it just wouldn't have been right for her to get so close to Renji. Now, though, Rukia was having trouble paying attention to all those logical arguments. She had finally been able to admit to herself how she felt. Harder still, she had admitted it to Renji.

She had somehow thought that everything would be okay once she could do that. In retrospect, that was rather silly.

Biting her lip, she ran her thumb over his hand. "I don't either. "But... But we're not in Soul Society any more..." She knew it was a weak argument, but she didn't want to be separated from Renji for another night shift.

[stray_shinigami]

Renji chuckled softly. It hurt, in a way. "In Soul Society, it'd be okay because we're in different divisions. It's not like we'd be working together anyway." He glanced at their hands; he never got used to just how small she was compared to him. "It's... more important here. Because it's not just us. It's everyone here, one way or another." And more importantly, the people he'd taken responsibility for; he had to put them first, and that meant doing what was in the best interest of building trust between everyone present. It all added up to a conclusion that he didn't like, but accepted; right now, he had to be Vice Captain before he was Renji.

He smiled at her. "Maybe... give it a few days. I've never worked with Hitsugaya-taichou before. In a few days, we'll understand each other better, and then maybe it will be possible."

He could hope. The only Captains he knew at all were Kenpachi and Byakuya; the latter, he wouldn't have even bothered talking to. The former... well, he already knew what Kenpachi would have said in such a situation. Hopefully Hitsugaya would be more flexible than Byakuya; that was about all that would help.

[haiiro_no_chou]

Rukia didn't want to admit it, but Renji was right. And his smile helped her resolve. He hadn't smiled at her much lately, and it felt good. Rukia decided that she would do what she should have been doing all along: Renji needed her there for him, but she wouldn't be a burden. She would let him do what he needed to do.

She nodded, sighing, but smiled back at him. "Okay," she said after a moment. "But you'd better promise me you'll let me help when I can."

[stray_shinigami]

Renji chuckled. "Don't be stupid," he said, though his tone made it clear he was joking. "I know to rely on you. I know you'll take care of the people I put you with and keep things on track. That's why I put you with Sora and Rangiku last night." He lightly stroked her fingers with his thumb. "There's a lot we have to do. All of us. You're realiable, and you're stronger than you admit." He gave her a crooked smile.

There was a small note of sadness in that smile, though. "Hopefully we'll be able to get out of here soon. I want..." He shook his head. "A little longer won't kill us," he murmured. Because at least now, they had part of it figured out.

[haiiro_no_chou]

It wasn't exactly what Rukia had meant when she said Renji could rely on her, but it felt good to hear him say that just the same. She hoped he would feel like he could rely on her for emotional support, too. He was always shouldering all the burdens of the people around him, but maybe he would share some now.

"Let's get to work, then," she said, smiling at Renji. "We've got a lot to do." She stood, pulling on his hand to get him to stand as well. "We'll get out of here, Renji, and we'll fix things. Things between us, you know?"

[stray_shinigami]

"Yeah," Renji said. He stood. He was feeling more steady, now. He hadn't been expecting any of this, but he hoped that things would be better now.

"During lunch Hitsugaya-taichou and I will meet with Roy Mustang. After that, I'll know how to divide everyone up. I think." He rubbed his forehead. For all that he was in charge of less people now than he'd been back in Soul Society, this was far more stressfull. "Guess I'll just post it on the bulletin board, since that'd be easiest." He didn't like making things so public, but there wasn't a lot of choice. And since it would mostly be names, it'd be okay.

He did her best to give her a reassuring smile. "It'll be okay," he said, giving her hand a soft squeeze. "We'll be okay." He just wished...

...well, he wished for a lot of things he couldn't have.

[haiiro_no_chou]

Rukia looked up at Renji, listening. "Who is Roy Mustang, exactly?" she asked. She had to wonder why Captain Hitsugaya needed to meet with the man. She had seen his name on the bulletin boards a few times, and suspected that he might have something to do with the alchemists Renji was always talking about, but she wasn't sure.

"I'm meeting with Adel to heal him during lunch, but once I'm recovered from that, is there anything you need me to do? Or maybe I should ask Captain Hitsugaya." She had worked under the young captain before, but only for a short time, and she had hardly spoken to him. She wasn't sure if she should just let Renji be the middle-man, so to speak.

She squeezed his hand back, smiling. She felt so much better now, even if things weren't completely worked out between the two of them, and they were still in a very difficult situation.

[stray_shinigami]

"He is a Colonel," Renji said. He wasn't entirely familiar with the way ranks for armies worked, but he was certain that was fairly highly placed. "He seems to be in charge of what alchemists there are, and... I think he's one as well."

He considered. "Right now, we're trying to organize, which is difficult. The best thing you could do now is begin talking to people and see if any would follow you. We will need to have many people - and arm them all - for when we attack the Head Doctor. But it's got to be organized... kind of loosely. We can't depend upon one person to know the entire plan, or it would be too easy for our enemies to find out everything. If you get what I mean."

Renji shuffled his feet. "I mean, talk to him if you want," he said. He felt a little weird about giving Rukia orders, anyway.

"And good luck with Adel. I did a real number on him. His hands are still the worst, though." For the moment, he ignored the fact that one of his own hands was burnt, and he'd gotten roughed up, himself.

[haiiro_no_chou]

"Ah, okay," Rukia said, nodding. "I thought he was one of the alchemists or something. Anyway, I know Adel promised to get me a weapon, but he doesn't need to be worrying about that right now. Maybe I should look for metal tonight..." She arched an eyebrow, asking, "What did you two fight about, anyway?" She had noticed that Renji looked a little beaten up during breakfast, but she'd been too cranky to ask about it at the time.

"I'll see who I can talk to about it." Most of the people here that Rukia had talked to were already friends or acquaintances of Renji, but she was sure she could find some people that he didn't already know. Renji seemed to have cornered the market on getting to know the kids, but maybe some of the other young women or the older men didn't know him well.

Rukia glanced down at Renji's feet; when he shuffled it was a sure sign that he was feeling nervous or uncomfortable. "Well, I'll see if he has any orders for me," she said, unconsciously moving one hand to her waist. She still wasn't used to her zanpakuto's absence. "I just wish Sode no Shirayuki were here," she muttered.

[stray_shinigami]

Renji squeezed her hand. "Yeah, I know," he said. "I wish Zabimaru were here too." But they had to make do with what little they had. "Maybe if we keep searching through the hospital, we'll find them." He wouldn't count on it, but he could hope.

He shrugged. "You'd have to ask Adel," he said. "He picked the fight with me. I think... he had somethin' that was buggin' him and he needed to work it out. I know you're not really like that, but I understand it. So I fought him." He shrugged again. "Helped him get some stuff out. Maybe helped him figure some stuff out, I hope."

He cautiously wiggled the fingers of the hand Rukia didn't have. It was wrapped with a bandage, and it hurt, still. "He's a good fighter. Gave me a run for my money."

[haiiro_no_chou]

Rukia chuckled quietly. "Well, I hope that beating the snot out of each other helped." She glanced down, noticing the movement of his other hand. "Bandaged, huh? Must be a nasty one." Gently she took his injured hand, turning it over as though she could see through the bandages. If anyone glanced their way, it would look as though she were inspecting his injury. Really, though, it was just an excuse to hold Renji's hand and not feel too weird doing so.

Still looking down at his hand, she asked, "Do you think we'll be busy all night? I guess we probably won't have any time to, well, never mind. I'm sure everyone will have their hands full mapping and collecting weapons."

[stray_shinigami]

Renji grimaced. It was a bit tender, even if she was trying to be gentle. Burns were like that. "He did this technique... used his spirit to burn my hand. got me on the chest like that real good, too. And another time he made some sort of cutting wind. Was pretty nasty." He snorted. "I hope it helped. He's maybe in a better way today. I saw him talkin' to Ed at breakfast, and they seemed to be gettin' along, and a bit part of his problem last night had to do with Ed. So it maybe did some good."

And he didn't want to admit it, but it had done him a little good as well. For all that he'd been focused on Adel most of the time, it'd let him blow off some tension, which he bady needed.

He cleared his throat; where that question sent his mind also made him blush a little, of all embarassing things. "Uh... I doubt it. I mean, we never know when the night's going to end and all. There's a lot of stuff to do." He was starting to feel like a broken record. "I wish... I dunno, maybe... uh... never mind."

He glanced around. As much as he was enjoying this time, his mind was starting to wander places it really shouldn't go, and in public. He gave her hand one last squeeze. "There's someone I need to talk to," he said. He smiled at her. "It'll work out." Which was a non-answer, since he was pretty sure it wouldn't, but it was all he could think to say.

(scurrying over here)

[haiiro_no_chou]

"Huh," Rukia murmured. "I wonder why he can use something like that, when it tires us out so much to use kidou." Speaking of which, they would probably be shuffled off to lunch soon, and she would have to talk Adel into letting her heal him again. She had overdone it a bit last time, but by night she had been feeling okay. She figured she could at least help with his injuries.

Rukia noticed the slight flush to Renji's cheeks, but didn't comment on it; he didn't blush often, and she wasn't quite sure why he had in the first place. They had only been talking about him fighting with Adel...

"Yeah, it'll work out," she echoed, letting go of Renji's hand as he walked away. As she watched him go, her reassuring smile faded. She would be strong for him, though, if that was what he needed. Rukia decided she would have to thank River at some point.

[haiiro_no_chou]

[Going here.]