Our story has made this so. [Unedited AIM log; closed; complete]
WHO: Renji Abarai (rukongai_dog) and Byakuya Kuchiki (captbetterthanu)
WHAT: At last, a happy ending.
WHERE: Bar Hades, then their house, then nowhere at all.
WHEN: Their last day.
Byakuya: Byakuya was leaning against the window sill in the living room, sitting comfortably in the overstuffed chair by the window. He decided to not go to work today, and had proceeded to sit curled up in the chair, reading all morning. Come noon, he finished his book and instead, watching the coming and going of everything outside. His elbow on the sill, his chin rested easily on his hand.
It was probably the most casual pose anyone would ever see Byakuya Kuchiki in. Yet, it felt right to him. A small smile even lay upon his pale face.
The small disappeared and his eyes widened. Something small and black was coming his way. Its wings fluttered softly, but fast. And it flew to him.
A Hell Butterfly.
Lifted his chin, Byakuya put his hand out, all his fingers but one curled and the Butterfly landed on the very tip of his finger. Its message made itself known, silently. Like always.
Byakuya nodded and pulled his journal, opening it wide and wrote one name, and with enough space, he wrote one more sentence. After, he laid the book open on the sill and the butterfly placed itself perfectly in the space proved.
They waited.
Renji: Somehow, even before he’d opened his journal to see the message, Renji knew.
He’d been sitting on the bar, chatting up a regular, when he felt Byakuya’s reiatsu shift and swirl strangely. By the time he’d excused himself (impolitely) and closed the door behind him in his office, his heart had already told him the truth.
We’re goin’ home.
There was no hesitation in him, though there was sadness - he’d made some friends here, some friends he’d regret leaving, but with every fiber of his being he knew he had to go.
Their own world was calling them. And they had to heed that call.
His wrote his goodbye entry quickly, hoping he’d remembered everyone, but sat there for five minutes more, somehow unable to move. His feet on his desk, hands behind his head, he surveyed this room, the office he’d made his own with piles of junk and old beer bottles, a small smile on his face.
He’d miss this. He really would.
Idly, he replied to those who wished him well, tapping his quill, thinking about the things and the people he would leave behind. He wished he could say a better goodbye to Luke, but he wasn’t in, and Renji couldn’t wait any more than he already was.
With a final, dull thud, he closed his journal, tucking it under his arm out of habit, and opened his office door. He murmured to Kasa that yes, once more she was in charge, and hesitated only a second in the doorway, turning around for a last look at the bar that had become his pride and joy.
He told no one on shift that he was gone for good. They would worry, become distracted; a disappearance usually meant death, and if they knew he was leaving, they would try to stop him rather than do their jobs. And although Renji didn’t know for sure where he and Byakuya were going, he had enough conviction, enough pure faith, to believe with his whole heart that their destination would be home.
Again Renji stopped, this time in the street, to look at the shop front. He soaked it in, embedded the image in his brain, never to let it fade.
This place was important to him.
He walked in silence, hands in his pockets, a small smile permanently etched onto his face.
Byakuya: Byakuya was still in his casual clothes, he didn’t care about decorum right now. Though both his and Renji’s uniforms were rolled neatly under his arm. The butterfly sat atop his journal by the window.
It was odd. He saw Renji’s entry and the responses and felt something tug at his heart. Byakuya himself even got a few entries and he responded to them as best he could. He only said one goodbye, however.
One was enough. He would do no more.
Byakuya had changed. To his family, it would be for the worse. But to him, it was for the best. And there would be changes when he returned. Rukia being his first obligation. He had to return for her, to save her, to keep his promise to his only other love.
When Renji appeared, walking slowly and with that smile on his face, Byakuya’s eyes softened. He knew the origin of that smile. This place brought many unhappy things. But what it created was something no one could have ever fathomed. Byakuya would not let that slip by him. Of the few friends he made here, he would wish them well, and they would be well. He knew they would.
But now was a whole new adventure, starting with where they had left off. Only this time, he would not be alone.
Not ever.
It was the end of one adventure, and the beginning of another. The Hell Butterfly could, for all they know, not actually take them back home. But it called to them. And they would answer. Just like they always did.
“Are you ready, Renji?”
Renji: “’Course I am. When am I ever not?”
Renji’s voice was bright and abrasive, as it would be were this any normal situation, any normal day. But it was much quieter than it had ever been then, and the expression on his face and that smile on his lips showed without a shadow of a doubt his total understanding of the importance of this moment. It showed his love, his contentment, and his total faith in Byakuya Kuchiki.
He would follow his captain into complete darkness, if that was what he asked for.
One hand came up and cupped Byakuya’s cheek, threaded into his dark hair, and brought him close for a slow, radiant kiss that said nothing but love.
Byakuya: Byakuya pressed back firmly for a while, before finally pulling away with a small smile of his own.
“Let’s go home, Renji.”
The Hell Butterfly leapt off the page, in the direction of the Forbidden Jungle.
Their new adventure awaited them, this was but the first chapter of their next story. And only they would see their epilogue. The Rivelatans would see no more of the captain and the lieutenant.
WHAT: At last, a happy ending.
WHERE: Bar Hades, then their house, then nowhere at all.
WHEN: Their last day.
Byakuya: Byakuya was leaning against the window sill in the living room, sitting comfortably in the overstuffed chair by the window. He decided to not go to work today, and had proceeded to sit curled up in the chair, reading all morning. Come noon, he finished his book and instead, watching the coming and going of everything outside. His elbow on the sill, his chin rested easily on his hand.
It was probably the most casual pose anyone would ever see Byakuya Kuchiki in. Yet, it felt right to him. A small smile even lay upon his pale face.
The small disappeared and his eyes widened. Something small and black was coming his way. Its wings fluttered softly, but fast. And it flew to him.
A Hell Butterfly.
Lifted his chin, Byakuya put his hand out, all his fingers but one curled and the Butterfly landed on the very tip of his finger. Its message made itself known, silently. Like always.
Byakuya nodded and pulled his journal, opening it wide and wrote one name, and with enough space, he wrote one more sentence. After, he laid the book open on the sill and the butterfly placed itself perfectly in the space proved.
They waited.
Renji: Somehow, even before he’d opened his journal to see the message, Renji knew.
He’d been sitting on the bar, chatting up a regular, when he felt Byakuya’s reiatsu shift and swirl strangely. By the time he’d excused himself (impolitely) and closed the door behind him in his office, his heart had already told him the truth.
We’re goin’ home.
There was no hesitation in him, though there was sadness - he’d made some friends here, some friends he’d regret leaving, but with every fiber of his being he knew he had to go.
Their own world was calling them. And they had to heed that call.
His wrote his goodbye entry quickly, hoping he’d remembered everyone, but sat there for five minutes more, somehow unable to move. His feet on his desk, hands behind his head, he surveyed this room, the office he’d made his own with piles of junk and old beer bottles, a small smile on his face.
He’d miss this. He really would.
Idly, he replied to those who wished him well, tapping his quill, thinking about the things and the people he would leave behind. He wished he could say a better goodbye to Luke, but he wasn’t in, and Renji couldn’t wait any more than he already was.
With a final, dull thud, he closed his journal, tucking it under his arm out of habit, and opened his office door. He murmured to Kasa that yes, once more she was in charge, and hesitated only a second in the doorway, turning around for a last look at the bar that had become his pride and joy.
He told no one on shift that he was gone for good. They would worry, become distracted; a disappearance usually meant death, and if they knew he was leaving, they would try to stop him rather than do their jobs. And although Renji didn’t know for sure where he and Byakuya were going, he had enough conviction, enough pure faith, to believe with his whole heart that their destination would be home.
Again Renji stopped, this time in the street, to look at the shop front. He soaked it in, embedded the image in his brain, never to let it fade.
This place was important to him.
He walked in silence, hands in his pockets, a small smile permanently etched onto his face.
Byakuya: Byakuya was still in his casual clothes, he didn’t care about decorum right now. Though both his and Renji’s uniforms were rolled neatly under his arm. The butterfly sat atop his journal by the window.
It was odd. He saw Renji’s entry and the responses and felt something tug at his heart. Byakuya himself even got a few entries and he responded to them as best he could. He only said one goodbye, however.
One was enough. He would do no more.
Byakuya had changed. To his family, it would be for the worse. But to him, it was for the best. And there would be changes when he returned. Rukia being his first obligation. He had to return for her, to save her, to keep his promise to his only other love.
When Renji appeared, walking slowly and with that smile on his face, Byakuya’s eyes softened. He knew the origin of that smile. This place brought many unhappy things. But what it created was something no one could have ever fathomed. Byakuya would not let that slip by him. Of the few friends he made here, he would wish them well, and they would be well. He knew they would.
But now was a whole new adventure, starting with where they had left off. Only this time, he would not be alone.
Not ever.
It was the end of one adventure, and the beginning of another. The Hell Butterfly could, for all they know, not actually take them back home. But it called to them. And they would answer. Just like they always did.
“Are you ready, Renji?”
Renji: “’Course I am. When am I ever not?”
Renji’s voice was bright and abrasive, as it would be were this any normal situation, any normal day. But it was much quieter than it had ever been then, and the expression on his face and that smile on his lips showed without a shadow of a doubt his total understanding of the importance of this moment. It showed his love, his contentment, and his total faith in Byakuya Kuchiki.
He would follow his captain into complete darkness, if that was what he asked for.
One hand came up and cupped Byakuya’s cheek, threaded into his dark hair, and brought him close for a slow, radiant kiss that said nothing but love.
Byakuya: Byakuya pressed back firmly for a while, before finally pulling away with a small smile of his own.
“Let’s go home, Renji.”
The Hell Butterfly leapt off the page, in the direction of the Forbidden Jungle.
Their new adventure awaited them, this was but the first chapter of their next story. And only they would see their epilogue. The Rivelatans would see no more of the captain and the lieutenant.