(no subject)
Title: Distress, De-stress, and Forgive
Prompt: Distress
Character(s): Renji, Kira, Matsumoto for this part
Note: Bleach and all recognizable characters/plots are not mine; this piece came about as part of a challenge between NewbieGK and I-who could write 10,000 words in one week (or get there first, whichever)? While writing, I decided to work on a piece I started and abandoned-The Unknown, a Kira/Hinamori piece. While writing that, when I hit a wall, I worked on a few prompts from my table, and voila, here I am with this. This is a combination of three prompts into a two chapter fic, so enjoy! This can also be taken as a lead-in to The Unknown, which should be emerging from my vault very soon :)
~*~
After Aizen’s betrayal, Abarai Renji had no idea what he was supposed to do. Everything was so messed up… three captains were gone, the rest of the Gotei 13 entirely in disarray, left reeling in the wake of the chaos the betrayal had wrought. Even aside from the disarray in the chain of command, however, the Fourth Division was utterly overwhelmed; the battle had left numerous shinigami wounded, most from fighting against their own in the confusion. One week later, and Kuchiki-taichou was still in the Fourth Division, recovering; Momo wasn’t much better off, still unconscious the majority of the time, and Kira was… where was Kira?
“Shit,” he muttered, frowning. If Kira wasn’t here or visiting Momo, odds were that he was somewhere else, avoiding accusing stares and possibly drinking away his sorrows-and if that was the case, he was more than likely with the sympathetic company of Matsumoto. On the other hand, though, that might be almost as bad for the guy as sitting there moping by himself.
Sure enough, Renji easily found Kira, ensconced happily in the Tenth, along with the giggling Matsumoto. The chilly atmosphere indicated Hitsugaya-taichou’s irritation, and Renji wisely avoided passing by the captain’s quarters. Peering in the partially opened door, Renji paused, unsure.
Was he supposed to go in? Kira had been his friend for a long time now, but he had no idea how close the other fukutaichou had been to his captain. Ichimaru had always been unnerving, but he and Kira had seemed to get along well enough… Would Kira even want to talk to Renji? Did he want to talk, or just to drink and forget? Renji had never exactly been the soft, sensitive type; that was more Rukia and Momo’s forte.
Groaning, Renji entered the room, only to freeze. Somehow, in the last minute he’d lost in thought, Kira had managed to collapse onto his back, sprawled comfortably as Matsumoto shook her fist angrily.
“We’ll show that bastard!” She exclaimed, then belatedly turned to Renji. “Oh, hi! Did you come for a drink, too? Hisagi stood us up today!” Full lips pouted, crystalline eyes welling with emotion, and Renji stared. Matsumoto-fukutaichou had a reputation for keeping the strong stuff on hand, but this was ridiculous. Miraculously, Hitsugaya-taichou’s warning reiatsu didn’t even seem to have an effect on the woman.
“Kira, Matsumoto,” Renji said, then paused, considering. “How long have you been here?”
“Just a few minutes,” Kira muttered, reaching unhappily for the bottle. His hands were unsteady, though, and he only succeeded in knocking his cup aside. As it rolled across the table, he stared at it, blue-green eyes saddening. “Damn.”
“Don’t worry, Kira! It’ll come back!” Matsumoto predicted optimistically-just as the cup rolled off the edge and shattered on the floor. “Oops.”
“Nothing ever comes back,” Kira said miserably, staring at the trail of liquid left on the tabletop with something like betrayal. With a small jerk, Renji realized that it was-not betrayal at the drink, of course, but betrayal nonetheless. Fuck. Why did he wait so long to seek his friend out? Sure, his captain was out of commission and his Division needed someone to direct them, but… even so, he should obviously have come to look for Kira sooner.
“You need a yo-yo!” Matsumoto giggled, waving a hand cheerfully. “Or, or one of those sticks that comes back…”
“A boomerang?” Renji asked despite himself, and Matsumoto points enthusiastically at him.
“Yes, that!” She said decisively, nodding. She gripped Kira’s shoulder tightly, telling him seriously, “That way, you do the throwing, and, and, you throw them, not…”
“Not them throwing me?” Kira asked hopefully, and Matsumoto nodded again, Renji had to hand it to her; even when she was drunk, she managed to make some sort of sense. Then again, this probably wasn’t the best way to go about things…
Matsumoto’s enthusiasm for her idea, however, had now extended into her knocking her arm into a bottle-sending it falling into the other four empty ones on the table. Sure, they had only been here for a few minutes… the sound of the crashing bottles, however, seemed to be enough to finally spring Hitsugaya-taichou’s patience.
“Alright, you two,” Renji sighed, reaching down and gripping Kira by the elbow. Pulling the slighter man to his feet, he nodded to Matsumoto. “I’m taking Kira back to his Division… you might want to clean all this up before Hitsugaya-taichou sees it.”
“But Renjiiiiiiiiii,” Matsumoto whined, even as Renji fled, dragging a confused Kira behind him. As drunk as the woman was, she was having trouble sensing Hitsugaya’s approach; he, on the other hand, still had his common sense. Abarai Renji enjoyed his sake as much as the next lieutenant, but even he had his limits, and he didn’t want to see the aftermath of that particular afternoon drinking session.
“W-where are we goin’?” Izuru wondered dazedly, and Renji grimaced. How long had it been since the man had been sober? His eyes were quite bloodshot, and dark smears under his eyes proved that he hadn’t exactly been sleeping normally, either.
“Goin’ to get you some tea,” Renji told him, pulling the man toward the third Division. Expertly avoiding the empty captain’s quarters, he escorted Kira to his own quarters. Within a few minutes, he managed to get some tea started-though he couldn’t guarantee that it would taste any good, because he sure as hell wasn’t a tea sort of guy himself-and get Kira settled (or slumped) in the living room.
“Here, drink this,” Renji ordered. Kira obediently drank, sighing deeply as the tea calmed him. The man was quiet and lost somewhere in his own mind, but no longer looked like he was quite so out of it. “So, are you okay?”
Subtlety had never been Abarai Renji’s thing; thank God that Kira knew that.
“They blame me,” Kira uttered after a long moment, and Renji leaned back, folding his arms against his chest.
“You didn’t know what they were really doing,” Renji replied; even if he didn’t know the whole situation, he knew that much at least. There was no possible way that Izuru had known, especially not after seeing how torn up the man was after very nearly hurting Momo and Matsumoto.
That had always been one of Kira’s strengths-he was loyal almost to a fault, in a way that made Renji wince at times. The guy was dependable as an ally in a fight, always there and willing to kill for those he believed in, but then again, that same loyalty had pretty much gotten his own ass kicked this time ‘round. That loyalty had forced him to draw his blade against one of his oldest friends, as well as another fukutaichou…
“I can’t believe I drew a blade against Momo,” Kira mumbled, eyes unfocused. “I-”
“Ah, then do something ‘bout it,” Renji interrupted. Seeing his friend tear himself down like this made him uncomfortable… “Have you even gone to see Momo since this whole thing ended?”
“No,” Izuru admitted. “I… I can’t. I don’t deserve to see her… she was hurt because of me. She doesn’t ever need to see me again.”
“What the hell kinda nonsense is that?” Renji demanded, leaning forward and glaring at the blond man. “Hitsugaya-taichou said it was Aizen that stabbed her, not you. She’s gonna be even more upset if she finds out you never even visited her!”
“I led her there!” Kira shot back, voice rising. “She never would have… ugh.”
“Shut up already,” the other ordered, scowling. “Ichimaru always was a creepy, manipulative bastard, so don’t feel sorry for yourself, you idiot.”
“Like I didn’t know he was creepy?” Izuru snapped, frustrated now that his pleasant buzz was gone. The tea wasn’t all that great either, but he took a slow sip nonetheless, trying to calm himself. When he was back under his own control, he continued, more calmly now, “This was all just a game to him-everything has always been just a game. You might think I didn’t notice that about him, but I did.”
“That guy always freaked me out,” Renji tossed out, frowning. “Even when we were all in Fifth together, there was just somethin’… off.”
“He wasn’t much better as a captain,” Kira muttered, then winced. Renji noticed, his expression softening uncertainly.
“And that’s still not your fault,” he replied, a slight edge to his voice. Kira had always had a tendency to blame himself for everything, but this was almost ridiculous. How was he supposed to show the guy that none of this was really his fault?
“Y’know, everyone got screwed here,” the redhead pointed out, “But yeah, you ‘n Momo got the worst of it. You have to move on, though-this isn’t over, between us ‘n them.”
“I know,” Kira replied, something seeming to resolve itself within his deep eyes. “Do you think Momo will ever forgive me? I even got Hitsugaya-taichou hurt…”
“She’ll understand,” Renji said firmly. Inwardly, he hoped this was true; although he was certain Momo would forgive Izuru for attacking her-she understood loyalty (not just blind adoration) almost as much as Kira did-but then again, she was protective of her ‘Hitsugaya-kun,’ too…
Then again, the knowledge that her beloved captain had attacked Hitsugaya might be almost as damaging as her own betrayal at Aizen’s hands.
Renji swallowed, uncertain, but pushed it away. Instead, he rose, yanking Kira up after him.
“Come on,” he ordered, though the friendly smirk on his lips was enough to allow Kira to relax. “Let’s go. We’re going to go visit Momo.”
~*~
As always, please let me know what you think! The second part will be up tonight, too, so don't worry... I hope you enjoy this, and that I got Renji in character; for some reason, his voice comes really hard for me :S
Part Two
Prompt: Distress
Character(s): Renji, Kira, Matsumoto for this part
Note: Bleach and all recognizable characters/plots are not mine; this piece came about as part of a challenge between NewbieGK and I-who could write 10,000 words in one week (or get there first, whichever)? While writing, I decided to work on a piece I started and abandoned-The Unknown, a Kira/Hinamori piece. While writing that, when I hit a wall, I worked on a few prompts from my table, and voila, here I am with this. This is a combination of three prompts into a two chapter fic, so enjoy! This can also be taken as a lead-in to The Unknown, which should be emerging from my vault very soon :)
~*~
After Aizen’s betrayal, Abarai Renji had no idea what he was supposed to do. Everything was so messed up… three captains were gone, the rest of the Gotei 13 entirely in disarray, left reeling in the wake of the chaos the betrayal had wrought. Even aside from the disarray in the chain of command, however, the Fourth Division was utterly overwhelmed; the battle had left numerous shinigami wounded, most from fighting against their own in the confusion. One week later, and Kuchiki-taichou was still in the Fourth Division, recovering; Momo wasn’t much better off, still unconscious the majority of the time, and Kira was… where was Kira?
“Shit,” he muttered, frowning. If Kira wasn’t here or visiting Momo, odds were that he was somewhere else, avoiding accusing stares and possibly drinking away his sorrows-and if that was the case, he was more than likely with the sympathetic company of Matsumoto. On the other hand, though, that might be almost as bad for the guy as sitting there moping by himself.
Sure enough, Renji easily found Kira, ensconced happily in the Tenth, along with the giggling Matsumoto. The chilly atmosphere indicated Hitsugaya-taichou’s irritation, and Renji wisely avoided passing by the captain’s quarters. Peering in the partially opened door, Renji paused, unsure.
Was he supposed to go in? Kira had been his friend for a long time now, but he had no idea how close the other fukutaichou had been to his captain. Ichimaru had always been unnerving, but he and Kira had seemed to get along well enough… Would Kira even want to talk to Renji? Did he want to talk, or just to drink and forget? Renji had never exactly been the soft, sensitive type; that was more Rukia and Momo’s forte.
Groaning, Renji entered the room, only to freeze. Somehow, in the last minute he’d lost in thought, Kira had managed to collapse onto his back, sprawled comfortably as Matsumoto shook her fist angrily.
“We’ll show that bastard!” She exclaimed, then belatedly turned to Renji. “Oh, hi! Did you come for a drink, too? Hisagi stood us up today!” Full lips pouted, crystalline eyes welling with emotion, and Renji stared. Matsumoto-fukutaichou had a reputation for keeping the strong stuff on hand, but this was ridiculous. Miraculously, Hitsugaya-taichou’s warning reiatsu didn’t even seem to have an effect on the woman.
“Kira, Matsumoto,” Renji said, then paused, considering. “How long have you been here?”
“Just a few minutes,” Kira muttered, reaching unhappily for the bottle. His hands were unsteady, though, and he only succeeded in knocking his cup aside. As it rolled across the table, he stared at it, blue-green eyes saddening. “Damn.”
“Don’t worry, Kira! It’ll come back!” Matsumoto predicted optimistically-just as the cup rolled off the edge and shattered on the floor. “Oops.”
“Nothing ever comes back,” Kira said miserably, staring at the trail of liquid left on the tabletop with something like betrayal. With a small jerk, Renji realized that it was-not betrayal at the drink, of course, but betrayal nonetheless. Fuck. Why did he wait so long to seek his friend out? Sure, his captain was out of commission and his Division needed someone to direct them, but… even so, he should obviously have come to look for Kira sooner.
“You need a yo-yo!” Matsumoto giggled, waving a hand cheerfully. “Or, or one of those sticks that comes back…”
“A boomerang?” Renji asked despite himself, and Matsumoto points enthusiastically at him.
“Yes, that!” She said decisively, nodding. She gripped Kira’s shoulder tightly, telling him seriously, “That way, you do the throwing, and, and, you throw them, not…”
“Not them throwing me?” Kira asked hopefully, and Matsumoto nodded again, Renji had to hand it to her; even when she was drunk, she managed to make some sort of sense. Then again, this probably wasn’t the best way to go about things…
Matsumoto’s enthusiasm for her idea, however, had now extended into her knocking her arm into a bottle-sending it falling into the other four empty ones on the table. Sure, they had only been here for a few minutes… the sound of the crashing bottles, however, seemed to be enough to finally spring Hitsugaya-taichou’s patience.
“Alright, you two,” Renji sighed, reaching down and gripping Kira by the elbow. Pulling the slighter man to his feet, he nodded to Matsumoto. “I’m taking Kira back to his Division… you might want to clean all this up before Hitsugaya-taichou sees it.”
“But Renjiiiiiiiiii,” Matsumoto whined, even as Renji fled, dragging a confused Kira behind him. As drunk as the woman was, she was having trouble sensing Hitsugaya’s approach; he, on the other hand, still had his common sense. Abarai Renji enjoyed his sake as much as the next lieutenant, but even he had his limits, and he didn’t want to see the aftermath of that particular afternoon drinking session.
“W-where are we goin’?” Izuru wondered dazedly, and Renji grimaced. How long had it been since the man had been sober? His eyes were quite bloodshot, and dark smears under his eyes proved that he hadn’t exactly been sleeping normally, either.
“Goin’ to get you some tea,” Renji told him, pulling the man toward the third Division. Expertly avoiding the empty captain’s quarters, he escorted Kira to his own quarters. Within a few minutes, he managed to get some tea started-though he couldn’t guarantee that it would taste any good, because he sure as hell wasn’t a tea sort of guy himself-and get Kira settled (or slumped) in the living room.
“Here, drink this,” Renji ordered. Kira obediently drank, sighing deeply as the tea calmed him. The man was quiet and lost somewhere in his own mind, but no longer looked like he was quite so out of it. “So, are you okay?”
Subtlety had never been Abarai Renji’s thing; thank God that Kira knew that.
“They blame me,” Kira uttered after a long moment, and Renji leaned back, folding his arms against his chest.
“You didn’t know what they were really doing,” Renji replied; even if he didn’t know the whole situation, he knew that much at least. There was no possible way that Izuru had known, especially not after seeing how torn up the man was after very nearly hurting Momo and Matsumoto.
That had always been one of Kira’s strengths-he was loyal almost to a fault, in a way that made Renji wince at times. The guy was dependable as an ally in a fight, always there and willing to kill for those he believed in, but then again, that same loyalty had pretty much gotten his own ass kicked this time ‘round. That loyalty had forced him to draw his blade against one of his oldest friends, as well as another fukutaichou…
“I can’t believe I drew a blade against Momo,” Kira mumbled, eyes unfocused. “I-”
“Ah, then do something ‘bout it,” Renji interrupted. Seeing his friend tear himself down like this made him uncomfortable… “Have you even gone to see Momo since this whole thing ended?”
“No,” Izuru admitted. “I… I can’t. I don’t deserve to see her… she was hurt because of me. She doesn’t ever need to see me again.”
“What the hell kinda nonsense is that?” Renji demanded, leaning forward and glaring at the blond man. “Hitsugaya-taichou said it was Aizen that stabbed her, not you. She’s gonna be even more upset if she finds out you never even visited her!”
“I led her there!” Kira shot back, voice rising. “She never would have… ugh.”
“Shut up already,” the other ordered, scowling. “Ichimaru always was a creepy, manipulative bastard, so don’t feel sorry for yourself, you idiot.”
“Like I didn’t know he was creepy?” Izuru snapped, frustrated now that his pleasant buzz was gone. The tea wasn’t all that great either, but he took a slow sip nonetheless, trying to calm himself. When he was back under his own control, he continued, more calmly now, “This was all just a game to him-everything has always been just a game. You might think I didn’t notice that about him, but I did.”
“That guy always freaked me out,” Renji tossed out, frowning. “Even when we were all in Fifth together, there was just somethin’… off.”
“He wasn’t much better as a captain,” Kira muttered, then winced. Renji noticed, his expression softening uncertainly.
“And that’s still not your fault,” he replied, a slight edge to his voice. Kira had always had a tendency to blame himself for everything, but this was almost ridiculous. How was he supposed to show the guy that none of this was really his fault?
“Y’know, everyone got screwed here,” the redhead pointed out, “But yeah, you ‘n Momo got the worst of it. You have to move on, though-this isn’t over, between us ‘n them.”
“I know,” Kira replied, something seeming to resolve itself within his deep eyes. “Do you think Momo will ever forgive me? I even got Hitsugaya-taichou hurt…”
“She’ll understand,” Renji said firmly. Inwardly, he hoped this was true; although he was certain Momo would forgive Izuru for attacking her-she understood loyalty (not just blind adoration) almost as much as Kira did-but then again, she was protective of her ‘Hitsugaya-kun,’ too…
Then again, the knowledge that her beloved captain had attacked Hitsugaya might be almost as damaging as her own betrayal at Aizen’s hands.
Renji swallowed, uncertain, but pushed it away. Instead, he rose, yanking Kira up after him.
“Come on,” he ordered, though the friendly smirk on his lips was enough to allow Kira to relax. “Let’s go. We’re going to go visit Momo.”
~*~
As always, please let me know what you think! The second part will be up tonight, too, so don't worry... I hope you enjoy this, and that I got Renji in character; for some reason, his voice comes really hard for me :S
Part Two