Chapter 3- Here's Your Man Pt. ll

20 Years Prior

Rukia was giddy—incredibly giddy. This was a drastic change in contrast to how she'd been a week before.

When Renji had seen her she had been all gloomy and down in the dumps. She had said she was nervous about how she would be treated in her new squad now that her ceremony had been carried out.

Renji slapped her on the back with such force she pitched forward and nearly toppled onto the ground. He laughed a throaty sound that resounded in the grassy clearing and grinned wolfishly at her.

The perennial trees that surrounded them swayed slightly in a gust of air, the leaves brushing up against one another and creating a melodious rustle.

"C'mon, Rukes, you worry too much!" He tossed back some sakè from his flask and plopped down into a patch of lush grass under the shade of a cherry blossom tree.

Rukia's face screwed up as she fought to regain her balance, her arms pinwheeling about and her eyes comically wide. Hopping up onto her left foot, she thrust out and kicked him in the shins...hard. She did a stylish back flip into the air and landed in a crouched position on the ground just as Renji began howling and making a fuss.

"GODDAMMIT, WOMAN! AUGH!" He flopped down onto his back, curled up, hands clutching his knee. He rocked this way and that to assuage the pain that was lancing up along his leg and settling into the tips of his toes like white hot pins and needles.

Rukia stood up and placed her hands on her hips. "You're not taking this seriously," she said, lips pursed, her brow drawn together, all of these the motions of a scowl to come. That wasn't a good sign.

"I WAS!" he whined. She strode over to him and poked him in the ass with her sandal.

"No, you're not," she asserted.

"Well, whaddaya want me to say?" Renji growled, and grumbled half under his breath as he picked himself up off the ground, "It's not like you chose the worst squad possible..."

"For your information, I was assigned there by Byakuya-nii-sama. He thought it would be an opportunity for me," she told him sternly.

Renji exhaled heavily and pulled himself back up against the gnarled cherry blossom tree, calloused fingers coming up to brush a couple of sakura petals from his head as he did so.

"I think its more of a position to keep you inactive," he said. Rukia blinked cluelessly.

"What to do you mean by that?" she inquired.

He huffed. "C'mon, Rukes. Even I know you've got potential. Any one of the thirteen court guard squads would be suitable for you, yet he puts you in this one?" Renji shook his head. "He's just trying to keep you busy and out of the way." Rukia was silent for a moment. She subconciously bided her time by gnawing on her lip and curling her fingers before she came up with a response.

"Whatever nii-sama feels is best, I'll be more than happy to cooperate," she said uncaringly, expression schooled to resemble that of the Kuchiki blandness. Something twinged inside her as she said the words, however. Did Byakuya-nii-sama really think so less of her? Her shoulders drooped a fraction of an inch.

Quickly, before her face betrayed her, Rukia gave an offhanded excuse about a curfew and left Renji.

She was glowing, which was pretty hard to believe considering the circumstances under which they were meeting. Always ducking behind bushes and sneaking around like what they were doing was forbidden.

"Jeez, Rukia, its already evening and you look like a beacon from one of Yachiru's Christmas parties," he said. Her creamy complexion was flustered with color from her jog to their regular rendezvous point. A grin split her lips and she beamed up at him—beamed.

"Why do you say that?" she panted, a fine sheen of sweat coating her skin. Rukia shed the makeshift hood she'd put together in an attempt at sewing. It was really mishappen for her first stab at it, but she liked to think she'd done a good job.

She'd pricked her fingers a couple of hundred times with the needle. The digits were throbbing now in spite of the fact she'd applied salve earlier and wrapped them up with band-aids.

Even though hiding these things was a senseless notion to Renji, Rukia would have none of it. The last thing she needed was to be caught stealing away from the estate and get in a motherload of trouble with Byakuya.

It was best to wear the hideous cloak then get caught without it. The amount of stress she suffered was diminished by the comforting thought that this wasn't a regular occurrence. Renji and her only had these meetings under certain contexts.

It wasn't like they were lovers stealing away in the dead of night. But Rukia had to uphold the Kuchiki's reputation, so she couldn't be seen out in the open with lower-classmen.

"I don't know, maybe 'cause you're not snapping at me," he pointed out.

Renji casually dropped down onto the grass in a patch of moonlight on his back and clasped his hands together behind his head.

"So what's up?" He plucked a blade of grass out of the ground and twirled it around between his thumb and forefinger. Rukia remained standing and crossed her arms. She sighed somewhat halfheartedly.

"Well..." she began, and hesitated. "It's not worth noting."

"C'mon, Rukia," he pressed, "I know there's something going on. If there wasn't, then you would have been speaking to me."

"You know my training is still in progress. It takes up a lot of my schedule," she responded evenly.

Renji sat back up and turned to glance in her direction. "Rukia, you were anal-retentive about this shit, even in the Academy. You've gotta loosen up."

Rukia jerked back mechanically to face him. "Renji, this 'shit' isn't going to wait for me. I can't just slack off," she countered.

"Look, Rukes, you got good marks on your exams back then, so there's every guarantee you'll do the same here. It's not like taking some steam off is gonna kill you," he argued. "If anything, it'll do you a helluva lot of good." Rukia pressed her lips together and breathed out steadily through her nose.

She didn't want to get in another argument with Renji.

Tonight, she had just wanted to sit back and tell him what had gone with her numbingly lackluster routine.

Of course, there were other things she wanted to confide in him with.

She had been giddy all day ready to tell him about her talk with Kaien-dono. She was so scatter-brianed on off-duty hours she'd almost forgotten the words. She'd fumbled around with her obi trying to get her clothes on before she'd come here while she went over how she would break it down for Renji.

Training for the first time with Kaien on Mt. Koifushi had been the highlight of her time here in the thirteen court guard squads. For once, she felt as if she had a new significance in her squad, where before it had been vague and unclear to her.

She had a reason now to be a Soul Reaper.

Rukia knew what she had to do in concern of her duties... She had regained the resilience with which she had walked into the Academy and enlisted.

She was resolute in her decision.

She felt almost...light...without weight.

Never before had someone shed so much life on herself, never before had they banished her doubts and insecurities with just words.

Her heart and being felt swollen with what this meant. She felt the uncontrollable urge to scream it to the world.

Now, she felt slightly deflated. This was probably the greatest thing that had ever happened to her and all Renji could do was tell her to loosen up.

It was unfair.

"Renji, I-"

"Whatever, Rukia. Look, what you do is none of my business, but the least you could do is call around every now and again," he said, visibly agitated. "You work too much. You overtax yourself. Then, when Byakuya finally decides to pull that stick out of his ass, you use your vacation time to elope with...with your lieutenant."

Rukia bristled at the way Renji alluded to Kaien in such a tone of petulance.

"How dare you?" she hissed. "Are you listening to yourself, Renji? 'Elope with'? You make it intentionally sound as if I'm fornicating with my married lieutenant."

He actually had the balls to retort, "Well are you?"

He was just jealous of Kaien-dono.

"Have you forgotten how long we've known each other for? Yet you have the gall to say to my face that I'm doing dishonoring things under the very nose of the Kuchiki household?!" She swept on, stepping forward as she did so.

"Kaien Shiba is a faithful man! He's nothing like you or the disgusting pigs you hang out with in the 11th division, Renji," she said. "Get your facts straight instead of making false accusations...or next time, you'll regret it." Rukia pivoted on her heel and marched away from him, snatching up her cloak with an air of fury not to be trifled with and slipping away into the damp foliage of their surroundings without another word.

Renji watched her go, speechless. He just didn't get it.

Rukia mumbled inaudibly under the heat of her breath as she trudged through the forestry beyond the hills and cliffs of the Sensaikyu and its accompanying white tower—the repentance palace. She felt angry and offended, and rightfully so.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she had reacted on impulse to the bit of truth Renji spoke. What he had said had hit a little too close to home, which was a lot nearer than she'd like him to be.

Rukia often used her weekends and breaks to train in advance with Kaien, upon her request, of course, and Byakuya's permission. Part of her did it because she felt it was her obligation to those who had worked to get her this position. The other half of her did for an entirely separate cause that was just a bit self-serving.

Sniffling, Rukia's foot caught on something, a tree root, maybe, and she pitched forward and hit the ground, sprawled out awkwardly. Nearby, she heard the trickle of stream water and knew immediately she had reached the area somewhere behind her squad's barracks. How she had gotten there so swiftly, she was unsure.

Lifting her head, Rukia spat out some dirt and shook her head.

"Ow," a lackadaisical voice said. She blinked, shifting to her side to see that she was stretched out across, not a bed of moss or a decaying tree branch, but Kaien Shiba's lap.

"Hello," he said, faintly ilumminated in the moonlight that filtered through the canopy of tree leaves above.

His jet black hair stood out against the dark backdrop of the tree he was propped up against. He appeared to have recently traded his uniform in for a slightly navy kimono that was banded with lighter colored stripes. It was probably the first time she'd seen him out of their normal attire on duty.

"Ah...!" Rukia's cheeks flodded with warmth, and a scarlet hue colored her complexion as she promptly struggled up onto her knees and bowed so low her face was pressed into the dewy grass-blades below.

"I...I am so sorry, vice-captain. I wasn't watching where I was going and..." She went still. "Please don't tell Byakuya-nii-sama I was out this late." Kaien sat up straight and reached over, smacking her lightly on the back of the head.

"Don't be so formal. We're not on post, so you can call me whatever you want," he told her. "And don't worry, I'm not gonna sell you out to your brother. I don't blame you for sneaking out. Guy's got a stick up his ass the size of-"

"LIEUTENANT!" Rukia shrieked, and instinctively slapped her hands over her mouth. Words muffled, she said around her fingers, "Don't say things like that about him." Kaien looked around and peered over his shoulder into the brush. "Why? I don't see him anywhere," he said, and grinned widely at her.

Flustered, Rukia folded her hands in her lap and sat up, her tresses askew and her kimono slightly rumpled. Kaien's hair was damp and combed out evenly. He'd either had a recent shower or he'd gone diving in the stream. The latter seemed more likely.

Rukia liked seeing him this way, so laid-back without the stress or hassle of another impending mission. He was barefoot with his hands cupped between his legs around a cup of...

"Is that sakè?" she asked bluntly.

He arched one brow and leaned forward, pinching her cheeks together with his thumb and forefinger so that she was puckered up like a fish. Kaien poured the remainder of his drink into her mouth, smiling and saying, "What does it taste like?"

Rukia squealed, forced to swallow the beverage, of which didn't have the burning after-taste of alcohol, but the warm sugariness of tea. He turned fractionally and pulled something out beside his hip and stuck it between her lips. Rukia's slender fingers came up to grasp the end of the pocky stick as she sucked on the strawberry cream coating. It tasted sooo good.

A faint blush crept into her cheeks, and he laughed at the kittenish look she had on her face.

Rukia closed her eyes at the sound. It was at moments like these, with him, that she lived for. It wasn't as something as naive or simplistic as a crush. It was so much more.

This... was the burning bright radiance of the sun that she could never reach; it was the tip of the wing she could never graze. It was the tide of the ocean... so unpredictable, so unceasing, full of swells and currents that were beyond her capability to keep up with. This would never be hers. It belonged to the earth.

Renji had said once he felt like he was barking at the moon. Well, she felt as if she was trying to bring the sky down to her level. It would just never happen. It was beyond her grasp. Rukia could look, and for that, she was immensely grateful. She could never hope to touch or feel or experience him in an intimate fashion.

Every two steps he took was another two steps back in the opposite direction for her.

The agony was...excruciating. It was at this moment she found herself wondering when and where she fell in love with him...