Romance and Rivalries | By : Kinnikuman Category: Bleach > AU - Alternate Universe Views: 2658 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0 |
Disclaimer: Neither author owns or holds any rights to "Bleach". No profit is made from this fanfiction. |
A/N: This is Rob speaking. I had to skip Ray's chapter as for some reason I only have half of it saved onto my pen, but if you wait a few days I'll upload it (although it'll through the numbering out of whack, lol). Sorry about the troubles!
Chapter Twenty-Eight By Rob“You don’t have the guts, Renji, give it up!”
“I-If you get caught Kisuke is going to kill you!”
Renji rolled his eyes and carefully opened his bedroom door. He made sure that he opened it slowly, so that it wouldn’t creak or groan and alert his parents to what he was doing, and then poked his head out into the corridor and looked both ways. He was sure Ikkaku was behind him, muttering something like ‘this ain’t no damned road!’ but he ignored it, because to get past Kisuke you needed all the concentration you could get. It didn’t help that Izuru was practically hyperventilating as he hid behind the open door, or that Ikkaku was leaning so far into him that if they were naked they’d look like some sort of rude, Greek mosaic, but he couldn’t help that. All he could do was stay calm and focus.
If he thought about it then his punishment hadn’t been too bad this time. Kisuke had simply sent him to his room and grounded him, granted all his books and games and music had been removed, but at least he’d been allowed friends over and – providing that he behaved all week – to go to the beach party that weekend. It would be so much fun to get away from school, his siblings, and chores . . . so no way was he going to mess that up! It was just that it was so boring in his room. It didn’t matter how many friends he had around, he still wanted to be out in the sun relaxing with Rukia, or fighting in the dojo with Ikkaku, or scaring the hell out of Kurosaki-san with that fake gun, because – let’s face it – that had been a riot! It wasn’t as much fun lurking around in a boring, old bedroom with just conversation and your homework, and most of all he was dying to see Uryu! He wanted to take the other boy out on a date, maybe to see a film or to get some fast food or to hang out in a pachinko parlour . . . If anything Kisuke was practically asking him to sneak out the house! No man could possibly expect Renji not to!
“Right,” he mumbled quietly to his friends, “I’m going to sneak out through the front door, and once I’m outside I’ll ring Ikkaku once on his phone, then Ikkaku will loudly be like ‘oh, see ya later Renji, I got to go back to baby-sit Yachiru!’ and that’s when you both leave. Got it? I’ll meet you about four houses down and then we can head to Rangiku’s.”
Izuru’s eyes had became a little half-lidded and he had turned his gaze onto the floor, staring at it with a look that seemed a mixture of pissed off and helpless, like his usual ‘I know that you guys are going to do something stupid, I know I can’t stop you, and I know full well I’m going to hate what happens . . .’ look. It was kind of intimidating in that an angry Kira was an unpredictable Kira, but kind of cute in that he looked pretty adorable all helpless and quiet. Poor kid was so easy to take advantage of really; after all you always knew he would say yes no matter what you asked! No wonder freaks like Ichimaru found him so easy to take advantage of, he really needed to grow a backbone.
“Are you sure this will work, Renji?” Izuru asked with a little confidence.
“Of course it will, listen!” Renji signalled for them to lean in closer, then waited until they were practically banging their heads against one another to speak, “That Hirako bloke spent the night here and since breakfast he’s been arguing with Dad, so right now they’ll be in the living room like ‘you’re such a whore, Shinji!’ ‘Oh, please don’t hate me Oh Mighty Shopkeeper!’ Then Tessai-Otousan will be like ‘oh no, they’re being left alone together, let me do random chores so I can watch them!’ . . . spy, spy, spy . . . they start watching Tessai-Otousan and he starts watching them, I slip out and hey presto! They won’t even notice I’m gone.”
It should have been a giveaway that it perhaps wasn’t such a great plan when Ikkaku seemed completely impressed, after all usually all of Ikkaku’s great plans ended with hospital treatments or a hysterical Yumichika . . . meanwhile Izuru’s face had gone from ‘doubtful’ to ‘fearful’. His blond hair covered half his expression well, but it was hard to miss the nervous smile or twitching facial movements.
Renji just grunted and ignored the look. He loved Izuru to pieces but he wasn’t going to pay attention to him, if they listened to all of his friend’s worries they’d be living in a plastic bubble unable to play even a jigsaw in case the ‘sharp’ edges hurt them. He just worried way too much and was unable to take risks, he needed to loosen up and have some fun! That fun would start with sneaking out the house, having a few drinks, singing some karaoke, beating up some kids in the dojo, annoying Kurosaki, and then seeing where the night would take them. Kira would loosen up once he had a few drinks in his system, and then they could have some real fun. Hell, they could even invite Uryu along and convince him to drink a little, because it’d definitely be fun to see that guy let go!
He was aware that he was smiling a little manically at the thought of Uryu only when he caught his friends’ expressions, which consisted of Ikkaku looking rather disgusted and Izuru looked somewhat frightened. They probably hadn’t seen him looking so lovesick since Yumichika, and there was no way they’d expected his next romantic interest to be over the rather effeminate, geeky, bookworm named Ishida. True, it was a huge step up from the narcissistic, self-centred, cruel git Yumichika – no offence meant to Ikkaku, of course – but it was still an unexpected direction to take.
Renji didn’t care though if Ishida didn’t have that mainstream beauty, or if his interests were more geeky and into books and sewing than drinking and partying, and he didn’t even care if the guy had weird issues with his father or proving himself to the world. To him Uryu was the guy that wouldn’t get bored of him, who wouldn’t stop halfway through sex to go to sleep or ignore his phone calls because he’d met someone better, he was an honest guy who’d never let him down and always tell him straightforward what was going on. He’d never have to worry what Uryu was thinking because he wasn’t two-faced like that, he’d be honest and say ‘leave me alone’ or just tell him, none of that pussyfooting around stuff. That’s what he needed. He needed someone loyal, honest and less wild. He needed that stability and calmness, that person to pull him back and make him a better person. That might have been weird considering he was still so young, but he didn’t care, he didn’t care because Uryu was special, he was someone worth changing for, and he wanted change for him. He wanted to be with Uryu. That didn’t mean he would change who he was as a person, but he could certainly tone down his wilder aspects, couldn’t he?
He sighed dreamily and then checked the corridor again, “Right, I’m going for it.”
In one very, very slow movement he lifted his leg and aimed very precisely for the spot on the floorboards that didn’t creak, lowering his leg expertly like a ninja as he held his breath, waiting for that moment of relief when no sound came and he knew he was on the right path. He was nearly there, nearly connecting with the floor, when the booming sound of his father’s voice echoed from downstairs:
“Renji-kun, I hope you’re not stepping foot outside your room!”
“Err – n-no, Dad! I was just . . . err . . . stretching my legs!”
Renji closed the door quickly shut and glared at Ikkaku who had burst out into laughter behind him, virtually rolling over as he found it hysterical how Kisuke knew his son so well that he knew – even to the second – when Renji would dare to try something stupid. Izuru simply let out a long sigh of breath and wandered his way across to the middle of the room, he crashed down onto one of the heavy throw pillows and made himself comfortable. Renji merely booted the door hard and followed Ikkaku over to the pillows and sat down too, mentally counting the ways he could possibly escape without his overly annoying father finding out.
“Ah, damn it Renji,” Ikkaku laughed as he collapsed onto a pile of pillows, “and here I was thinking Zaraki-sensei was bad! You’d be better off in a prison!”
“Shut it, will ya?”
“Err, guys?” Kira said shakily . . .
There was a sudden silence as they looked at Kira then – in unison – all turned their heads to follow his gaze to the window, where a hand was waving at them, then began rapping on the window pane . . . It was kind of eerie, and poor Izuru looked white as a sheet and ready to collapse in fright, whilst Ikkaku was right away on the defensive, picking up his kendo stick and jumping into a crouching position.
Renji looked over suspiciously only to see Rukia’s head pop up as she fiddled with the window, before sliding it upwards open and climbing inside, with Momo following behind her. It wasn’t an unusual sight, Rukia always seemed to climb in through windows, especially at Ichigo’s place, she’d been that way since they were kids and could climb trees better than all the lads in the orphanage. He was willing to bet that she’d probably climbed up onto the van parked outside and used that to climb in through the window, but he knew better than to try and use that as an escape route out . . . last time Kisuke had moved the van at the very last minute and put down a paddling pool filled with paint, which Renji had then unknowingly fell into. Kisuke had promised to keep letting Rukia in through that way, but threatened that next time they’d be itching powder added to the paint, and Renji could easily believe it.
Ikkaku groaned at the sight of the two girls and collapsed back down, whilst Izuru jumped up and greeted Momo enthusiastically and began gossiping with Rukia about the latest parties. It figured really, Izuru was practically a girl himself. Renji was grateful that his parents still allowed his friends to visit, but at the same time things felt rather dull . . . Kisuke had confiscated Ikkaku’s alcohol – hidden in opaque cola bottles – and banned quite a few people from the house, including Uryu (for obvious reasons) and Ichigo temporally (for Grimmjow related ones). It just wasn’t a great night unless there was booze and a large group of you! Still, it was better than nothing, and he was grateful to have his friends around . . . but it still would have been a lot better if Uryu had been there. He couldn’t help but wonder what Uryu was doing.
“Yo! Renji! Stop being a brat and say hello!”
Renji blinked a few times and looked up at a glaring Rukia and giggling Momo, then sighed and waved his hand a few times to signal for them to sit down. “Sorry guys, why don’t you sit down and join us? There’s a tray of cakes and tea over there, Tessai-Otousan brought them up a while ago . . . just avoid all the biscuits, he kind of forgot which were meant for us and which for Hirako-san, and Hirako-san’s were laced with laxatives.”
“What!” Ikkaku called out, booting Renji hard in his side, causing the redhead to lose his breath. “Thanks for the warning, you punk-ass bastard! I’ve already eaten two of those!”
“Yeah, well, are you shitting blood? No. So no harm done, right?”
Rukia and Momo shared a subtle glance and sighed. Men . . . it made Rukia feel entirely grateful that she was dating Hanataro, because if she’d ended up with the likes of Renji she’d probably be miserable. They just seemed so violent and so angry all the time, competing like little kids over the most stupid of things, and no one ever really seemed to talk to one another. It was like how Renji had been furious with Ikkaku, well and truly upset, but did he say anything? Like hell he did, and yet here they were playing around like best friends, as if nothing had even happened!
It didn’t make any sense to her. It made her wonder if her brother was right, if these friends really were a bad influence, but then if they were at least she recognised it and knew it for what it was. If anything she was the good influence. She was the one making sure that they didn’t kill themselves over stupid stuff, even if it did mean risking her sanity on a few occasions.
“What exactly did you call us here for?” Rukia snapped as she glanced at her watch. “Orihime, Tatsuki and some others are meeting us at the mall in an hour, you said this was life and death important.”
“Oh, it’s . . . err . . . well you know how it is, right?”
“I swear, Renji, if this is something stupid I’m going to kill you!”
Renji coughed loudly, choking on the air itself. She was right; he had said it was important, hadn’t he? It wasn’t that it was life and death per se, it was just that . . . well . . . he’d been asked to do a favour for Ichigo and he wasn’t sure he was able to do it, and Ichigo had been his best friend since what felt like forever and a day, and – at the time – it’d felt like a life or death situation. He’d been terrified of letting Ichigo down, but at the same time he just knew he couldn’t do the favour either, and so he’d instinctively rang Rukia, the one mutual friend who’d know what to do and do it no matter what. She was loyal to a fault, kind and considerate to everyone, and – although it seemed like he was taking advantage – he’d asked for her help because he knew she’d give it.
The thing was that Grimmjow had planned this special weekend for Ichigo near the beach. All of Ichigo’s friends and family would drive up to Aizen’s beach-house (which Grimmjow had rented for the holiday) and spend Friday night to Monday morning there. From what Grimmjow had said most of the weekend for Ichigo and his nearest and dearest would be spent camping in the mountains, whilst those not so close to him would chill out at the beach-house, then Sunday day everyone would get together on the beach, relishing in the sand and surf. Renji didn’t want to ask where the jerk got the money from, but seeing as how it was a Vizard who broke his arm and a Vizard who was dating Aizen it was easy to put two and two together . . .
So there Grimm was, booking this wonderful weekend camping holiday and beach trip, when he realised ‘oh, I don’t know any of Ichigo’s pals’, so he’d rang Renji and asked Renji to organise a guest list. He’d nearly flipped out when he’d been asked that! Grimmjow had beaten him to a pulp and now he wanted his help? Screw that! He’d been half-tempted to invite a butt-load of people Ichigo hated to blow things up in Grimmjow’s face, but Ichigo was his friend . . . he didn’t want to screw his friend over just to get back at that dick, it wasn’t fair. The only solution he could find was to arrange things with Izuru and Rukia, using them both as a sounding board and to make sure his choices were good. Grimmjow hadn’t given him a limit on how many people, the beach-house was practically a mansion, but only so many could go on the camping trip itself. His job was just to pick the beach-house invites, and Grimmjow would narrow it down when the time came.
The problem was that he knew Rukia probably wouldn’t see this as being so important as he did. Sure she’d understand his desire to get revenge was conflicting with his desire to help, but her idea would just be ‘suck it up and deal with it’, and where that may have been a good plan in theory it just didn’t work in practise. He hated Grimmjow, truly and utterly loathed him, and the very last thing he wanted to do was help the asshole.
It was Kira who broke the silence with a short little cough and an innocent smile, “We kind of need some help with the guest list for Ichigo’s surprise party . . . Grimmjow only really knows Renji, so he thought that Renji would be able to invite all the right people, b-but we are kind of confused about just who to ask.”
“You brought us here to help you out with a bunch of invites? Damn it, Renji! You know who all of Ichigo’s friends are, you don’t need us to help you with that!”
“Well,” Kira continued for his friend, “we – we can invite as many people as we like, be-because they can stay at the beach-house, and Grimmjow will arrange the list for the camping trip himself . . . We will all meet at the beach-house on Friday, then Grimmjow will take Ichigo and some family and friends camping, then we’ll meet on Sunday at the beach for a large party, then go home Monday morning . . .”
“And you need me why?”
“Be-because we don’t know who to invite . . .”
Rukia sighed and hung her head. There was no point trying to reason with them, there never was, these boys were always the same and she just knew that if she saw the list so far it’d be a joke. She was just willing to bet the list would entirely comprise of ‘Renji, Izuru, Ikkaku’ – only because he was there with them so he would be hard to forget – ‘and Rukia’.
She slid the paper over from in front of Izuru and looked down at it, and yes, she had been right . . . except Ikkaku had scribbled Yumichika’s name down too, and each time Izuru had tried to write Ichimaru’s Renji had crossed it off, and that was followed by a huge section of ‘Ichimaru’ ‘Uryu’ alternating with scribbles through each name. Damn it, they hadn’t even put down phone numbers or addresses, and the party was in a week’s time. It wasn’t fair. Renji knew that Rukia loved him and Ichigo to pieces, and that if either one of them needed her she’d support them fully, so just how was she supposed to say no to this? Oh, and it’d be up to her too to find everyone’s contact details, because boys being boys would only say ‘huh, we don’t have Keigo’s number, we can’t invite him’, and no one would think of asking Mizuho or Tatsuki! She shot a death glare to Renji and then snatched the pen from in front of Ikkaku, turned over the piece of paper and jotted down the names of everyone in the room, and used her phone to write down their numbers. Then gave Renji another ‘you owe me’ glance and continued.
“Okay, so we’ll have to invite Keigo, Mizuho, Orihime and Tatsuki, because they’ve been his friends since he was a child,” Rukia said, writing down their names, “then there’s Chad and Uryu, obviously.”
“Hey!” Ikkaku snapped, hitting the list hard with his kendo stick. “You can’t leave out Yumi from the list, that’s not fair!”
“Yumichika isn’t friends with Ichigo!”
“Yeah, but if Renji gets to bring his boyfriend, then so do I!”
“No! If we invite Ayasegawa-san then we’d have to invite Ichimaru-sensei too, and no one wants him there!”
“I do,” Kira said sheepishly.
Rukia growled under her breath and clenched her pen tightly. This was supposed to be Ichigo’s party and these idiots were making it all about themselves! Still, she supposed they could use Ichimaru and Yumichika to transport some of the guests, after all they both had cars and licenses, so they could use them to car pool. That seemed fair. Right, so fine, they could go on the damned, stupid list. They’d only be stuck in the beach house all weekend whilst Ichigo went camping anyway, he wouldn’t even know they were there, and if he did see them on Sunday she could just lie and say ‘oh, they really care about you and wanted to be here too!’ Still, it’d just be so much easier if these idiots just grew up.
“Okay, Ichimaru-sensei and Ayasegawa can come, but they have to give lifts to those people invited who don’t drive! It’s only fair,” she glared at Ikkaku as she said this, daring him to disagree. “So then we have to invite Hanataro and Ganju, because they’re close with Ichigo too. Oh, and Hirako-san and Urahara-san –”
“No way!” Renji screamed. “I’m not having my dad at the party! That’d just be so humiliating and –”
“Urahara-san is Ichigo’s friend, so just suck it up, Renji! Besides, if he brings Jinta and Ururu then they can keep Karin, Yuzu and Toshiro company.”
“You’re inviting Toshiro too?”
“Well, we can’t invite Momo but not invite her cousin,” Rukia said slowly, thinking things over. “So we should invite Rangiku-san too, because she’s Toshiro’s guardian, and maybe we should invite Aizen-sama too because he was kind enough to let Grimmjow use his beach-house.”
The moment Rukia said the name Renji knew what was coming . . . Momo had an undying love for Aizen since she first saw his photograph in a magazine, and she was desperate to work for his law-firm once she’d finished university, although she was hoping to get in as his personal assistant once high school was over. Already she’d clasped her hands together and was looking pleadingly at Renji, her dark eyes large and wide, gazing at him with complete love and admiration. There was a faint blush to her cheeks and she was making a little whining noise in her throat, like she really couldn’t contain her excitement.
Rukia was just gazing away to one side, probably thankful that Momo wasn’t squealing or screaming, and hoping to God that Renji would just accept it, because the moment he said ‘no’ or questioned it Momo would flip out. It amused him how Izuru had an ‘oh boy’ look on his face as he looked away too, like it was so stupid to be so obsessed over one man, and it was so hypocritical considering Gin was literally his reason for living . . . as far as he knew he’d stuck Gin’s number on his phone as ‘Mizuho’ and convinced the young boy to lie for him should he ever get questioned. That way his parents wouldn’t realise that the fifty texts a day were to his boyfriend, not his friend. He’d thought that Momo had been obsessive in writing to Aizen at least once a week, but she had nothing on Izuru! Renji was still debating whether to tell Rukia to stuff that suggestion or not when Ikkaku nudged him hard in his ribs, and judging from the look on Ikkaku’s face even he didn’t think it was worth the hassle. He took a deep breath and shrugged.
“Yeah, sure,” he conceded.
“Great!” Rukia chirped. “So now we have Keigo, Mizuho, Orihime, Chad, Uryu, Renji, Ikkaku, Yumichika, Hanataro, Ganju and myself,” she furrowed her eyebrows as she realised the list was getting a little extensive, “Kira and Gin, Momo, Toshiro, Rangiku-san, Hirako-san and Aizen-sama, Urahara-san, Tessai-san, Jinta, Ururu . . . Then Ichigo’s dad and two sisters . . . So that’s –” she quickly did the math in her head “– twenty-five people! Twenty-seven with Ichigo and Grimmjow!”
“Oh!” Renji jumped up as he realised something. “You forgot Nelliel, Grimmjow’s little sister! Hey, she’ll probably need some friends to play with too.”
“Well,” Kira said, curling into himself as everyone stared at him, waiting to hear what he would say, “I know a friend of Gin’s who has a little boy, he plays with Nel all the time. I could invite him and his parents.”
Rukia shook her head and slid the paper over to Izuru who wrote down the details.
“Oh! What about Sensei’s daughter?” Ikkaku offered. “Pass that here, Izuru, I’ll write down Zaraki-sensei’s details too.”
“So now we have thirty-three people?” Rukia asked.
Ikkaku slid back the paper over to her as she began wondering who to cut from the list. Weren’t Ichimaru, Tousen and Aizen in charge of Grimmjow’s place of work? Would he really want them there? Then Karin, Yuzu, Toshiro, Jinta, Ururu, Yachiru, Nelliel and Wonderweiss, all together, on a beach with sugary snacks and hot weather . . . It wasn’t that she disliked children, but would Ichigo really be happy coming down onto the beach after camping for a few nights and being ambushed by a gaggle of children? She certainly wouldn’t. Then there was the fact Ganju and Yumichika hated one another, that Uryu and Renji would be kept apart by Kisuke, that she was pretty sure – from what her brother said – that Zaraki and Tousen despised one another as well . . .
Wait! Grimmjow had said to invite as many people as they wanted, but did he realise just how many friends Ichigo had? Maybe he just wanted a quiet weekend away with his boyfriend and some close relatives, he couldn’t possibly expect a small army to arrive! It would be such a shame if they were actually spoiling a romantic getaway or something. Then again how often was it that they all got together? Aizen’s holiday home was guaranteed to be at least the same size as her brother’s holiday homes too, because they both earned similar amounts, so as long as a few people were willing to share a room as a group they’d be okay, right? There had to be around ten bedrooms at least, which would mean around three-four people in a room and . . . oh dear. They would be practically camping out themselves at this rate, unless maybe they invited onii-sama or Lady Yoruichi – she was certain they both had holiday homes in the area too! Byakuya’s was only six miles down the same stretch of beach, and Yoruichi’s was next door to Aizen’s. She knew because Byakuya and Lady Yoruichi had brought their houses always purposely near one another, for safety and companionship, and Aizen had purposely brought houses near the two to annoy them and flaunt his wealth. Three houses should be enough for so many guests, right?
“We should invite onii-sama and Lady Yoruichi too,” she said in a rather solemn voice, “that way we can use their holiday homes in the area too, and then we know everyone will have a place to sleep.”
Renji scoffed loudly, “Yeah? Your brother won’t let my family stay with him, so whilst Uryu is living it up with Kuchiki-sama I’m going to be tormented over at Yoruichi’s! Its like Romeo and Juliet! Are you trying to keep us apart?”
“Look, it’s the best I can do!” Rukia shouted. “So that’s thirty-five people, and we will have to invite Ishida-san, Soi Fon and Nemu too in that case . . . Oh! Then Ukitake-sensei is great friends with Ichigo, so then we’d need Kyoraku-sensei and we can’t really ignore Unohana-sensei in that case . . . Do you think Kukaku Shiba would want to come too?”
“So that’s . . . forty-one people?”
“Forty-two,” Ikkaku chimed in. “Your counting sucks, Abarai.”
“It’ll be fine!” Rukia said cheerfully, “Maybe we can round it up to a round fifty?”
Renji glanced down at the list and felt a little bead of sweat form at his forehead. It seemed a little too much, but he trusted Rukia’s judgement and Grimmjow had said to invite as many of Ichigo’s friends and family as they liked, and if it was too much wouldn’t Rukia had stopped them and made them narrow the list down? Great, now Rukia and Izuru were getting extra sheets of papers with ‘Kuchiki’ ‘Shihoin’ and ‘Aizen’ written at the top of each, subdividing those into how many rooms each house had and who was staying where!
Seriously, when you needed to borrow two extra mansions and plan out a room chart didn’t that mean you’d gone overboard somewhere? Maybe it was because Izuru’s parents were quite wealthy, or that Rukia was practically nobility, but they didn’t seem the least bit phased at all. Momo was there wide-eyed and blinking a lot, Ikkaku seemingly drooling at the prospect of having more money than sense, and Renji couldn’t even picture that much space or that many people. All he caught was little snippets like ‘oh, well the Urahara family would have to stay with Shihoin’ and ‘no way, Tousen and Zaraki would kill each other!’, and the best one was ‘fine, if you want to stick Nelliel and Yachiru that close together then you sleep next door to them!’ He noted how – in a very strange occurrence – Ichigo and Grimmjow’s room was in Byakuya’s house, with all the respectful and quiet guests, whilst Ichigo’s father was apparently babysitting Nelliel over in one of the other houses. It was pretty mind-blowing and no way was he getting involved in this planning process, as far as he was concerned his job was simply sending out invites over the phone with Ikkaku and that was it. Grimmjow was going to die when all these people showed up, that was for sure . . . crap! That would be after he killed Renji of course.
“– really going to do that? Wouldn’t Zaraki-sensei want to sleep in Kuchiki-sama’s room, Rukia?”
“Huh?” Rukia asked.
Renji jumped out of his thoughts to see the lists almost complete except for Zaraki and one or two others, every other name was crossed off and in their allocated ‘room’, and Ikkaku and Momo were busy dialling numbers (although ten-thousand yen said that Momo would be calling Aizen’s). Kira was just looking blankly at Rukia as she stared at him wide-eyed and confused.
“Why would Zaraki-sensei sleep there? Onii-sama is bound to come, so he’d be sleeping in his bedroom. It wouldn’t be proper for another man to share the master bedroom with the host.”
“But aren’t they dating? It was all anyone spoke about at Aizen-sama’s last party, Hisagi-san was even gossiping about it over dinner last night with my parents. Rumour has it that Matsumoto-san caught them at it in the dojo last week, and everyone knows that Abarai-kun caught them kissing a fortnight ago whilst he was doing some part-time work for Kuchiki-sama.”
“What?”
Uh-oh! Renji flung himself over the cushions and dashed for the door, he was already halfway down the stairs when he heard Rukia screaming loudly after him, and she was a fast runner too, she was already on his tail! There was no way in hell he was slowing down for even a second, and his parents would forgive him providing he ran to Yoruichi’s or something, somewhere safe that was fun-free. He’d call them and ask for forgiveness and they’d understand, seeing as it was being grounded or being killed by Rukia.
“Renji! Get back here!”
He would have gotten away too . . . if Jinta hadn’t tripped him up on the bottom step.
That bastard.
* * *
Tousen listened carefully to the sounds around him.
Aizen’s home was startlingly quiet aside from the occasional beeps of his answering machine, followed by the slightly strained voice of Kisuke speaking on behalf of one Hirako-san. These messages were interspersed with slightly angrier tones of Hiyori and Shinji himself, and neither had very positive things to say, it would probably do nothing but amuse Aizen-sama, but these messages needed addressing. They were disheartening and could not be good for Gin to hear. The young man needed stability right now, and a healthy example of what a relationship should be, he was already on a dangerously unsteady path and it would not do him well to be around such hostility. He may wear a smile, but that did not fool Kaname.
He could not see such superficial things; he could not tell whether Gin smiled or not, he could not tell what colours the man wore, or what mannerisms he had, but he could always hear that bitter edge to his voice, that scornful mocking that bled into most of his sentences. It seemed as if the younger man was never happy, never content, and the way he teased and joked seemed to confirm that, as if he could only be happy by making others miserable.
Gin often described himself as a snake, a cold being with no concern over whom he hurt, but Kaname doubted that. There were times when he could be exceedingly thoughtful or patient, often without consciously doing so, and times when he would appear genuinely hurt by what others had said to him or by the actions he chose to take. It was clear that the man had a soul, that he felt things as acutely as the rest of them, if not then more so, but why he chose to act so cold and aloof Kaname could not understand. If he would only open up in the manner that his friends and co-worked could then he would not be in such a predicament, he would have been able to discuss his problems without having to resort to apparent starvation. It was not something that Kaname could understand, especially when Gin was still lying to Kira about the severity of his problems. He worried on behalf of the blond for when he would find out the truth.
Outside he could hear Aizen’s chauffer preparing the car, and Gin shuffling to and fro on the other side of the room. Kaname was sitting across the room, typing upon a specially designed laptop, and listening carefully for the click of the keys and the sounds in his left earpiece. There was a sudden rustle from by Gin then warmth on his hand, it felt as if the younger man had opened the curtains, and it was a very sunny day outside. There was then a shuffling of paper and a heavy thud upon what sounded like the sofa, evidently Gin was sitting down and – by the sound of the scratching – was attempting to write something.
“Yo, Kaname,” Gin asked a little too casually for Tousen’s liking. “What’s the kanji for ‘pizza’?”
Kaname froze for a moment in his paperwork and listed across the room. The sound of writing had stopped but there was a rhythmic tapping on pen on paper as Gin waited. He tried to quickly work out why Gin would wish to know such a thing, but gave up after a few seconds, after all with Gin it was hard telling even the simplest of things as his motivations could be so complex. He turned back to his computer and resumed typing.
“I cannot read kanji Gin, I am blind,” he said calmly. “I would hazard a guess that it has no kanji however, and recommend you to use katakana. Why do you ask?”
“Ja, well Unohana-sensei wants me t’ keep a food diary, so I’m writing down that I had pizza for breakfast.”
“Are you aware of how many calories pizza has, Gin?”
“Yeah, I know what ya thinkin’,” Gin said in a rather singsong voice. “You think it ain’t realistic ‘cause why would an anorexic man eat something so fattening? Well I figured I’ll say I had Aizen’s leftovers from last night, and ‘cause it’s fattening she won’t question why I ain’t eaten for the rest o’ today. Smart, ain’t I?”
“I believe that a food diary fails to work the moment you lie.”
“Yeah, well shows what you know, don’t it?”
It was clear that Gin had normalised his behaviour and saw no harm in it. It would be a very hard challenge for Unohana to convince the silver-haired man that he had a problem, and he knew that treatment could not truly begin until Gin accepted his issues and found the courage to address them head on. It would be difficult but it needed to be done, if they left this too long then he would be in serious danger, and it was likely Unohana and Aizen would see fit to hospitalise him for treatment. Gin was playing a dangerous game if he wanted to keep his freedom, and he would do better to comply with Unohana rather than fight her. Doctors were very dangerous people to cross, but Unohana was perhaps one of the worst.
Kaname sighed and closed his laptop carefully and rubbed between his eyes. The Arrancar had been behaving quite well recently, especially – and most suspiciously – the Espada law firm, and what with Wonderweiss at school and Sajin at work his day was reduced to paperwork and chaperoning Gin. Gin’s life consisted of trying to break away from Unohana’s therapy and seducing Kira, and Aizen was preoccupied with work, neither one seemed to notice a quite severe problem building right under their noses, and it was time to do something about it.
“Gin, I believe we have a problem.”
“Ja! I’m eatin’, I’m eatin’,” Gin whined.
Kaname listened to the sound of rustling and then a hard crunching sound, that made it clear Gin was either eating something or pretending to at least eat something. When he spoke next his voice was muffled and stifled, and it seemed as if he was eating after all, a good sign if not a very juvenile one.
“Ya think I should add this on ma list?”
“I was not referring to your eating disorder. I was referring to Aizen-sama and Hirako-san, if things escalate further we may find ourselves in a very dangerous predicament, we may lose profit on Arrancar.”
“Eh? How’d ya work that out?”
Kaname stood slowly from his seat and reached beside him for his workbag, and carefully placed away his Braille paperwork and laptop, purposely staying quiet as Gin worked himself up in anticipation.
He knew well that his silences annoyed Gin and aggravated him, but in all honesty that was part of the pleasure, however his main reason for such quiet moments was to teach Gin the value of language and give him time to think. Gin was highly intelligent and could communicate very well, he could use his words to run around people, manipulate them into believing what he wanted them to believe, and distract them from important tasks. The quiet threw him off, prevented him from taking control of the conversation, and allowed Kaname the vital moments he needed to plan ahead and express himself to Gin in a way he would appreciate.
After a few more seconds he walked across the room and waited by the door for Gin. The younger man eventually stood up and fished around for his papers, the rustling sounded quite loud and sporadic, it was possible that Gin had been planning some presentations and lectures for Aizen this morning before Kaname had arrived, and hence lost his diary for Unohana amongst his work. It was unusual, Gin tended to shake off all paperwork whenever possible, but if he was for once working then Kaname would not be the one to question it. He waited for the younger man to join him by his side, the sound of an engine outside stopped outside the house, and it was obvious that the car was waiting for them. What time was it now? He could only hope that they would be punctual for Gin’s appointment.
“Aizen-sama’s behaviour has greatly riled Hirako-san,” Kaname said as Gin fussed about beside him, “and last night Hirako-san retired to Urahara-san’s residence. It is public knowledge that they are dating, and my sources recently tell me that the Vizards have taken objection to the relationship, and as you will remember they own one of the largest publishing businesses in the world, they even release their magazines in over one-hundred-and-six countries.”
“Yeah? What’s ya point, Kaname?”
“All it takes is one small sentence in a gossip column, one carefully worded paragraph in the news section, and it could cost Arrancar a lot of business. There are some smart Vizards on staff, some which would know what facts to publish to avoid a lawsuit but still install a sense of distrust or scandal in the community. We need to avoid this; it would be best to create an amiable between Aizen-sama and Hirako-san. There is a holiday this weekend, is there not, in which Hirako-san and ourselves are invited?”
There was a long pause in which Gin seemed to be considering what had been said.
In honesty he’d been planning on declining the invitation on the basis that he wouldn’t be allowed to spend time with his boyfriend, what with so many witnesses and adults around to report back to Kira’s parents, and frankly unless his little Izuru-chan was there then there wasn’t any point in going. Still, it sounded as if Kaname had a plan of sorts and that man had a dangerous mind, anything he could come up with would have to be damned good and interesting. He might be bored for a whole weekend, but it’d be worth it to see what Kaname did.
“Yeah, it don’t sound like too much fun though . . .”
“Perhaps you would be more amused at the prospect if I were to tell you that I have a plan, Gin? I believe that if we secure Hirako-san and Aizen-sama in a room together we could organise an intervention, it may help cease hostilities and protect both the Arrancar company and the Vizard company.”
“Ya wan’ t’ get a bunch of us in a room to ambush Aizen and Hirako-san? It ain’t goin’ t’ work, and how ya goin’ t’ manage it anyway?”
“You shall have to wait and see,” Kaname replied suspiciously.
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