Mina's Orange Rose

Knock…Knock…

A loud knocking sound was heard on Byakuya's door of his private quarters at the barracks. The noble’s brow furrowed as he sensed his fukutaichou's reiatsu. He stood, walking to the door and gracefully pulling it open to reveal tired, blood-shot eyes of the redhead as he looked up. "Abarai?" He said in a semi-concerned tone.

"T-taichou…" Renji said shakily. "Can…can I…" He sighed. "Can I talk to you about somethin'?"

Byakuya’s eyes flashed with concern before returning to their original emotionless state. “Of course,”

Renji sighed again and smiled sadly out of gratitude to the one he looked up to. “Arigatou,”

Nodding as he opened the door fully to let the other into the room, Byakuya gestured to the table in the corner with two seats. “Sit, I shall prepare tea and then we may talk.” He closed the door while letting his grey eyes follow the crimson haired fukutaichou walking to the small table then sitting down. The noble frowned when Renji buried his face in his hands and sighed. He wondered what the redhead was thinking or what had happened to make it seem as if Renji was going to break down. From the look in Renji’s red-brown eyes, he looked tired and very deeply troubled. Sadness was also evident on the man’s handsome features.

Byakuya walked to where he had a pot of water on a hot plate that he used instead of going to the kitchen when he was amidst of his work. He prepared the tea and poured two cups then carefully walked over to the table and sat the cups down. “Now, what was it you wanted to talk about?” He asked once he was seated and took a sip of his tea.

Renji kept his face buried in hands for a moment longer before sighing once more and letting his arms cross on the table. He couldn’t look directly at his taichou, so he settled for looking deep into his teacup while answering. “I…” He began and his hands grasped the sleeves of his shihakusho, threatening to tear it from his arms. He didn’t know how to tell the noble of what he had done. It was hard to even think about, let alone grasp that he had actually done it. “I-I…” He tried again but he was seriously shaken of what had happened that night. Why did it have to be him? Why did he have to do this? Why did he do this? “I-I killed Shuuhei…” He finally said quietly, sadness and heartbreak clearly etched upon his face.

Byakuya’s grey eyes grew wide, unsure if he actually heard correctly. “You…what?” He asked almost breathlessly with shock. His fukutaichou—Renji, killed another lieutenant--his best friend? That couldn’t be right. Hisagi was one of Renji’s closest friends next to Rukia.

Renji’s eyes snapped tightly shut. “I killed Shuuhei…” He repeated in a whisper. Tears stung behind his eyelids as his mind replayed the scene. “I didn’t mean to…but I did…”

The noble stared at him in disbelief. How…why? Byakuya wanted to know. He wanted to help…somehow. He wasn’t exactly sure why he wanted to help the redhead but he did. Also killing a fellow officer was a serious offense. He knew exactly what would happen if Soutaichou knew. “Why?”

Renji’s eyes shot open and he glared at his taichou. “It doesn’t matter why! I killed him! It doesn’t matter that he sold himself to someone he shouldn’t have and I was furious! I killed him! I killed one of my friends!” The redhead yelled, flushed, and panting after his sudden outburst. He was standing his palms flat on the table, his tea spilled over and now a small puddle on the floor.

Byakuya just stared wordlessly at the redhead, his cool grey eyes not blinking from the sight of the distressed man before him. He placed a slender hand on Renji’s shoulder. “Calm yourself and explain.” He admonished quietly, his taichou attitude coming into play as he spoke.

Renji nodded and sat back down and breathed deeply, unsure of where to start. He ran his large tanned hands over his face, contemplating where he should start his story. “I guess it started when I first came here with Rukia…we lost our friends, so we decided to become Shinigami for them...” He started to explain while looking out the window where the rain pounded on it. The sky seemed furious still, lightning and thunder filled the sky, seeming as it was releasing all of its pent up emotion. His gaze turned to the noble where he was cleaning the spilled tea and then getting the redhead a new cup. “Sorry, taichou.” He mumbled quietly.

“It is alright. You needed to get your emotions out.” Byakuya replied while setting the new cup of tea down. He understood, he would have done most likely the same if he wasn’t such a stickler for reining in his emotions so tightly within his grasp. In his youth he was always showing his emotions no matter what his family tried to do to keep it from coming out. It was when he finally became the clan leader he wasn’t keen on showing emotions anymore.

Renji took a sip of his tea unsure if his taichou really said such a thing. He always said that one shouldn’t show their emotions; that their hearts shouldn’t control everything. “But…”

The noble sat down in his seat with a raised brow. “But what?” He asked before sipping his tea. “Do you think just because I told you not to show emotion or allow them to cloud your judgment on the battlefield that you should not show them when you actually need to?”

“S-sir?” the redhead asked, perplexed.

Byakuya sighed, “Renji,” He said whilst looking down to his tea. His loyal subordinate could be so thick headed sometimes. “When I said that you shouldn’t show emotion, I meant on the field. Your emotions can be the one thing that can give the enemy your strategy away.”

Inked brows furrowed. “But with all due respect sir, you don’t show emotion at all; so why..?” He asked, forgetting for a moment what he was explaining.

“That is a bit different, I am a noble. Nobles are frowned upon who show such emotion. Therefore, now you know why I do not, and you shall not tell anyone.”

Renji’s eyes went slightly wide. “U-uh, right…” He responded, nodding. He was a little confused as to why the raven haired man was telling him this, but at least he had a bit more understanding. But one thing was for sure; Renji didn’t want to have to get cut up by Senbonzakura if he didn’t have to.

The noble nodded. “Now, you were saying how you were studying to become Shinigami..?”

The redhead’s eyes went from perplexed to depressed again; he didn’t exactly want to talk about it now. “R-right…” He looked out the window again. “We were coming to the Seireitei…but you know the entrance fee to Shino Academy?”

“Yes, I am sure it was not easy for you to get in because of it.” Byakuya acknowledged, taking a sip of his tea.

“Yeah, well we had to have the money given to us to get in.” Renji replied softly, his eyes reflecting distance as he thought back. “In Inuzuri there was a club owner… He gave us the money in exchange that we would help him from time to time with greeting and relaxation…”

“You mean a brothel.” The noble corrected.

Renji nodded and turned to look at Byakuya. “But a few weeks ago he broke that deal when he wanted Rukia and me to go back full time. He told us that the money wasn’t given and we owed him still.”

“Is that why Rukia has been uncomfortable for the past few weeks?” The noble asked. Rukia was more jittery at home and restless at work. He heard from her attendant and Ukitake-taichou that she seemed to be in a daze and always had a troubled look in her eye.

“Mhmm,” The redhead answered quietly. “She’s been going to the living world more often because of it too. She knew what he would do to her and she was worried you would look down on her so she never said anything.”

“I see,” He said and looked into his teacup. He felt a bit guilty for making his sister come to such assumption. “How does Hisagi-fukutaichou fit into this?”

Renji’s frown deepened and he too turned his face down to look into his tea. “H-he found out and said he would fix it. I told him to forget about it though. The owner is trouble and Shuu didn’t need to get involved… But he didn’t listen and went there anyway. He made a deal with the owner that if he resigned that he would go and work there in our place…”

Looking up from his tea, Byakuya glanced at Renji’s sorrowful expression. He really was hurting over this. His eyes held tears that wanted to spill onto his tanned cheeks and his hands tightened around his cup, threatening to break it. “Does Soutaichou know?”

Renji nodded again, still looking down to his cup. “Yeah, he’s looking into it…to really see if it was an accident.” He said shakily.