Post by Asuka Was Here on Oct 7, 2006 9:33:30 GMT -5
Wrote this up for Renji_Rukia's Summer Fanworks Contest. They really needed more fanfic entries, so I decided to help out. Honestly, canon pairing fluff just isn't my thing, but it got a decent reaction from the fans, so I suppose it can't be that bad.
Just for the record, I didn't win. Not that I mind; I didn't enter to win.
Title: A Beach Tree
Author: Asuka
Rating: PG-13 for profanity, smooching, and mild implications of potential sex in a tree.
Pairing/characters used: Renji/Rukia, Ikkaku, Rangiku, Yumichika, Hitsugaya
Notes: In which Renji and Rukia should be going on a beach trip with assorted shinigami buddies. Emphasis on the "should."
Warning(s): A few minor post-SS spoilers
Disclaimer: Bleach, all it's characters, yadda yadda yadda belong to Kubo Tite, yadda yadda yadda. (WHY? Why can't it all be MINE?)
"Oi! Abarai! Get your ass over here and help us, moron!" Came a somewhat distant shout from Ikkaku.
Renji came back from his (Rukia) daydreams with a jolt. "Yeah, fine, whatever. Buncha losers, you can't even lift that thing without me to help you out." He walked over and helped him hoist the heavy car-top cargo carrier on their rental car, all the while getting fried to a crisp by the mid-august heat.
"Dumbass. We could, if those two would quit lazin' around." He indicated Yumichika and Rangiku with a jerk of his head.
"I'm simply far too beautiful to perform hard manual labor," Yumichika stated with a flip of his hair and much sparkling.
"You know, boys, I think we were supposed to fill it up with our stuff after we stuck it to the top of the car," Rangiku noted as she flipped through the carrier's instruction manual, clad in a scant bikini top and shorts. "And I'm not 'lazing around,' I'm helping!" she noted indignantly.
"Yeah? How so?"
"By reading this thing. Unlike you, I don't think it's a horrible blow to my pride to read an instruction manual."
"We don't need a stupid book to tell us how to put a box on a car!"
"Then why did you try and latch it on sideways twice?"
Renji let his mind wander again while they argued. Here they were, packing for their special summer beach trip, and Rukia was nowhere to be found. Mind you, Hitsugaya hadn't shown up yet, either, but he wasn't the subject of Renji's thoughts. He wondered absentmindedly where she was until something heavy and painful clocked him in the head.
"What the..?" He looked around, then found the culprit at his feet: Rangiku's instruction manual. "What was that for!?" He shouted at her.
"Waking you up. We're gonna be late!" she said. Renji noted in the back of his brain that Hitsugaya-taichou had finally shown up somewhere in the course of his inner Rukia-centric dialogue.
"Really, Abarai-san, it isn't very beautiful to sit around with your head in the clouds," added Yumichika.
"But Rukia's not here yet!" He let the beautiful comment slide for now.
"Her problem, not ours," said Ikkaku. "If she can't get her ass out of bed and show up, she doesn't get to come. We're already a half hour late."
"Well, I'm not going without her," Renji stubbornly proclaimed. "Go on ahead, I'll find her and come over later with her."
"You sure 'bout that?"
"Yeah, don't worry. I'll find her soon."
"Your loss." And with that, Ikkaku started up the car and drove off... only to smack into a garbage can half a block down the street. Renji heard assorted yells and screams as the rest of the shinigami thought just a little too late to ask him if he actually had a driver's liscense. Oops.
Well, at least he wouldn't crash and die, Renji mused as he wandered off to seek out Rukia. Girl sure had a bad sense of when to sleep in. If that's what she was doing.
After an hour and thirty depressing minutes of checking all the places he thought she might be - Ichigo's house, Urahara Shoten, Karakura High, and so on - Renji was about to give up. Walking along a sidewalk in a park on his way back, though, he heard a small voice call out.
"Renji?"
He looked up. In all of his attempts to locate her, he forgot to check the one place she seemed to love most - a tree. And there Rukia sat, on a thick branch halfway up, drinking some of that odd beverage called a juicebox.
"Rukia! What the hell're you doin' up there? You went and missed the beach trip so you could play squirrel and drink fruit juice?" Rukia grinned in that coy smile she always used when teasing him. The one that Renji always said was stupid, but secretly loved to see.
"Well, you seem to have been playing around and missed it, too."
"I was looking for you," he ground out, annoyed now.
"Is that so? Well, now you found me. So why don't you come up here?"
"As if I'd want to play games with you and your dumb stuffed animals in a tree." He was out to bug her, now.
"Right. I know you're just afraid of heights, Renji."
A deliberate challenge. Now he had to protect his dignity; he scrambled up awkwardly into the tree next to her, wondering why she loved tree climbing so much. She handed him a juicebox, and he attempted with no luck to stick in the straw. She snatched it back. "Stupid. It takes great skill and expertise to get to the juice inside. A novice like you could never properly accomplish it," and stuck her tongue out. He sipped his juicebox, fuming, and tried to start a more peaceful conversation. That is, one that didn't strike so many blows to his manly pride.
"So what'd you hide up in a tree for, anyway?" he inquired.
"It's not so hot up here"
"Sure. You probably just wanted to get me to come after you so you could cause trouble for me."
She smiled again - this time, a very different smile, full of mischief. "And what if I did?" she kissed him gently on the cheek and felt him turn red underneath her lips. "But not to make trouble."
"Rukia," was all he could say.
Many hours later, as Renji and Rukia wandered down towards Urahara Shouten - a.k.a. That-Place-Where-Renji-Kept-Freeloading - a shout caught their attention. "You stood us up, Abarai!" It was Ikkaku and the rest, back from the beach. They were all thoroughly sunburnt and nursing a few scratches, yet somehow looking like they had the time of their lives. One could only guess at the identity of the smushed, crashed, banged and dented vehicle behind them - it certainly wasn't recognizable at all. Apparently, Rangiku was an even worse driver than Ikkaku.
"Yeah, and it looks like I'll be much healthier for it," he responded, grinning. "Took me awhile to find Rukia." He put his arm around her shoulder.
"Well, if Matsumoto could drive, maybe we wouldn't be so injured." The pair used the ensuing argument to slink off. Three blocks later, they could still hear Yumichika informing them how unbeautiful they were and Rangiku and Ikkaku chewing each other out.
"Hey, Renji, it's your birthday soon, isn't it?" Rukia asked, holding his arm as they continued walking along.
"Yeah, I guess it is. What about it?" He didn't really care what about it, so long as she kept holding onto his arm like that. He didn't mind that her skin was warm, though it was still hot out even with the sun sinking into a beautiful sunset. She was very cozy, he thought, and he swore to himself that he would never, ever, ever admit that to her.
"Maybe we could do something," she smiled as they arrived at their destination. "Like... go to the beach?"
He only grinned.
Well, there you have it. And no, I haven't even decided for myself if the big gap in the story actually involves sex or not - I've decided to leave it to you guys to decide, I suppose. Although I would
imagine sex in a tree to be somewhat uncomfortable, especially when it's in a park. Ah, well, maybe the heat kept the people away. ^^'
Hope you enjoyed.
Just for the record, I didn't win. Not that I mind; I didn't enter to win.
Title: A Beach Tree
Author: Asuka
Rating: PG-13 for profanity, smooching, and mild implications of potential sex in a tree.
Pairing/characters used: Renji/Rukia, Ikkaku, Rangiku, Yumichika, Hitsugaya
Notes: In which Renji and Rukia should be going on a beach trip with assorted shinigami buddies. Emphasis on the "should."
Warning(s): A few minor post-SS spoilers
Disclaimer: Bleach, all it's characters, yadda yadda yadda belong to Kubo Tite, yadda yadda yadda. (WHY? Why can't it all be MINE?)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Oi! Abarai! Get your ass over here and help us, moron!" Came a somewhat distant shout from Ikkaku.
Renji came back from his (Rukia) daydreams with a jolt. "Yeah, fine, whatever. Buncha losers, you can't even lift that thing without me to help you out." He walked over and helped him hoist the heavy car-top cargo carrier on their rental car, all the while getting fried to a crisp by the mid-august heat.
"Dumbass. We could, if those two would quit lazin' around." He indicated Yumichika and Rangiku with a jerk of his head.
"I'm simply far too beautiful to perform hard manual labor," Yumichika stated with a flip of his hair and much sparkling.
"You know, boys, I think we were supposed to fill it up with our stuff after we stuck it to the top of the car," Rangiku noted as she flipped through the carrier's instruction manual, clad in a scant bikini top and shorts. "And I'm not 'lazing around,' I'm helping!" she noted indignantly.
"Yeah? How so?"
"By reading this thing. Unlike you, I don't think it's a horrible blow to my pride to read an instruction manual."
"We don't need a stupid book to tell us how to put a box on a car!"
"Then why did you try and latch it on sideways twice?"
Renji let his mind wander again while they argued. Here they were, packing for their special summer beach trip, and Rukia was nowhere to be found. Mind you, Hitsugaya hadn't shown up yet, either, but he wasn't the subject of Renji's thoughts. He wondered absentmindedly where she was until something heavy and painful clocked him in the head.
"What the..?" He looked around, then found the culprit at his feet: Rangiku's instruction manual. "What was that for!?" He shouted at her.
"Waking you up. We're gonna be late!" she said. Renji noted in the back of his brain that Hitsugaya-taichou had finally shown up somewhere in the course of his inner Rukia-centric dialogue.
"Really, Abarai-san, it isn't very beautiful to sit around with your head in the clouds," added Yumichika.
"But Rukia's not here yet!" He let the beautiful comment slide for now.
"Her problem, not ours," said Ikkaku. "If she can't get her ass out of bed and show up, she doesn't get to come. We're already a half hour late."
"Well, I'm not going without her," Renji stubbornly proclaimed. "Go on ahead, I'll find her and come over later with her."
"You sure 'bout that?"
"Yeah, don't worry. I'll find her soon."
"Your loss." And with that, Ikkaku started up the car and drove off... only to smack into a garbage can half a block down the street. Renji heard assorted yells and screams as the rest of the shinigami thought just a little too late to ask him if he actually had a driver's liscense. Oops.
Well, at least he wouldn't crash and die, Renji mused as he wandered off to seek out Rukia. Girl sure had a bad sense of when to sleep in. If that's what she was doing.
After an hour and thirty depressing minutes of checking all the places he thought she might be - Ichigo's house, Urahara Shoten, Karakura High, and so on - Renji was about to give up. Walking along a sidewalk in a park on his way back, though, he heard a small voice call out.
"Renji?"
He looked up. In all of his attempts to locate her, he forgot to check the one place she seemed to love most - a tree. And there Rukia sat, on a thick branch halfway up, drinking some of that odd beverage called a juicebox.
"Rukia! What the hell're you doin' up there? You went and missed the beach trip so you could play squirrel and drink fruit juice?" Rukia grinned in that coy smile she always used when teasing him. The one that Renji always said was stupid, but secretly loved to see.
"Well, you seem to have been playing around and missed it, too."
"I was looking for you," he ground out, annoyed now.
"Is that so? Well, now you found me. So why don't you come up here?"
"As if I'd want to play games with you and your dumb stuffed animals in a tree." He was out to bug her, now.
"Right. I know you're just afraid of heights, Renji."
A deliberate challenge. Now he had to protect his dignity; he scrambled up awkwardly into the tree next to her, wondering why she loved tree climbing so much. She handed him a juicebox, and he attempted with no luck to stick in the straw. She snatched it back. "Stupid. It takes great skill and expertise to get to the juice inside. A novice like you could never properly accomplish it," and stuck her tongue out. He sipped his juicebox, fuming, and tried to start a more peaceful conversation. That is, one that didn't strike so many blows to his manly pride.
"So what'd you hide up in a tree for, anyway?" he inquired.
"It's not so hot up here"
"Sure. You probably just wanted to get me to come after you so you could cause trouble for me."
She smiled again - this time, a very different smile, full of mischief. "And what if I did?" she kissed him gently on the cheek and felt him turn red underneath her lips. "But not to make trouble."
"Rukia," was all he could say.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Many hours later, as Renji and Rukia wandered down towards Urahara Shouten - a.k.a. That-Place-Where-Renji-Kept-Freeloading - a shout caught their attention. "You stood us up, Abarai!" It was Ikkaku and the rest, back from the beach. They were all thoroughly sunburnt and nursing a few scratches, yet somehow looking like they had the time of their lives. One could only guess at the identity of the smushed, crashed, banged and dented vehicle behind them - it certainly wasn't recognizable at all. Apparently, Rangiku was an even worse driver than Ikkaku.
"Yeah, and it looks like I'll be much healthier for it," he responded, grinning. "Took me awhile to find Rukia." He put his arm around her shoulder.
"Well, if Matsumoto could drive, maybe we wouldn't be so injured." The pair used the ensuing argument to slink off. Three blocks later, they could still hear Yumichika informing them how unbeautiful they were and Rangiku and Ikkaku chewing each other out.
"Hey, Renji, it's your birthday soon, isn't it?" Rukia asked, holding his arm as they continued walking along.
"Yeah, I guess it is. What about it?" He didn't really care what about it, so long as she kept holding onto his arm like that. He didn't mind that her skin was warm, though it was still hot out even with the sun sinking into a beautiful sunset. She was very cozy, he thought, and he swore to himself that he would never, ever, ever admit that to her.
"Maybe we could do something," she smiled as they arrived at their destination. "Like... go to the beach?"
He only grinned.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Well, there you have it. And no, I haven't even decided for myself if the big gap in the story actually involves sex or not - I've decided to leave it to you guys to decide, I suppose. Although I would
imagine sex in a tree to be somewhat uncomfortable, especially when it's in a park. Ah, well, maybe the heat kept the people away. ^^'
Hope you enjoyed.
