damned_institute | Day 28: Bus 2

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Day 28: Bus 2

The group hadn't made it to the Twin Pines before the nurses started ushering them back to the buses. Sanji didn't believe the small sack dinner he was handed would make up for the meal they would have had at the restaurant, and aside from that he'd still wanted to check the place out. Now he had no way of comparing it to what they served at the asylum and he couldn't help but wonder if the staff had planned it that way.

Somehow in the large crowd of patients and nurses he lost track of his crewmates, something that seemed to be occurring just as often as Usopp warned it would. He had their room numbers now, though. He would find them tonight if not before.

His dinner was eaten quickly and he found it lacking, but he wouldn't complain. What he really needed was a cigarette. Bringing it up on the walk down Main Street earlier had only made him think about it more, and now he was just irritable. He tapped a light broken rhythm on the plastic pane of his window, staring out at the other patients as they were loaded into the buses also.

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He frowned again at Byakuya using his name. It just sounded wrong, coming from the man. And then that question...

"She already understands my intentions," he said, his tone lowering to the dangerous quiet that normally heralded an explosion. "But they are honorable."

Byakuya nodded in response. "As I had expected. You understand, though, that it is a question worth asking." He wanted to be angry at the boy, as he had been earlier, but... he couldn't. And he was beginning to see why... though he'd not say it yet.

"You intend protect her, when she cannot protect herself?" he said, as though this were an interrogation; then again, one might say any meeting with a potential brother-in-law was an interrogation.

It was starting to get weird, and Renji couldn't quite put his finger on why. It was like going to pick up a box, and expecting it to be filled with stones, when it was instead filled with feathers. Unbalancing. There had to be a catch coming up, and soon.

But Byakuya's next question helped, because it was quite possibly the dumbest question Renji had ever been asked, in his life. His eyebrow twitched, and he turned his head enough to stare at Byakuya for a long moment, trying to see if the man was just making a stupid joke or something.

Finally, he said, "Yes," sounding almost exasperated. What else had he been doing but that, for almost his entire life?

Byakuya didn't even react. The answer was a given. Of course he would protect Rukia... it was one of the things he truly appreciated about Renji. She was safe with him.

That question, though, had merely been meant as a buffer. Renji was obviously growing irritated... and, such a comically obvious query served as a release. For the next question would likely generate far more irritation... and Byakuya preferred to avoid a situation in which his Lieutenant took a swing at him. On the whole.

On to it, then. "Do you believe you deserve her? That you are good enough for her?" he asked, suddenly tensing; he could not rely on his godlike speed in such a crowded area... or at all, since coming here. If Renji did swing at him, he'd have to block.

For a minute, he really did want to hit Byakuya. His muscles tensed, and it took more willpower than it should have to not just bring his fists to bear. But he held still until the feeling passed.

Renji had spent most of his life being honest about things. He wasn't going to change that now.

"No," he said. "I'm not. But she's made her choice." She knows everything, and she'll still let me stand with her. "I will stay at her side, I will make her happy, and I will fight, and bleed, and die for her." It was Daemon's words he echoed now. "That makes me worthy."

He looked at Byakuya levelly; the last sentence had been spoken as almost a challenge.

Byakuya turned to him, then, with a sharp, appraising look. He inspected Renji's features with a gaze so hard, it seemed to bore right into the soul. He looked... and he could find no lie in him. Everything about him, at that moment, spoke to the truth of his statement. And so, Byakuya gave a slow, weighty nod.

Looking Renji squarely in the eye, he spoke what were among the hardest words of his life. "Then... I approve."

As her brother, he would not try to drive Renji away. As his captain, he would not attempt to punish Renji for being insolent on the matter. As leader of the Kuchiki clan, he would endorse their marriage.

He thought he'd felt off balance before, but it was nothing compared to this. He'd gotten geared up for a fight that was suddenly absent, and he had no idea what to do now.

He managed to not sputter or say anything stupid like 'oh' or 'that's nice'; it required more self control than he'd realized he even had, and it made him feel a little light-headed, stunned.

But he bowed his head, briefly, since that was about as close as he could get to a proper bow while sitting in a moving vehicle, and said, "Thank you."

He hoped that Byakuya would go away soon. He couldn't have hysterics with the man sitting next to him.

Byakuya shook his head at the thanks. "Do not thank me, Renji. Thank her. Thank her for loving you. And make certain that she never has cause to doubt that you love her in return." His voice turned uncharacteristically soft, as he went on. "The life of a warrior is unpredictable... though I hardly need to tell you that. Your time together might end unexpectedly... make certain that, should that happen, you have no regrets."

Though he did his best to stop it from showing on his face, Byakuya felt... low. Emotionally low. Normally, he could ignore the Hisana-shaped hole in his heart, keep that pain down to a dull roar, but... well, there was just something about the happiness of others. Particularly Rukia...

Renji did his best not to stare at Byakuya; it wasn't polite to notice when another man was showing something so personal, after all. But he did watch the man out of the corner of his eye, trying to decide what to make of it.

Then it all made sense. Rukia had told Renji about Byakuya's wife.

It made him feel distinctly odd, though, to hear his captain speak of something so... human.

Renji said, "I understand." Though really, Rukia deserved more of that concern than him, he thought. If something happened to her, he'd no doubt be long dead beforehand.

[[from here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/251147.html?thread=18525963#t18660363)]]

As Allen approached, he could feel a bit of uneasy tension in the air. He didn't know the man who sat near Renji, but they seemed to be talking about something serious. And while he knew it was rude to interrupt, sometimes it was necessary.

"Good afternoon Renji," he nodded politely and passed the red-head a smile. All told, the day had been fairly nice, even with its delays. He looked over at the other man, with long, dark hair. Allen's eye had activated just being near Renji, as well as others on the bus that were potential Akuma. It glowed a faint red against the black sclera in the dim light of the bus. He supposed this other man was probably one of those shinigami too. "Sir," he nodded to acknowledge the other.

"I'm terribly sorry to interrupt, but I wondered if I might have a moment of your time?" He shifted his weight, "if you're not too busy."

Byakuya's only response was a nod in Renji's direction; though he was unsure of Renji truly understood, he had no doubt that the boy would take the lesson to heart. True understanding was, of course, not something he was going to grant; he'd given that understanding to Rukia, and only to Rukia. It had been something she'd needed to know, after all...

Renji, on the other hand, could survive being ignorant.

The newcomer arrived, then... not someone Byakuya knew of. Possibly irrelevant, then... but, he had been polite, and Byakuya tended to respond to such a gesture in kind. He nodded in greeting, and said simply, "If you wish for privacy, I am willing to relocate."

Normally, of course, he would not make such an offer. Then again, normally he didn't have a distinct desire to flee a situation he had gotten himself into. Likely, it was valour. Or stubbornness. They amounted to the same thing...

Whatever had brought Allen over, Renji blessed him for it. No problem could be so great as to outweigh the side benefit of Allen showing up - which was rescuing Renji from an awkward situation with his Captain. He gave Byakuya what he hoped was a reasonably apologetic look, then said, "What's going on, Allen?"

It was kind of strange to see Renji hanging around with that other person. He seemed... well, refined in a way. Renji was nice, but it was easy to tell just by how they talked that they lived very different lives. Though someone like Master Cross could talk sweetly when he wanted to, it didn't always mean much of anything.

"That's very gracious of you sir," he replied as politely as he could. "I hate to be an inconvenience, but I would appreciate just a few minutes with Mr. Renji."

He looked somewhat sheepishly over to Renji, "I um, didn't see any bulletin board while I was out, so I was hoping you might know what's going on this evening. That and, um, there's a couple other things I thought we might... discuss." The first part was easy enough, but he didn't know how well talking with Renji about Rhode would go. Renji could be very intimidating and demanding and after last night... maybe he had the same low opinion of Allen that the boy from earlier today had.

"It is not an inconvenience," he replied, and rose to leave. As he did so, he glanced back at Renji, and said, "I trust you will share the contents of our discussion with my sister."

Without waiting for confirmation, he turned away once more, and headed towards the back of the bus.

[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/251147.html?thread=18701835#t18701835)]

Renji did his best to bow while sitting when Byakuya left. He was relieved to see the man go, and now wondering if he should have tried to bring up Momo. But maybe it would be best to just let it go and let Hitsugaya deal with it. He certainly planned to let Rukia know what had happened, that was for certain. He shouldn't be the only one shitting his pants out of shock.

"I can give you an idea of where to go or who to meet with," he said to Allen. "Will you have your friends with you again?" He needed to know if Allen would be his own team, or if he'd need to go with someone else.

Of course, he'd thought of meeting with Ravi, Kanda, or Rinali, but he hadn't seen either of the boys and he'd completely forgotten to set up a meeting place when he'd been with Rinali. "I'm afraid I don't know where they'll be," he admitted. "I haven't seen Ravi since yesterday and I haven't seen Kanda at all. The others said he was here, but-"

He shook his head. He was getting off the subject. "I didn't think to suggest a meeting place for Rinali either, when we met earlier." He'd been too pre-occupied with other things. Those strange manicures, and then food, of course. "I hope she'll be okay," he added, his voice a little softer.

"Do you know what room she's in?" Renji asked, tone concerned. "If you're quick, you could run over there at the start of the night. Or you could go just hang out by the women's block door. There's only one door for them to go out, after all."

Well, now he felt really inept. He hadn't even thought to ask that much! He had no idea what her room number was! "Ummmm," was his initial reply, followed after a moment by, "I suppose I'll have to do that then. That's a bit of a relief though."

At least he'd be able to find her. So long as none of that frightening business of stealing patients away happened again. "Is there anything in particular we ought to be doing? I'm afraid I haven't made a great deal of progress over the last few nights."

Renji had to think about it for a moment, mentally reviewing what Hitsugaya had put on the board. He didn't want to send two kids into the unknown of the basement; two other teams were already on exploring, and most of the other possible jobs were too dangerous for just two. He'd gotten the impression that the gathering metal shit work was supposed to be mostly phased out, so he had a feeling Hitsugaya had just assigned Byakuya to that because he was pissed. Which left... side projects. "How about... One of the rooms on the second floor, the patient possessions room," Renji said. "See if you can get there, look through as much as you can and see if you can find anything useful. Like... more jewelry we can hand over to Valyn, or things like watches or other sorts of rare materials that the alchemists could use. I doubt there'd be real weapons, but there might be useful stuff all the same. Check there, and if you whip through it real quick, check the mail room as well."

He traced out the shape of the second floor on the seat between him and Allen, pointing to the two places, just in case Allen's map wasn't really current. He nodded to himself. "If you could do that, it'd be a real help. And I'd say keep an eye on the other ladies leaving the block while you're keeping an eye out for your friend. If you find someone that looks lost and alone, keep an eye on them, right?"

Allen wasn't thrilled about going to the second floor again, but if it was just him and Rinali, and if they hurried... Ah! But if all the women came from the same door, what if he ran into Rhode before that? That could be a mess all its own. Allen only nodded to show he understood. If there was a room with lots of things like that, he had a pretty good eye for what was valuable and what was trash. He'd learned fast in gambling just how quickly it could go from cash to personal items, so it was important to know just how valuable they were.

"Alright. I think I can manage that." Was it just his imagination, or was Renji not quite as scary as he'd been the other day? "Thank you."

"I guess that's most of it," he explained. "I'm kind of worried though. Kanda and Ravi were going to go after Rhode last night. I haven't seen either of them since, but I know Rhode was running around town." It gave him a chill feeling just thinking about it, but it was possible they'd already run into her. "You didn't see either of them, did you? Ravi was the one with the eyepatch and red hair. And Kanda," Allen's expression soured, "he has really long black hair and always looks angry." He had to stop himself from adding a few more choice adjectives.

Renji nodded. "No problem. It was kinda hard to get word to everyone, with all the bullshit today," he said.

He fell silent for a moment, looking steadily at Allen. "I haven't," he said, and frowned. "I don't think I've met either of them. So I can't check. Do Rukia or taichou know them? We can't really have 'em look now, not when we're moving, but we can have 'em check tomorrow if you still haven't seen them." Damnit, he had so many things that he needed to speak to Hitsugaya about, and he hadn't done this one today. He'd let himself become too distracted by his own concerns. "I'll talk to taichou in the morning. Sounds like it'd be best to put together a group to deal with her tomorrow night." He cursed under his breath. This day had left them so disorganized and scattered, and it was partially his fault.

Today had probably been frustrating as far as making plans was concerned, but he had to admit that riding in the giant automobile and seeing all the sights in town had been very exciting. He gave a short nod though, to show he understood.

"I don't think so," he replied to the other part. He'd no idea who Ravi had been speaking with or about what really. He only seemed to be able to find the other boy for short conversations here or there. "I drew some pictures of them on the message boards," he said seriously, "but no one seemed to recognize them."

"I should be there," Allen insisted. "It's my responsibility."

Renji nodded, his lips twitching slightly at the mention of Allen drawing pictures. No wonder no one had recognized them. He didn't have the heart to voice that, though. "I bet it'll be okay," he said. "Sometimes it's just hard to find people. And not too many saw the bulletin board in the store, so that's probably why." He nodded. While he didn't like raising up false hopes, it also sounded like Allen needed some reassuring, so he was willing to take that risk.

Besides, he had a feeling if someone had been messily slaughtered during the night, at least one other person would have mentioned it. That seemed the case when patients got taken down by something nasty. If nothing else, the telepaths knew.

He looked Allen in the eye for a long time, before saying, "From what you said, it looks human," he said. "I'm not talking responsibility, here. Can you help - or even just stand by - while we release something that looks and sounds human?" It was an honest question. Allen seemed a kind, gentle soul, and enough Shinigami had issues with releasing Hollows, if they didn't kill with a single strike. Renji had done it before, himself, and it had been a difficult thing - and he wasn't nearly as young or as wounded as Allen. He held up a hand, just to keep the boy silent a moment longer. "Whatever your answer, my opinion of you won't change. It's not about responsibility. It's about keeping you whole."

Renji was usually pretty straightforward, at least from what he'd observed. If Renji didn't really think they were alright, he wouldn't say so, right? It was still worrisome, but it was good to hear a bit of reassurance all the same.

The rest though, was much harder to hear. "Release?" It took a moment before he realized what Renji was really implying. "You mean to kill her," he said quietly, as soon as he'd realized it. It was more a statement than a question. How could Renji speak so calmly about killing another human? Rhode had done some truly terrible things. She'd killed many humans and exorcists and even enjoyed it. It was hard to forget the glimmer of childish laughter and gaiety in her eyes as she'd gouged out his left eye.

Still, she was human. She was just a child, probably confused, manipulated by the Earl. Humans could change. They could get better, it didn't have to end with death. Didn't the bible say it simply enough? They weren't supposed to kill! "No," he said after a time, "It doesn't have to be like that. I- isn't there something else we could do?"

Keeping him whole? He didn't understand what Renji meant by that, but this wasn't about himself, it was about what to do so Rhode wouldn't hurt anyone here! Allen knew the risks, of course it was about responsibility! "I'm not naive enough to forget the things she's done," he added, "but there has to be something! If... if this is the way you want to handle things, maybe... maybe it's better if this remains my own problem."

Day 28: Bus 2

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