[Bleach fic] Hound
Sep. 2nd, 2004 02:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
moonsheenOk, I started this on the 31st. So it still counts! Right? Right? ....ok or not. Anyway, Happy Birthday Renji. Here have big stinky alleybrat foot in the face. Pre-series. Very, very pre-series.
They reach a turning point the day he offers her a peach: “Here. Take it.”
She frowns warily—though her eye stay on the fruit. “Why?”
“Look,” he says with roll of his eyes. “I’ve seen you eat before. I know you have to. Just take it.”
She does. Holding it up with both hands she takes a big, messy bite out of it. When she’s half finished she holds out to him again. “…take it back,” she says, swiping at her mouth. “You’re hungry too, aren’t you?”
“No,” he says, though his gut says different.
“Liar.” She grins and moves faster than he expects, shoving the fruit into his mouth. His shout is lost in an emphatic “MMPH!” as she makes a run for it. He finishes the peach quickly. There’s no sign of her for the rest of the day. The gang is disappointed, because they still want Rukia to join them. Renji only laughs: naw good riddance to the little bastard.
The next morning he finds her sleeping curled up on a rooftop. He wakes her up by chucking an empty bucket at her. She tumbles off with a good satisfying WHUMPH.
“What are you, stalking me?!” Rukia screeches.
“We’re goin’ down to the river. You coming?”
“…I don’t know why you think I would.”
“Good,” he says and turns away.
“STOP FOLLOWING ME,” she hollers after him. “YOU RATFACED FREAK.” He ducks when she throws the bucket at the back of his head.
In the afternoon she appears with a basket of eggs and straw in her hair. She sets it down between them. “Half of this is yours,” she declares. “And you better take it. I’ll hit you if you don’t.”
Rukia is not one of them. This can’t be made clear enough times for it to ever sink in. Renji finds he has to repeat himself a lot on the matter: Rukia is not our friend. No, Rukia is not coming with us. Rukia is A Really Annoying Guy And I’m Not Finding Him For You Bastards So Stop Asking.
Renji finds Rukia completely for his own reasons. He sees the both of them as being in the same boat: If they had any choice in the matter, they’d have nothing more to do with each other. But chance works in funny ways. He owed her for kicking that old guy, and he paid her back by biting that prostitute that was giving her a hard time, and then he told her one of the better hiding places so then she owed him for that and so on and so on and neither of them can count more than what’s on their fingers so it’s gotten kind of confusing. The guys happen to adore her. Renji happens to like bugging the shit out of her. Rukia happens to scream like a girl and she does it a lot in the mornings when Renji happens to stop by. She tried sleeping on rooftops and he found her. She tried sleeping in back alleys and he found her. She tried sleeping in a barrel and he knocked it over and rolled her down two blocks in it. Nowadays she’s gone back to rooftops and keeps some stolen jars up there with her to push down at him. Sometimes they have things in them, like scrawny vegetables or sloppily scaled fish—because Rukia has to eat, and Rukia knows Renji has to eat too. It’s an unfortunate solidarity they find on the streets.
“…so where are they?” she asks him, gnawing on a root, walking back to find the guys. She hasn’t agreed to come with him, but swears she’s walking in the same direction—she’s just being spiteful.
Renji is quiet about it for a second. He furrows his brow and bites his lip and concentrates and after a moment he points vaguely. “Next left, a block down from there. Not far.” He nods matter-of-factly; his stomach growls.
Rukia’s eyes are sharp suddenly. “…How do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Know where they are?”
“ ‘Cause I’d damn well better.” he snaps—which isn’t really an answer at all.
“…how did you do that?” she asks him again, covered in mud. He had to pull her out of a ditch. She’s wet. She’s filthy. Her hand is burned and her knuckles are bleeding. He didn’t see what she did before he got there. He’s never cared about her powers, so he’s never asked.
“Real good aim,” he answers. A rock to the back of a skull can really get a guy running, no matter how big, when it doesn’t kill him. Rukia shakes her head.
“No, how’d you find me?” It’s a fair question. It’s not hard to think three days worth of travel in no particular direction and with no warning might put some distance between people. It’s also not hard to think compensating for the head start might be a challenge. It’s also not hard to think of how easy it really is for a lone brat to die here; hungry or not. Not that Renji believes thought has been involved in any of Rukia’s processes, lately.
“Don’t think that I wanted to,” he growls. “Don’t run off like that again. It’s stupid.”
“You freak.” She glares, plucking at her torn sleeve. “Complete freaks. All of you. Especially you. You. You’re the biggest freakest freak of them all with your stupid hair and your stupid nose and your stupid everything and why do you keep following me?!” She sniffs and drops her head, her nose wrinkled in an ugly little scowl.
He laughs, nastily. “… dumber by the minute.” He leans over to grab her shoulder. It’s narrow, and she’s light. He pulls her to her feet. She sways a few times but stands. “Can’t take care of yourself, can you?”
She flushes, angrily.
“Hungry, aren’t you?”
She looks up.
“…me too,” Renji says. He takes her wrist and pulls. “C’mon.”
Renji and his gang take up their latest residence in a half collapsed shack they find in one of the older backstreets. No one likes to go there, because some big kids used to prowl around, but then bigger kids chased them off and then those bigger kids got into a fight between the three of them and as luck would have it, the place hasn’t been occupied in the two days since. It’s all about timing, and it’s nice to have a roof when it’s winter and raining. It’s also a tight fit, but they curl up and make the best of it. Renji sleeps closest to the broken door. Water drips onto his head and wakes him up. The sound of footsteps wakes him up. One of the others kicks him and it wakes him up. Renji spends a lot of time awake on his back. He looks up through the broken ceiling. There’s nothing but muddy brown clouds mucking up the night sky, but he counts stars to get back to sleep anyway. Water spatters his face, there’s a slap of feet in the mud outside, and someone jabs him in the ribs worming past him—all of this wakes him up, but this he’s used to, and this is not much of a threat, and he’s asleep again soon.
When he wakes up with Rukia’s foot in his face the next morning he figures she’ll probably be sticking around for awhile.
They reach a turning point the day he offers her a peach: “Here. Take it.”
She frowns warily—though her eye stay on the fruit. “Why?”
“Look,” he says with roll of his eyes. “I’ve seen you eat before. I know you have to. Just take it.”
She does. Holding it up with both hands she takes a big, messy bite out of it. When she’s half finished she holds out to him again. “…take it back,” she says, swiping at her mouth. “You’re hungry too, aren’t you?”
“No,” he says, though his gut says different.
“Liar.” She grins and moves faster than he expects, shoving the fruit into his mouth. His shout is lost in an emphatic “MMPH!” as she makes a run for it. He finishes the peach quickly. There’s no sign of her for the rest of the day. The gang is disappointed, because they still want Rukia to join them. Renji only laughs: naw good riddance to the little bastard.
The next morning he finds her sleeping curled up on a rooftop. He wakes her up by chucking an empty bucket at her. She tumbles off with a good satisfying WHUMPH.
“What are you, stalking me?!” Rukia screeches.
“We’re goin’ down to the river. You coming?”
“…I don’t know why you think I would.”
“Good,” he says and turns away.
“STOP FOLLOWING ME,” she hollers after him. “YOU RATFACED FREAK.” He ducks when she throws the bucket at the back of his head.
In the afternoon she appears with a basket of eggs and straw in her hair. She sets it down between them. “Half of this is yours,” she declares. “And you better take it. I’ll hit you if you don’t.”
Rukia is not one of them. This can’t be made clear enough times for it to ever sink in. Renji finds he has to repeat himself a lot on the matter: Rukia is not our friend. No, Rukia is not coming with us. Rukia is A Really Annoying Guy And I’m Not Finding Him For You Bastards So Stop Asking.
Renji finds Rukia completely for his own reasons. He sees the both of them as being in the same boat: If they had any choice in the matter, they’d have nothing more to do with each other. But chance works in funny ways. He owed her for kicking that old guy, and he paid her back by biting that prostitute that was giving her a hard time, and then he told her one of the better hiding places so then she owed him for that and so on and so on and neither of them can count more than what’s on their fingers so it’s gotten kind of confusing. The guys happen to adore her. Renji happens to like bugging the shit out of her. Rukia happens to scream like a girl and she does it a lot in the mornings when Renji happens to stop by. She tried sleeping on rooftops and he found her. She tried sleeping in back alleys and he found her. She tried sleeping in a barrel and he knocked it over and rolled her down two blocks in it. Nowadays she’s gone back to rooftops and keeps some stolen jars up there with her to push down at him. Sometimes they have things in them, like scrawny vegetables or sloppily scaled fish—because Rukia has to eat, and Rukia knows Renji has to eat too. It’s an unfortunate solidarity they find on the streets.
“…so where are they?” she asks him, gnawing on a root, walking back to find the guys. She hasn’t agreed to come with him, but swears she’s walking in the same direction—she’s just being spiteful.
Renji is quiet about it for a second. He furrows his brow and bites his lip and concentrates and after a moment he points vaguely. “Next left, a block down from there. Not far.” He nods matter-of-factly; his stomach growls.
Rukia’s eyes are sharp suddenly. “…How do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Know where they are?”
“ ‘Cause I’d damn well better.” he snaps—which isn’t really an answer at all.
“…how did you do that?” she asks him again, covered in mud. He had to pull her out of a ditch. She’s wet. She’s filthy. Her hand is burned and her knuckles are bleeding. He didn’t see what she did before he got there. He’s never cared about her powers, so he’s never asked.
“Real good aim,” he answers. A rock to the back of a skull can really get a guy running, no matter how big, when it doesn’t kill him. Rukia shakes her head.
“No, how’d you find me?” It’s a fair question. It’s not hard to think three days worth of travel in no particular direction and with no warning might put some distance between people. It’s also not hard to think compensating for the head start might be a challenge. It’s also not hard to think of how easy it really is for a lone brat to die here; hungry or not. Not that Renji believes thought has been involved in any of Rukia’s processes, lately.
“Don’t think that I wanted to,” he growls. “Don’t run off like that again. It’s stupid.”
“You freak.” She glares, plucking at her torn sleeve. “Complete freaks. All of you. Especially you. You. You’re the biggest freakest freak of them all with your stupid hair and your stupid nose and your stupid everything and why do you keep following me?!” She sniffs and drops her head, her nose wrinkled in an ugly little scowl.
He laughs, nastily. “… dumber by the minute.” He leans over to grab her shoulder. It’s narrow, and she’s light. He pulls her to her feet. She sways a few times but stands. “Can’t take care of yourself, can you?”
She flushes, angrily.
“Hungry, aren’t you?”
She looks up.
“…me too,” Renji says. He takes her wrist and pulls. “C’mon.”
Renji and his gang take up their latest residence in a half collapsed shack they find in one of the older backstreets. No one likes to go there, because some big kids used to prowl around, but then bigger kids chased them off and then those bigger kids got into a fight between the three of them and as luck would have it, the place hasn’t been occupied in the two days since. It’s all about timing, and it’s nice to have a roof when it’s winter and raining. It’s also a tight fit, but they curl up and make the best of it. Renji sleeps closest to the broken door. Water drips onto his head and wakes him up. The sound of footsteps wakes him up. One of the others kicks him and it wakes him up. Renji spends a lot of time awake on his back. He looks up through the broken ceiling. There’s nothing but muddy brown clouds mucking up the night sky, but he counts stars to get back to sleep anyway. Water spatters his face, there’s a slap of feet in the mud outside, and someone jabs him in the ribs worming past him—all of this wakes him up, but this he’s used to, and this is not much of a threat, and he’s asleep again soon.
When he wakes up with Rukia’s foot in his face the next morning he figures she’ll probably be sticking around for awhile.
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Date: 2004-09-26 03:23 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-09-26 10:09 pm (UTC)