Looking for Trouble

Renji ran eagerly down the walkways of his squad, laughing to himself at the confused looks he got from his squad members. He didn't have the patience to stop and talk to them, he was on a mission. Quickly jumping up to the roof where Rayne usually slept, he drew his sword, releasing it before he had even landed. His wide smile quickly dropped when he found the space empty. Looking around, he verified the man truly wasn't in the area before letting his sword revert back to its sealed form, sheathing it with disappointment.

Where could he be? Wishing he knew more about the man, Renji sat down to wait, knowing he'd be around for a nap eventually. Renji laid back on the roof, scowling that his plans had been ruined. Slowly, the sun's warmth soothed him until his scowl was completely gone, the redhead dozing off in the comfort of the day. No wonder he sleeps here; who knew roofs could be so comfortable. He drifted into a pleasant dream, taking him back to relaxing afternoons when he was in the academy.

Kurosogi leapt from roof top to roof top of Soul Society, trying to track down his missing brother. It wasn't a bad missing; Kurosogi just didn't like it when his brother was off somewhere for to long. So he'd asked Shearia earlier if she knew where the hound would be, and she told him the squad six barracks was a place Rayne had said he liked taking naps.

So here the Arrancar was, trying to track down his brother, who, surprisingly enough, was really good at hiding his spiritual pressure; hence why the older of the two brothers was having such a hard time finding the younger male.

The Right-hand man of Shiro Tora reached the squad six barracks at last; the damn thing was really hard to find. Once there, he noticed a red haired Soul Reaper dozing off.

"Hey, don't suppose you've seen a six-foot six Arrancar around here, have you?" Kurosogi inquired as he landed soundlessly on the tiled roof. Rayne was the only one he knew of that was that freakishly tall, so he thought it the best to describe his brother to someone who probably didn't know his brother's name.

Renji jumped, jolting up-right as his eyes opened, locking onto the new arrancar immediately. Sitting stupidly, his brain processed what had been asked; his confused look turned into a wicked grin. "You mean that lazy, good-for-nothing mutt?" He asked loudly, hoping the other would be within ear shot and come running. There was a pause as they waited, both disappointed at the lack of response. "Nah, I haven't seen him. I was actually lookin' for him, myself." Looking over the arrancar, he couldn't help feeling the man looked a lot like Rayne. "So, why are you looking for him?"

"I don't like it when he is out of my site for too long. He has a tendency to start trouble wherever he goes and gets on peoples nerves. I wouldn't care so much if he wasn't my brother, but he is, so his actions say something to others about me, too," Kurosogi explained with a sigh. Then it clicked in; the the Soul Reaper had said he was looking for his brother too. "What'd he do now that he has a Lieutenant out looking for him?"

Renji cocked a grin, getting to his feet and standing proudly. "I just wanted to pick a fight with him, is all. I had a fun fight with him the other day; I just wanted to show him what I could do now that he can't surprise me with that fire trick of his," he explained. "This is the only place I know to look for him." Looking over the arrancar, he realized they hadn't actually exchanged names. "The name's Renji Abarai, by the way, what can I call you?"

"Kurosogi Shirogane. So you're the squad six lieutenant. I've been meaning to come and meet some of the higher up from Domei." Kurosogi took a seat next to Renji, deciding to stay and talk to the Soul Reaper for a while before continuing his search for his brother.

Renji eased himself back down into a sitting position when the arrancar moved to join him. "Well, it's a pleasure, Kurosogi. I'm honored to meet you." Leaning back on his arms, he looked over the other man's features; the corner of his mouth quirked up as he decided he liked the arrancar's appearance. "You and your brother look a lot a like," he added aloud. The hair is similar, but Kurosogi's eyes are nicer than Rayne's. Taking a breath, Renji forced himself to stop staring and turned his gaze up to the clouds again. "You seem more laid back than him, am I wrong? Just from the little I know of the two of you, you seem a little more level headed. Rayne and I started fighting pretty much the second we talked to each other." He shrugged with a chuckle. "Do you like to fight as much as he does?"

"I love fighting, but outside of battle I'm far more level headed than my brother. But of the two of use, he's the easiest to control if you know how and aren't me. Stupid mutt, doesn't back deals with family." The last part Kurosogi said under his breathe.

Taking a deep breathe, he looked up at the sky.

Renji remembered the other arrancar feeding off of his riatsu, and he flopped back to glare at the sky. "Yeah, he mentioned something about deals, but he seems plenty in control to me," the bastard. Feeling a little like he'd been taken advantage of, Renji could feel himself getting riled up. He knew the main reason he was angry at the memory was because he'd enjoyed being fed from, and that thought scared him more than he wanted to admit. The redhead was still scowling without realizing it, closing his eyes against the garish sun.

Kurosogi chuckled. "Deals with him are easy to make until you get to big things, like being your pet for life or stuff that last a long time. But simple things like stay put and shut up are easy. Literally, just give him a bone and you're set. What kind of deal did you make with him? Whatever it was, his price seems to have bothered you from the way you're acting," he asked, simply curious, not really caring.

Renji's blood pressure went up, turning his face red as he snapped his head around to glare at the inquiring man. Sitting up, he leaned over aggressively as he yelled, "he didn't get anything from me, not a god damned thing! I'm not some weakling he can just take what he wants from, and if he ever wants anything from me again, he's gonna have to do more than just giving me back something that was mine in the first place!" He caught himself, kneeling in front of the arrancar in a rage, throwing himself back down in frustration. "Forget it, it's not important anyway. It's not like he got much from me, it's just... It's stupid." The bastard could have warned me it would make me feel like that. Renji loathed the confusion it had caused in him, even just the little bit that was there. His distaste for the feeling had added his own irritation and anger on top of it, making it worse.

Taking a breath, he brought his emotions down to a reasonable level again, dropping his head back in frustration. "Sorry, it was just a deal that was more trouble than it was worth." His lips pouted as he fought with himself on what to say. Glancing over at the other man, he met his eyes and immediately felt compelled to say more. He took another frustrated breath, rolling onto his side and resting his head on his hand nonchalantly. "He took my sunglasses, which are very expensive," he added defensively, "and he agreed to give them back if I gave him some of my spirit energy. I mean, it wasn't too bad a deal, but it was... weird. It's just got me ready to fight, just thinking about how it messed with my head. I don't like feeling like he's playing with me; it makes me want to punch him. I get the same damn feeling with my captain, sometimes."

Kurosogi was taken aback by the red heads sudden out burst but didn't say anything.

"Oh so the fact that being willingly fed from feels good has you all confused and freaked out. The pleasure from it isn't a mental thing just something to lessen the pain of the process. Everyone reacts that way to it. It's normal. As for him playing with you. Rayne's is always playing with people but the one thing he does take seriously is his deals so that deal wasn't him trying to mess with you it just happened to end up messing with you." Kurosogi explained with a light chuckle.

"It didn't feel..." He trailed off, feeling the same sensation when he looked at Kurosogi. He felt like he couldn't lie to the man; that feeling would have bothered him too, if it didn't feel like an odd comfort for some reason. "Yeah, it felt good. I wasn't expecting it, and I'm not really sure what to do about it. I feel weak, liking being used. I feel stupid for getting worked up over something like this. I feel angry at feeling these feelings. It's just irritating." Sitting up, he crossed his legs over each other and leaned his elbows on his knees as he pouted again. "Do you guys feed like that often? Do you think I'll end up," he thought over the word for a moment, "donating spirit energy again?" He was fighting with himself over whether he wanted to try it again or not, and he knew he'd be disappointed and relieved with whichever answer he got.

"I wouldn't consider you giving an arrancar what they need to live, being used. It's not much different then giving a fellow soul reaper a bite to eat is it?" Kurosagi countered. "A for weather you'll give an arrancar something to eat again is really just up to you Renji." His reply wasn't really anything special but he wasn't really sure what else to say.

The uneasiness in his stomach settled and he was finally able to relax again since the subject had been brought up. I control what happens to me. Smiling lightly, he stretched out on his back again. "Thanks, you're surprisingly good at calming me down." He found himself smiling brighter, but he didn't know what else to say, feeling an anxious nervousness replacing all his frustrations. "So... What do you like to do with your time?"

Kurorsogi shrugged, he didn't do much with his time really, just did whatever he felt like. "Anything I feel like doing at the time, which ends up being training and sleeping." He replied, knowing his response was pathetic.

Renji's grin crooked to the side as he shrugged. "I'm pretty much the same, though I have work thrown in too. I do spend some of my free time with friends, but our schedules don't usually match up anymore. I almost never see Shuhei, unless I go see him on my time off, and Kira has been doing his own thing, trying to find a more secure position. His captain left at the same time Shu's did, back when Aizen first betrayed us. They've both been stressed out since, and while Shu's just been pushing himself harder, Kira's been spreading himself out, trying to help everywhere. Shuhei's at least got his new captain, and from what I've heard, Grimmjow and he get along great. Kira needs someone there, he doesn't do well without someone to give him orders."

"Grimmjow huh? I heard he was a captain. Good to see the asshole hasn't destroyed anything yet." Kurosogi laughed, in what he thought was good humor. He had been surprised to hear that the short tempered male had been made a captain here in Soul Society.

Renji shrugged again. "I've heard a couple of the squad nine members complaining about him being scary, but they're the ones who usually hang back in a fight anyway. They view him in about the same light as Kenpachi. I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to move to another squad to avoid the training I'm sure he'll put them through. It's the same reason a lot of weaker squad members avoid squads 11 and 2. I actually haven't gotten to talk to Shuhei myself, but word is that he follows Grim like any dedicated Lieutenant should. I'm just happy there weren't any issues between them. You know a lot of soul reapers have their issues with having arrancar in the mix now, but that's just from all these centuries of fighting with hallows and this recent thing with Aizen and all of that. If Shuhei likes having Grimmjow as a captain, then I think this will work just fine. I think he has the most childhood hallow attack stories of anybody I know, so no one else has any right to bitch about the situation if he's not, you know? As for me, I can only follow someone if I respect them. Captain Kuchiki has looked down on my my entire life, but I finally have his respect, because I spent this time working to get stronger. I'm someone a Captain can be proud to have a Lieutenant."

"Well he is scary but Shearia tells me he does have a nice and gentle side but often doesn't show it directly however it's always there." Kurosogi mused glancing over at the now seemingly calm Renji. The red head wasn't half bad looking and if he wasn't currently after Shearia the Arrancar might just start after the Soul Reaper.

"Everyone's got something nice about them. Some people have more, or their nice qualities are more obvious, but everyone's got something. Eh, most guys around here cover their nice qualities up with anger, testosterone and muscle. You're either the nice guy that gets taken advantage of, of the strong guy no one messes with." Renji looked over at the arrancar as he was finishing his sentence, catching the interest in the man's eyes and feeling his stomach fluster for a moment. Don't be silly, you're probably just seeing things that aren't there. Though he told himself that, he still felt a light blush come to his cheeks. "A lot of people just need to have a sense of trust before they can really show a soft side."

Kurosogi hummed in agreement with what Renji said and looked away. He could see red coming to the man's face, and he feared he had been giving Renji the wrong idea by looking at him like he had been.

"Well, it's better than Heuco Mondo, I guess. There, it's kill or be killed. End of story."

Renji nodded grimly. "Life and death situations happen to everyone, but living like that constantly, do you ever get the chance to relax?"

Kurosogi smiled brightly at Renji then. "Yeah, all the time, now that I joined Shiro Tora. Shearia makes sure we all have everything we need and that we're safe so we have tons of time to do anything we want."

Renji smiled warmly back. "Good, I hate the idea of you guys living in a world full of stress like that constantly. No one should have to live on edge like that. Do you have anyone you like to spend your free time with? I know you talk about Shearia a lot, and you've got your brother, but I'm not going to assume you enjoy spending all of your time with them."

Kurosogi blushed a little at the realization he had been talking about Shearia so much. "Well, no, actually, I could spend my whole life with Shearia. My brother however...Well, there I don't have much of a choice, he's my brother."

Renji laughed at the last part, trying not to be charmed by the blush on the man's face. It was nice to see a strong man get bashful over something and he was suddenly embarrassed about his own reactions. Forcing himself to forget about his own blushing previously, he forged on with the conversation. "I understand what you mean. I have people like that in my life, too. I-" He thought for a moment, deciding how much to reveal. He didn't know he felt so compelled to explain himself to the arrancar, but he wanted to relate. "I have a couple of people I would follow to the ends of the earth. I've spend pretty much my entire life trying to impress them, but I know neither of them will ever give me the time of day. The one, she has eyes for someone else, and the other isn't interested in men." He shrugged again, irritating himself now with how often he'd done it. "I'm happy as long as they have a purpose for me and I can stay by their sides."

"I know that feeling, but I'm starting to think I should move on. She's not interested. Not like that, anyway. Besides I think she might have eyes for Grimmjow or just isn't interested in that sort of thing, period." Kurosogi was starting to feel rather down. He didn't want to give up on Shearia, but talking about such things was making him think about all the signs that she wasn't interested in him that there were.

Feeling sympathetic, Renji reached out, hesitating before putting his hand on Kurosogi's comfortingly. "I know how that feels. I've had to accept unrequited love twice now, and the chance always taunts you, but it's better to accept the friendship and hope in the back of your mind than pursue it and get shot down. At least if they're willing to go further, it's a pleasant surprise and not that awful feeling of being pushed back into the friend zone, or worse, subordinate. I don't know if it's better to have them view you as a friend and be nice to you, even if it's like teasing it, or if it's better if they just look down on you and treat you like nothing." He looked back up at the sky, unable to decide between the variety of pain he'd experienced from the Kuchiki siblings. "Shearia sounds like she cares, at least. Maybe there's still a hope she'll like you back." Renji gave a weak smile, hoping he'd been able to comfort the arrancar in some way.

The moment Renji's hand landed on his own, Kurosogi flinched away. He wasn't used to tender and comforting touches, so out of reflex, he moved away from the hand and Renji. It wasn't something he could control, it was just a foreign action to him. "Sorry, just not used to that. Used to punches and kicks and burns, not tender touches. I'm fine though. And she is nice, but she'd probably tell me to move on."