Renji/Ichigo - Goodbyes
Title: Goodbyes
Pairing: Renji/Ichigo
Warnings: Spoilers for the manga, implied boylove;
Genre: Romance/Drama
Rating: K
Words: 443
Disclaimer: I don’t own Bleach or any of the characters. Kubo does.
Summary: Saying goodbye was never their thing.
AN: A sudden idea typed within half an hour.
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There was a long, deep stare and vanishing hearts. A muffled shriek struggling to leave their lips and treacherous limbs that screamed with the need to tangle and entwine. To meet again and again dreading the last time. But there was no more time left and they both knew. Renji's silhouette became blurry at first and even the vivid red lost its vitality shade by shade. The process was slow proceeding with the speed neither could stand. Yet they were thankful for the leisure and the seconds they gained.
They stood motionless looking at each other with smiles that spoke thousands of words without spilling a single syllable. It wasn't like them; the silent resignation. Giving up without a fight, without putting their lives on the line. Without leaving a pool of their own blood behind. And still, it was just like them being stubborn and leaving the most important words left unsaid and hanging in the air between them. In the air that the redhead was becoming a part of.
His legs were already gone and he resembled a typical ghost. That is if you could call ghosts typical. Ichigo watched him disappear with a shrinking heart wondering for the briefest of moments if he'd do it again. If he'd give up his powers in order to defeat Aizen once more had he known how severe saying goodbye would be. It didn't cross his mind at that time that losing his powers would mean parting with his friends, with him.
It didn't matter back then. It couldn't matter because he was risking for them. And yes. He'd do it once more and many times again was it necessary. They both knew he would.
There would be no regret, he told himself even though he knew that it was a blatant lie. That was simply the way he is.
Renji was floating in the air in front of him, or it simply looked like it. It was a grotesque sight - the lower half of his body was completely gone. Even those big hands balled into fists just a moment ago were nowhere to be seen.
It was time. He would be gone soon and they wouldn't see each other again in this lifetime. In his lifetime.
"See ya." The redhead said and Ichigo laughed. He couldn't help it. It was such a sad excuse of a joke and so much more. It was a promise.
"See you." He whispered into the morning air when he couldn't see him anymore, when the fiery red was finally gone.
See you. In forty or fifty years when my soul follows yours into the other world.