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The air was heavy with heat. Renji could feel the sun burning into the back of his neck as he stood rooted to the spot in the river, fishing spear in hand and watching the current rush by his legs. At least the water is cool, he thought bitterly, abandoning focus briefly to mop his furrowed brow with the back of his hand.
Curving around the outside of the town, this river wound through an area overrun with tall, wavering yellow grasses and stunted trees that seemed to bow under the sun’s almighty reign over the sky. It was difficult to see anything in the moving water because the sunlight reflected off of it’s surface in blinding flashes that left Renji blinking hopelessly. Eventually, with a growl of frustration, from both his throat and his stomach, he stormed back to the river bank, or rather he waded through the thigh-deep water with strides as forceful as he could muster, which unfortunately had a less dramatic waddling effect.
After giving the water a final vengeful kick, Renji slumped onto the ground and threw his spear to the side, stretching his legs out in front of him and lying flat on his back, eyes closed to avoid a staring contest with the sun that he would only lose. The cicadas were deafening and the soil beneath his bare arms and legs burned but he didn’t care, he didn’t have the energy to; it was the afternoon already and he still hadn’t had a bite to eat. The dry grasses prickled against him, scratching lightly at his cheeks as he tried to brush them away. He squinted over at them, teasing a stem between his fingers. Sun and rain. That’s all you need, isn’t it? The grass bobbed gently at his touch, scattering sunlight and shade across his face. Find some good soil to sit in, then just wait for the sun and rain to come to you. Must be nice. Maybe I’ll try that out for a while.
With a final glance behind her, Rukia slowed to catch her breath. It sure wasn’t easy keeping out of sight while carrying a crate, even if the thing was only half full. Regardless, she thought, her scuffed feet stepping nimbly over the dusty ground as she neared the outskirts of town, it would be worth her trouble just to see Renji’s expression when she showed its contents to him.
Recently, as they had travelled through the districts, she had noticed a change in Renji. It wasn’t always obvious but she would sometimes catch it in the slope of his shoulders as he walked, or in the distant look in his eyes when he didn’t know she was watching him. When they had decided to become soul reapers a couple of weeks before it had been a huge decision to make, but, as far as she could tell, neither of them felt motivated. If anything it was a reminder that they had nothing left now, no friends for whom to keep a promise.
Rukia turned to see the sun beginning to set and wondered how he had done with the fishing; she was looking forward to having a dip in the river that he’d had to himself all day. At first she didn’t see him as she navigated her way through the sea of grass, but then her eyes caught sight of the shock of red hair standing out against the ochre field. Smirking, she moved stealthily towards him, rather impressively for someone with such a large bulky box in their arms.
As she had suspected he was fast asleep. This wouldn’t have bothered her were it not for the fact that there was no sign of any dinner nearby, cooked or otherwise. Did he really just go for a swim and then fall asleep in the sun? Rukia couldn’t help but speculate angrily as she compared her exhausted, hot and bothered self to this restful boy calmly napping in the warm grass. Her fingers were straining under the rough wood of the crate. He’d better have a good explanation for this. She dropped the crate next to Renji with a loud thud and he woke with a start.
“Wha-Rukia?!” He shielded the sun from his eyes to look up at her, and as he focused in on her raised eyebrows and pointed look his confusion turned to guilt.
“Look, I haven’t been sleeping that long I swear,” he began quickly, scrambling to his feet, “I stood for god knows how long in that river, but it was too bright to see, and it was so hot…” his sentence tailed off miserably. He was painfully aware of how pitiful he sounded.
“Sorry, Ok? I’ll go catch some fish now,” he said fiercely, turning to grab his fishing spear from where it lay discarded on the ground.
“No need.” Renji stopped at the sound of Rukia’s voice and turned back, finally noticing the large box in front of her. With a mysterious smile she wrenched the lid open and he stepped towards it to peer inside. Rukia watched with anticipation as his expression transformed, his eyes widening in shock, and then he leaned further down and reached inside with a disbelieving laugh.
“Are you serious?” He asked, raising one of the fish-shaped cakes up and examining it in wonder. It shone like precious gold in the sunset and Rukia could not get over the happiness in his face, her own smile must have reached her ears. He turned his gaze to her and under the full power of his beaming smile she could only shrug proudly.
“I’ve got the fish dinner covered today.”
The sun was low on the horizon as they sat side by side on the grassy bank, eating taiyaki and overlooking the river.
“I was walking through the town when I saw this guy unloading crates of food into his shop,” Rukia explained rather ungracefully through a mouthful of food, not that Renji cared as he made his way blissfully through his own; as far as he was concerned this girl with crumbs all around her mouth and bean paste smudged on her sleeve was a goddamn hero.
“I must have been staring ‘cos the guy suddenly yelled at me,” she put on a gruff voice - ‘Oi! If you got time to gape you got time to help, girl!’ - making Renji splutter with laughter.
“So, I did,” Rukia continued, “He said he would pay me for it, and besides the cakes smelled amazing. The shop was so big!” She gestured wildly with her sticky hands.
“There was a staircase and a back room, he directed me back there even though I really wanted to take a look upstairs…he just kept shouting to be careful and to stack them neatly or whatever.” She stretched her legs out in front of her and dipped her feet into the water, breathing a contented sigh.
“I’ve been wanting to do this all day…” Much as he appreciated the sight of the water lapping around her ankles and the beautiful way her head was tilted towards the sun, eyes closed and smile so serene, he had to insist on hearing the end of her story. Or rather he was going to, but the previously mentioned sight proved a bit too mesmerising for him to interrupt, so she ended up continuing of her own accord a few moments later.
“So,” she said opening her eyes again, Renji quickly continuing eating and pretending he hadn’t just been staring, slightly agape, “I had shifted several boxes, heavy things by the way, when the guy tells me to wait there a moment while he gets the next cart, so once he’d gone, I thought I’d just take a peek upstairs, you know?” Renji groaned at her innocent tone and covered his face with a hand while Rukia gave his shoulder a shove.
“Yeah yeah, it’s obvious now that was a bad idea but if you were there you would have done the same thing! Anyway, so I went up those creaky stairs and at the top there’s no door or anything, just this little dusty room with a blanket covering something in the corner…” Another muffled groan, another shove.
“So you lifted up the blanket,” Renji said, a laugh cracking his voice,
“So I lifted up the blanket,” Rukia confirmed, miming it out, “and turns out it was hiding - guess what? - More crates. Except these ones weren’t food. They had a symbol of a bottle on the side so I’m guessing they must have had alcohol in them, but just then he got back and started yelling.”
“Oh hell,” Renji winced, “what did he do?”
“Well that alcohol must have been dodgy ‘cos he was making threats and all that. He lunged at me but I swerved around him and got down the stairs, trying to apologise and calm him down but he was having none of it.” She took another cake from the pile and bit into it.
“I realised he wasn’t gonna pay me now, and since he was getting violent I thought I’d do things his way. I winded him with a punch to the stomach, swept his feet from under him, then legged it. He’d dropped a taiyaki crate in the doorway and half of it was on the floor, so I picked up what was left and took it with me. Money would have been good payment, but hey, this’ll do,” she finished, lifting the half-eaten food up with a grin. Renji laughed, raising his own in agreement.
“This’ll do just fine.”
The last of the sun’s rays were flickering over the river and it was getting dark since it had been too warm to light a fire. As they had finished eating, Rukia placed the lid back on top of the crate to store the last of the taiyaki for the next day.
“You know what,” she heard Renji say, “I think taiyaki might just be my favourite food.” Rukia smirked, sitting back down beside him.
“Of all the crates he could’ve dropped, it happened to be one with your favourite food inside.” She nudged his shoulder with hers. “Seems like the universe gave you a gift.” Renji shook his head.
“You gave me a gift.” He said looking at her, a sunset blush colouring his cheeks. “Thank you.” Rukia felt the sincerity in his words and went a bit sunset coloured herself.
“Well…it’s about time we set a date for our birthdays isn’t it? I heard someone in town say it was the 31st of August today. How about next August I get you a full crate of taiyaki?” Her face grew excited, “Hey, maybe by this time next year I could buy you some with actual earnings!” Renji smiled slyly.
“Good plan, pay for the cakes and when his guard’s down swipe the alcohol…” Rukia punched him lightly.
“Seriously, Renji,” She insisted, as he wrestled her fists away from him, “think about it, being able to buy the things we want and not having to watch our backs all the time…” She slowly stopped pushing against his hands and met his gaze with a calm confidence.
“We’re gonna make it, ok?”
He could see the sparkle of the water reflected in her eyes. Something about her quiet words held a steadiness that reassured him that she meant exactly what she said. He dipped his head in a nod, and for the first time it felt as though a flare of determination had been lit between them. As the last of the sunlight disappeared, Rukia turned to the sky.
“Look,” Renji’s eyes followed her upward-pointing finger. A day of cloudless skies had left the night clear, and now countless stars lit up the darkness. Rukia pulled Renji backwards with her as she lay down to face them. The wavering grasses swayed overhead, as if they were trying to reach the stars above, and Renji kept his hand in Rukia’s, knowing he had to reach no further.