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“We're sorry, Lieutenant Abarai,” the two shinigami said in unison, bowing profusely.
Renji stared at them in shock, then at the gaping hole and fallen tree in the office illuminated by the setting sun, and then back at them. “Why did you decide to cut down that tree?” he said, his voice strained.
“It had dry rot,” the taller shinigami said, still bowed. “Captain Commander Yamamoto ordered it to come down. But we cut the wrong side. We are so, so sorry.”
He heard a giggle escape to his left and he turned to glare at Rukia, who immediately got a serious look on her face, but her eyes sparkled with mirth. “It only fell on your side of the office,” she pointed out. “Nii-sama will be back in two days. I can maybe suggest he stay one more day. Three days should be enough time to fix this.”
“A tree fell onto the office,” he said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “I'm going to be the one who gets in trouble for this, and it's not even my fault!”
Rukia put a hand on his bare arm and he looked at her. “We can fix this,” she said quietly.
He looked at her, took a deep breath, and nodded. “Remove the tree as best you can, and make sure a tarp is over the hole. After you tell Captain Commander what happened you can start fixing it. You have two days.”
“But she said--” the shorter shinigami said before being elbowed in the shoulder by his comrade. “We can do it in two days, Lieutenant Abarai.”
“Then get started.” The two men scurried off as Rukia lead Renji to the hole. “Why couldn't this have happened while he was here?”
“Perhaps to teach you a lesson of some sort?” she said with a smirk.
“Like not to use the office for pleasurable activities?” he said with a smirk of his own, a smirk that grew wider as she blushed. “Besides, as I recall, it was your idea. The tree really should have fallen on your desk in the 13th Division.”
“Well it fell here, so deal with it,” she snapped, scowling. He looked at her, waiting patiently, and she took a deep breath and collected herself. “Have you been inside to see the extent of the damage?”
He shook his head. “No, not yet.”
“Then perhaps we should,” she said.
“We should,” he replied. She took two steps away from him before he grabbed her arm, pulling her back. Casting glances, he pulled her close and used his other hand to tip up her face. “I'm sorry for the crack about the tree falling on your desk.”
“And I'm sorry for snapping,” she said. He grinned, and leaned in to kiss her softly. It was over quickly, but smiles lit both their faces when he was done. “See? We can stop arguments from becoming fights.”
“I'll just remember to kiss the fight out of you,” he said, his grin widening as they began to walk towards the hole in the wall again.
“That won't work every time,” she pointed out, looking at him.
“Then I'll figure out some other way to deal with it.” They got to the hole and looked. His desk was smashed, and papers were strewn about, but Renji was satisfied that none of his captain's belongings had been disturbed too much. He sighed slightly, until he saw Rukia climbing up the tree's trunk and dropping into the office on the other side of the wall. “What are you doing?”
“There's a little jewelry box by the remains of your desk,” she said, picking it up with a smile. “Did you get me earrings or something?”
His eyes widened. He had completely forgotten it was on top of his desk. Quickly, he scrambled up the trunk and dropped over to the other side just in time to see her open it. “Rukia...”
She looked at him, eyes wide, mouth hanging open slightly. “Is this...a...for me?” she said quietly.
“It would look kind of stupid if I snatched it out of your hand and did it properly right now, wouldn't it?” he said ruefully.
She walked over to him, took one of his hands and pulled it up, palm up. She set the box on it, and then looked at him. “Snatching it would have been stupid,” she said with a smile. “Asking properly now won't.”
He grinned at her, then dropped down to one knee and turned the open box to her. “I could tell you all the things I love about you, and we'd be here for an hour at least, and I'd be sore and you'd be rolling your eyes and telling me to get to the point, even though women are supposed to love that sort of thing. And you know me. I'm a simple guy. So I'm going to just ask. Rukia Kuchiki, will you do me the honor of marrying me?”
“YES!” she shouted, throwing her arms around his neck, knocking the ring box out of his hand and sending them both crashing to the floor. She landed on top of him and began to kiss him. “Yes, I will marry you, Renji.”
“Oww,” he said in response.
“Oh! Did you hit your head? Did you land on rubble? I'm so sorry!” she said, getting off of him and extending her hand.
He took her hand and pulled her back down. “I probably should have replied with thank you first,” he said with a grin.
“You can thank me later,” she said, kissing him again.
“Where'd the ring go?” he asked. “I was supposed to put it on your finger before you tackled me.”
“It flew to the side,” she said, kissing him one more time before getting off of him. He stood up and looked around, spotting the case in the last of the light. He grinned as he picked it up, and then frowned. “The ring isn't in here.”
“It must have fallen,” she said.
“The lamp broke when the tree fell on the desk,” he said, groaning slightly. He stopped, though, when Rukia slipped her hand into his. He looked down at her and saw she was smiling. “What?”
She pointed to her brother's side of the office. “Your lamp broke. Nii-sama's is perfectly fine. We'll find it.” She squeezed his hand. “And I'll wear it proudly the minute you put it on my finger.”
He grinned, and leaned over to kiss her, softly and sweetly. “You always were the smart one in this relationship,” he murmured.
“You can be pretty smart too,” she said with a laugh before pulling away to go turn on the other lamp. “Come on, let's find it and go celebrate.”
He nodded, and as soon as there was light they began working to find the ring, doing so in a comfortable silence. And when he found it he slipped it on her finger, and the look on her face very much made up for the gaping hole in the side of the building and all the problems that would come of it.