Author's Note:

This is an oldie from last April that I'm just getting around to moving over. Originally posted on Tumblr and reposted from AO3.

This was half-inspired by nono6thebleachfan's role-reversal challenge, although it's not a reversal of a canon scene, it's a reversal of an ~amazing~ piece of art by acompletenonentity. Sorry, doesn't like links.

It's full of blood and cussing, because Inuzuri. I guess they're in their early to mid "teens" here. Renji's had his first growth spurt, but no one's died yet.

It was generally acknowledged by the indigent youth populating the 78th district of South Rukongai that Abarai Renji did not know when he was licked.

This was not true. Renji knew very well when he was licked. He just also knew that even if a guy licked you, he might think twice about licking you again, providing you caused him enough hurt on the way down.

Renji wasn't the biggest guy in Inuzuri, he sure wasn't the strongest or the toughest, and he wasn't a contender for the meanest by any stretch, but most people knew that messing with him wasn't worth it, by and large.

Kozuki Kohei wasn't most guys.

He was kinda big and somewhat tough and strong, but mostly he was just mean.

Last Tuesday, Oyama, the blacksmith got a load of pig iron ingots and agreed to pay Renji and Kosaburou 500 kan each to unpack and stack them. Kozuki had been hanging around, allegedly perusing the knives, but mostly just bothering Oyama's pretty daughter working the counter. She had been ignoring him, but then Kosaburou said something that made her laugh, and Kojima blew his stack. Renji was a few years younger than Kozuki, but he was a few inches taller, and he also knew how joints worked. He locked the dirtbag in a full nelson and frog-marched him out the door, just as all 6 feet and 280 pounds of Oyama was coming in. Kozuki slunk off and Renji got an extra 500 kan for his efforts.

Then, yesterday, when Renji was standing outside the lumber yard, trying to look like a guy who's good at moving heavy stuff for cheap, Kozuki caught him from behind, smashed his head into a wall, and kicked him in the stomach while he lay on the ground seeing stars. Then he kicked Renji in the kidneys a few times for good measure.

Renji had gotten licked, and he knew it.

So, he was staying home today. The rest of the gang was respecting his privacy in this difficult time, and had made themselves scarce. Renji assumed they were probably trying to steal rotgut from the cellar of Old Man Tada's bar again.

There was a big rotted-out portion on one wall of the squat, or at least there used to be before Renji had spent all morning ripping it out. He had a big piece of thatched reeds that Rukia had made (she was clever at things like that), and was trying to figure out the best way to join it in, when Mameji stuck his curly-haired head in the doorway.

"Heeeeeeeeyyyy, Renji, what's going on?"

"Made a hole in the wall. Fixin' it."

"Let's go down to the river!"

"Right now? I'm busy."

"It's so hot, you should take a break."

"It's not that hot, and if I don't get this done, with my luck, it'll rain tomorrow."

Mameji glanced nervously behind him. "Do we have anything for dinner? We could try to get some fish."

"Go ahead, man. I told you, I'm busy."

"I! Am! The! Strongest! Girl! In! The! World!"

Renji's gaze drilled into Mameji.

"It was her idea," he stammered.

Rukia stumbled into the squat, supported on either side by Kosaburou and Fujimaru.

Renji made a choked sound in his throat.

Her entire face was covered in blood, except for one stripe down the side of her nose where a matted chunk of her hair had diverted its flow. One of her eyes was swollen shut. Bruises darkened her arms and legs, and she didn't seem to be putting any weight on her left foot.

"What have you done?" he managed.

"I kicked Kozuki Kohei in the nards, just for you!"

Renji pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes. "And what were you clowns doing?" he demanded of the others.

"Witnessing her glory," the other boys echoed dutifully.

Rukia's grin was large and white against the bloody mask of her face.

"Doesn't look like he got the worst of it," Renji observed, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Oh, he did! I also blew out his knee, punched him in the throat and gave him a good poke in the eye." She held up a rather large hank of brown hair. "And I got this." She rubbed the back of her neck in a very Renji-like gesture. "The guys kicked him a bunch once I downed him, too."

"How did you manage this feat?"

"Got the drop on him when he was taking a piss in the alley."

Renji squeezed his eyes shut and started counting.

"Renji?" Kosaburou asked timidly. "Are you gonna yell at Rukia?"

"Of course I am! Now you assholes clear out unless you want some, too!"

Kosaburou and Mameji am-scrayed immediately. Fujimaru desperately wanted to join them, but realized that Rukia would fall over if he let go of her. "Uh, uh," he stammered. Then, Kosaburou ran back in with a large stick, which he propped up under Rukia's arm, grabbed Fujimaru, and departed again in a cloud of dust.

Renji tapped his foot impatiently.

The triumphant look immediately dropped from Rukia's face. She swallowed. "Renji," she said, very, very quietly.

He stepped close to her, glowering.

"Every part of my body hurts so bad," she said in the same tiny voice.

"I can tell," he replied, his voice just as small and soaked with sympathy.

"I don't want the other guys to know."

"I know. I'll get rid of 'em."

Renji then proceeded to stomp around the squat, yelling at the top of his lungs. "You careless blockhead! You deranged numbskull!" For every insult, he made a silly face at her so she would know he didn't mean it. "What were you thinking? Do you know how much trouble you've caused for us? You harebrained loon!"

When he was running low on insults, he stuck his head out the door, where the three boys were very obviously enjoying his tirade. "Look, you cowardly knobs, can't you tell I'm havin' an intimate moment with Rukia here? Be useful for once in your shithole lives! I'm probably gonna use up all the clean water cleaning her up, can you dogturds go get some more from the river and start a fire so we can boil it?"

Mameji and Kosaburou hightailed it toward the river, but Fujimaru hung back for a minute. "Don't go too hard on her, Renji, she did it for you."

"I know," he replied softly.

Fujimaru gave a small smile, and dashed off after the others.

Renji sighed and headed back inside.

Rukia was looking very sad, indeed.

He piled up all their blankets, his own on top, and helped her sit down on it, putting her crutch off to the side. She might need it for the next few days.

Next, he surveyed their rag pile. It was not exactly overflowing. Well, Kosaburou could use a new tunic, and if they could snag one, they could use his old one to replenish the pile. Renji picked out a half dozen and dampened a few of them in the water bucket.

Rukia winced as he started dabbing at the blood on her face. He started around her good eye.

"You think your foot's broken?"

"Naw, just twisted real bad." She stared up at the ceiling casually. "Two of my fingers might be, though."

Renji probed her hairline gently, looking for the source of all the blood. It was a long, shallow trench that started at the edge of her left eyebrow and crossed upward toward the crown of her head. "He caught me with the edge of those stupid brass knuckles he wears," she scowled.

"Oh, Rukia," he sighed. "You're the only one of us without a hideous face, you should be more careful with yours."

"Maybe I was just tryin' to fit in."

He smiled fondly at her. "Why'd you go after that loser? He got his revenge on me, he woulda left us alone."

"Well, he's definitely gonna leave us alone now," Rukia snorted. "I saw his dick while he was pissing, and when I left him bleeding in the dirt, I told him if he touched any of us again, I'd tell everyone how small it was."

Renji took a deep, cleansing breath through his nose, and thanked providence, once again, that Rukia was on his side.

Rukia sighed. "It's not fair. OW!"

"Sorry, sorry! No, nothing's fair. You wanna talk about the sky being blue or water being wet next?"

"It's always you."

"Hmm?"

"You're always the one who gets trashed like this. Any one of us starts a fight, you're always the one who finishes it."

Renji made a pained face. "I'm the biggest. It's only fair."

"You just said nothin's fair! And it's not like you did anything special to get that tall, it just happened." She narrowed her eyes at him. "Right?"

"You keep asking me that. No, I didn't do anything special to get this tall, I swear." He paused. "Also, you know you an' me heal faster than the other guys." He sucked his teeth. "I'm pretty sure I've taken some hits that coulda killed one of them."

Rukia nodded gravely. "Yeah. I thought you were a goner that time you took a brick in the kisser, but here you are, your one brain cell still apparently still working." She blew some air out through her nose. "I'm strong, too, though. I might be small, but I can take a lot."

"I know," he agreed, surveying her face. It was pretty clean now, except for that bloody, matted chunk of hair. Rukia would probably just tell him to lop it off. "I just… don't want you to."

She scoffed. "Well, I don't like seein' you take hits for me any better!"

"What're we gonna do about it?"

Rukia was quiet for a long time as Renji started winding his biggest rag tightly around her ankle. "You're starting to get a reputation, you know."

"Yeah, I know."

"Maybe I'll get one, too. Inuzuri Rukia: Mean as hell. Finds you in the night if you mess with her friends."

"It's accurate, anyway."

"You're big and I'm mean, we make a pretty good team. Scarier together."

"I don't think either of us is real scary lookin' right now."

She wiggled her fingers experimentally and winced. "Eh, we lived. We can be scary again tomorrow."

He tied off the bandage. "But speakin' of scaring people, tell me about every last squeal that came out of that shit-stain while you were givin' him the business."

"Boy, howdy," replied Rukia. "You're gonna love this."

As it turned out, he did.