A/N: Happy Birthday Sesh! I hope you enjoy this little Piece! I don't really know what else to say. Renji and Byakuya are really cute together, I've actually been itching for a while now to write about those two. While there is no real RenBya/ByaRen Action, if you squint and tilt your head slightly to the right you definetely can spot it. (I was going for subtlety) Anyways I'm not going to ramble on any longer. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Hail our one and only Lord and Savior Tite Kubo, Creator of Bleach & lots of my R18+ dreams.

The Monkey and the Moon

I have always been afraid…

always been pretending to follow you closely,

always been pretending to sharpen my teeth, when the truth is I am…

Scared to death just treading on your shadow.

There had always been coldness in your midnight eyes when I dared to let my gaze stray from the ground at your feet. It had terrified me. The distance between us, not just palpable through status alone, but the rift between our hearts - our minds - had been too great for me to even grasp.

I had thought of you as coldhearted. I had thought of you as another noble man, thinking of me as a Rukongai rat.

I had thought of us as the monkey and the moon…

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.

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There was once a monkey happily swinging from tree to tree. He swung to a branch where there he saw an amazing sight. Below him was a pond with the glimmering image of the moon shining in the water. He was amazed by its beauty and brilliant white light.

Hanging on to the branch with one paw, he used his other paw to reach for that beautiful moon. He reached, and he reached, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not reach the moon. And he refused to let go of the branch to get closer to the moon.

Try as he might, even until death, he will never give up trying to reach for the moon in the water and he will still hang on to his branch.
But by grace or chance, the branch he was hanging onto snapped. The monkey plunged into the water. He slapped around in the water for a moment, looking for the moon.

Then he looked up into the sky and - there! There it was! The monkey saw the moon shining brightly against the dark night's sky.

.

.

.

I had been wrong.

The second I had seen you take the blow destined to mean Rukias end, while I was left lying on the ground blackness treading on the edges of my consciousness and begging whichever deity needed to save Rukia…You appeared. And there was no coldness in your eyes, no rift between us in that instance, because our hearts were set on the same goal. To protect Rukia, your little sister and my best friend.

Two hearts – two minds – with one goal.

It was at that moment the branch I had been holding onto so desperately…snapped.

And I wish I had been able to stay awake to see that coldness in your gaze being replaced with determination for a little longer, to join Rukia in shielding your body with my own. Because you were the moon I was fighting to reach.

When the cold light of linoleum hurtfully awoke me from my slumber people congratulated me for standing up for what was right. Commending me for standing against my Captain. It should have pleased me.

I felt empty.

I could feel your Reiatsu, knew you were just a few doors away recovering from injuries dealt to you by Ichigo as well as Aizen. Had I still thought of you as a heartless man I would have wondered what had been wounded more, your body or your ego. But that was no longer the case.

Nor would it ever be again.

You had defeated me, complimenting me for staying in human shape after experiencing the thousand blades of Senbonsakura, you spoke of status, you told me to stand still if I wished to live.

I ignored you. I stood up. I told you it was because I wished to protect Rukia. Because I had sworn it to myself - to my Soul.

But that had been a lie.

I could have mended the bridge I had destroyed between Rukia and myself long ago. I choose instead to chase behind you. To chase behind a figure that was way beyond my reach. I don't remember when I decided to do so. Was it that first time my eyes settled on you? Gaze directed to the Kanseikan adorning your silky hair, and realizing that you were someone I would chase like the monkey would the moon?

What came first? My decision to make you my destiny or the wish to surpass the man I blamed for a friendship that was never fully destroyed?

'Congratulations…Your fangs have reached me…'

My branch has snapped…my fangs have reached…I won't let go.

I have a red monkey following my step.

Don't misunderstand, I am aware it is his duty...And yet his gaze burns on my skin without me having to meet his eyes. The scolding heat of his being already tangible in the air where ever he steps.

We are the monkey and the moon.

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.

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There once was a moon, far above in the sky, surrounded by night and the gentle stars light. He was shining his light down onto a Pond when his gaze fell onto an unexpected sight. There below in the trees and far above the ground, was a monkey reaching for his Image in the glimmering water.

Hanging on to the branch with one paw, he used his other to reach for the moon. And the moon saw as he reached, and reached, but no matter how hard he tried he could not reach the Image of the moon. Amused by the foolish monkey the moon watched, exasperated by the monkeys unwillingness to let go of his branch.

Try as he might, the moon could not tell the monkey that his Image was all but that - nothing to be grasped and caught, because he was the moon far above in the sky. But by grace or chance, the branch the foolish monkey was holding onto snapped. The monkey plunged into the water. He slapped around in the water for a moment, looking for the moon. And the moon watched.

And then - for the first time in many - the monkeys gaze fell upon him, far above in the midnight sky, the Image all but forgotten as he gaze at the real moon for the first time. Out of reach of the monkeys paws - forever.

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.

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No matter how hard he will try, in the end he will fail. He will fall into the Pond and realize that the moon he had been aiming for was still far above him on the night sky. Yet this monkey has fangs, fangs he dared to bare at the moon.

When he first defied me - a resolute 'No' on his tongue, in his eyes, in his stance, when I commanded him to abandon his wish to save Rukia; I had thought him to be nothing more than that foolish monkey.

An animal in a trap, scratching and biting and baring it's teeth at it's captor...and in the end...it will realize the futility of it all.

Yet he wasn't. Even bloodied and bruised and on the verge of death that monkey rose to defy me, to reach for the moon, one last time...And reach he did. His blood coating my cheek and clothing - He reached me.

And what was the moon supposed to do when that foolish, foolish monkey rises his paws and catches him in his palm? What is the moon to do when his eyes - filled with fire and scolding heat - burn into his own, no hesitation or fear on his face? What is the moon to do when he loses the distance he so carefully kept? Afraid to get caught by the monkey's burning gaze and snapping fangs?

He can only continue on as he always has, pretending not to see the way it all has changes. Pretending them to be nothing more than the monkey and the moon. Because if the moon ever stopped pretending...If the moon allowed itself to freely fall into the hands of the monkey - there would be no turning back.

Even with the Image of himself refelcted in the water broken - his pride was not.