A/N: This story has been written in collaboration with the wonderful Timewaster123456789, who took the time to teach me the writing process. She's amazing. All the love in the world to her.

Also, a big thank you to SesshomaruFreak, for always inspiring me to be better.

Please, check out my awesome pack and their work! Links on my profile.

We own nothing. Inspired by our packmate Spunky0ne's excellent 'Shattered Moon' series, which is about to turn ten years old! Go check it out.

Chapter 1: Just a scratch.

Byakuya dropped a thick stack of paperwork on Renji's desk and the lieutenant startled awake. Sleeping on the job was not something he would tolerate.

Renji's eyes were wide as he quickly swiped away drool—disgusting— and tried to look alert and contrite at the same time.

Hazy eyes focused on the noble's narrowed ones, two silver cannons just ready to fire. 'Oh, fuck, he's gonna fillet me with Senbonzakura', the redhead thought before trying to stammer an excuse to save his sorry ass.

"S-sorry, Taichou! I know I say this a-almost every day, but it will not happen again."

He winced at how pathetic he sounded, even to his own ears, but for some reason he couldn't seem to think of anything else to try to calm his surely fuming Taichou. His head felt like he'd just finished a 10 hour flash-step training session with Yoruichi, and his mouth was so dry… like he'd just swallowed a giant ball of cotton. The wince, however, did not go unnoticed by the noble.

"Abarai, at this point I would expect you to know better..." Byakuya broke off as he took in his lieutenant's flushed cheeks and sweaty face. He looked like he'd been training for hours. Byakuya softened his voice slightly, "Are you ill?"

Renji just stared ahead, wondering why his captain's silhouette was becoming blurrier every time he blinked. Why did his eyelids feel so heavy all of a sudden? And could someone please close the windows? It's freezing in here!

A slightly trembling hand passed across his heated face, picking up in its trail a few strands of crimson hair that had stuck to his damp forehead. With a cloudy mind and his teeth chattering from the chills that suddenly wracked his body, he decided that his superior had already waited too long for his response.

"I-i'm fine, Kuchiki-Taichou." The redhead started. "J-just a little chilly a-all of a sudden. Is it ok if I close the windows?"

If Renji's eyes had not been so heavy and his gaze so unfocused from the surely rising fever, maybe he would've seen the confused look his captain gave him.

Byakuya quietly shut the windows before turning back to his lieutenant.

"You are not fine. Go home, Abarai."

"But Taichou! I can...I can still..." what was he supposed to do again? Oh, right, paperwork! "I can get the paperwork done. Just give me a..."

"Go home before you make the whole squad sick."

Dejected, Renji rose to his feet and swayed a little.

Byakuya watched him with a small frown, "Can you make it on your own?"

It was a simple, practical question. He could assign an escort if not. He wasn't worried surely... though the lieutenant really didn't look well.

Renji lowered his head and stared at the floor, breathing slowly and deeply, as he prayed to the gods to stop the dizziness he felt. He had to get out of there. He was not going to just stand here and let himself be humiliated by the noble, so he tried to compose himself and proudly lifted his face to look his Taichou in the eye. 'Oh shit, bad idea!' he thought as he realized he'd moved his head too fast and stars started dancing in front of him.

Everything around him began to darken, and his ears filled a strange buzzing sound. He could only see that the ground was getting closer to him - or was it he who was about to hit the ground? - He barely felt the strong chest that saved him from what would surely have been a nasty fall, before the buzzing stopped and everything went black.

*Beep. Beep. Beep.*

Distant sounds began to register deep in his mind, slowly returning Renji to the real world. The air around him smelled slightly of alcohol and disinfectant. He didn't need to open his eyes to realize where he was. 'Damn it, anywhere but here!'

Renji opened his eyes to find himself on a hospital bed. He heard voices and turned his head to see his captain talking to a fourth squad nurse. They both approached so he tried to sit up and look alert, it didn't really work.

"You've clearly been sick for a while. Why have you not sought treatment?" the nurse asked. Byakuya stood behind her, frowning slightly, which registered as deep displeasure to Renji, who knew the various expressions of his Captain's anger painfully well.

Worried about the displeased and slightly inquisitive look in those steel eyes, an exhausted Renji tried to come up with an answer that wouldn't disappoint the noble even more.

"I apologize for not being more careful and not having said anything before, but I didn't think it was that important," the redhead said as he took a deep breath and slowly lifted his shitagi and kosode to reveal what looked like a wound made by a Hollow's claws. The wound looked quite recent, it was red, swollen and the edges were tinted with a sickly dark purple.

Renji lowered his head and hid his auburn eyes behind his crimson mane, so as not to have to face the astonished look of the nurse, and the freezing cold eyes of the noble. With a sigh, he prepared for the scolding of his life. Nevertheless, he was a little surprised when he heard the voice of his Taichou, a little softer than normal, yet still firm and —let's face it—kind of scary.

"The incursion in the 70th east…when you killed the flankers."

It wasn't a question, but the way his Lieutenant lowered his head even more confirmed it regardless. He'd received that wound guarding Byakuya's back. This was all his fault.

"Renji, why didn't you get it treated? The truth." there was no way in his mind that the veteran could have underestimated a wound that severe, that badly.

"The place was chaotic, Taichou. My priority was always to watch your back and see that fallen officers got medical attention ASAP. I didn't think the wound was so serious. I didn't even realize I was hurt until I got to my room. I cleaned and bandaged the wound myself, since I didn't feel any pain whatsoever. Yeah, I felt more tired than usual, but I thought it was because we've had several missions lately and I haven't been able to sleep very well. Forgive me, I was careless and I've caused you both problems. Please, Taichou, I'm sorry for wasting your time. You don't need to waste your day in fourth squad with a mutt like me."

Byakuya nodded and left to finish the workday, but his Lieutenant's plight occupied a corner of his mind. Maybe it was just adrenaline that had made him not feel the wound, he was tough, but it was also highly likely that the claw had some kind of numbing secretion. That often went hand in hand with another, more dangerous poison.

As soon as he was done for the day, he returned to the fourth. Without much difficulty, he found the nurse in charge of his lieutenant.

With that gentle look that characterized all the members of the fourth, she addressed the nobleman, "Good evening, Kuchiki-Taichou, what can I do for you?"

"I want to know what is going on with my Lieutenant. He is strong, but it is impossible that he failed to notice such a serious injury, I need to know if Abarai was poisoned by that Hollow or if there is something else that he is not saying."

"I understand, Kuchiki-Taichou," the gentle-eyed nurse said, "Lieutenant Abarai is asleep right now, his fever came back a couple of hours ago and he was becoming restless, so we had to sedate him. We took the opportunity to take blood samples and Unohana-Taichou ordered us to give her the results as soon as we have them."

Byakuya nodded and waited. As the hours dragged on, he tried meditating, but the lobby was too loud with a detail of the eleventh that had come in from battle, raucously bragging about their exploits and showing off injuries as they waited to be treated.

He moved into Renji's room to continue his meditation in the quiet, but his concentration kept slipping anyway. Renji twisted in a fever-induced dream and sweat covered his body. It bothered him deeply to know that it'd been his own failure that had put his subordinate there.

He had just closed his eyes to try meditating again, when he felt Renji's reiatsu oozed into a waking state.

As soon as he saw Renji open his eyes Byakuya approached the bed. Renji tried to get up, but the noble quietly guided his lieutenant back to the bed with surprisingly gentle hands. Renji started to protest, but his Taichou just glared at him. Knowing that protesting would be in vain, the feverish lieutenant allowed himself to be laid on the bed again and closed his eyes against the light that shone in the hallway outside his room.

Byakuya, somewhat surprised by his own behavior, hurried to close the door, leaving moonlight the only illumination inside. A slight nod from the redhead was the only show of gratitude he needed. Porcelain fingers went to Renji's forehead and the cool touch on his heated skin made him shiver. Byakuya noticed, and got a basin and a wet cloth from the nightstand. Tenderly, he ran the cloth over Renji's face and neck, trying to cool him down.

Then he got closer and whispered in his ear, "Get some sleep, Lieutenant. I'll be here if you need me."

Grateful auburn eyes fluttered closed, and the redhead fell asleep again. A small smile gracing his lips.

At the other end of the hall from where Renji's room was, a bewildered Unohana was walking very fast, in search of the Captain of the sixth squad.

Sensing Byakuya's reiatsu, Unohana-Taichou entered Renji's room, prepared to give the noble a dressing down for harassing her patient. She found him sitting in the room's only chair while Renji lay peacefully with a wet cloth on his head. She had the distinct impression that she had interrupted something but that wasn't her concern.

Byakuya rose respectfully when she entered, in the hospital of fourth division, Unohana-Taichou outranked everyone. She woke Renji gently.

"I'm sorry to have to wake you, but this is urgent. Byakuya-Taichou, would you give us a moment?"

"Can he stay?" Renji asked then gasped when he realized what he'd said. Well, he was fully awake now at least... and wanted the ground to swallow him.

"If you wish but, this will not be easy to hear, so perhaps..."

In that case, he very much wished not to be alone, but that wasn't in a captain's job description. Byakuya, however, saw the fear in Renji's eyes.

"If you wish me to leave it's okay. Rank has no privilege here, you know that."

"I don't," Renji whispered.

"In that case, Unohana-Taichou, please allow me to stay by my Lieutenant's side."

The leader of the fourth squad gave the nobleman in front of her a small smile, then turned serious eyes to the man in the bed. With that delicate voice of hers, she began to speak.

"Lieutenant Abarai, we took a sample of your blood while you were sleeping. I have the results in my hands and I regret to inform you that there is a powerful poison invading your body. That is the reason why you have felt so tired these last few days and your fever is not coming down."

'Well that doesn't sound so bad, she had me all worried for nothing!' Renji thought as he addressed the woman.

"Excuse me for my insolence, Unohana-Taichou, but that doesn't sound so serious. It's not the first time I've been attacked by a Hollow and poisoned."

The redhead regretted his comment as soon as he finished saying it, feeling two pairs of eyes come to rest on him. One of them looked worried, the other promised a slow and painful death if he kept saying stupid things.

"Lieutenant Abarai, please, let me finish," Unohana said gently but firmly. "The poison will slowly eat at your reiatsu, until you have no spirit power left. Even if we find an antidote, there is no guarantee that you will be able to recover any that you lost."

Byakuya felt ill but didn't let it show, once a leader showed fear, subordinates quickly followed.

"So I...I could lose my Shinigami powers?" Renji's voice shook. Would he have to go back to the Rukon?

"Yes."

"What is needed for an antidote?" Byakuya asked, all business.

"We would need the body of a Hollow of the same type that injured him. The same specific Hollow would be best, but any should work," Unohana said. "Other than that, it's in the twelfth's hands."

Byakuya saw Renji's eyes widen and his face pale. For some reason, the lack of color in his subordinate's lovely features deeply disturbed him… Wait. Renji? Lovely? He really needed to get away from the redhead. The sterile smell of the fourth division's barracks was obviously making him delirious. Had he not been the heir of the Kuchiki clan, he probably would have slapped his own face.

While the noble's brain teased him with images of the redhead's tanned, golden skin, Renji was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. This couldn't be happening. No, he didn't want to leave Seireitei, he didn't want to stop being a Shinigami! Everything he loved was here! His home, his friends, his squad and... his Taichou. He had to find an antidote, he would go the bottom of Hueco Mundo with only a wooden stick for a weapon if it meant that he could regain his powers! He would do anything! Well... except one thing...

"If you people think for a second that I'm going to let myself be touched by that creepy mad scientist, you're crazy!"

"He would only develop the antidote, I will be administering it," Unohana said with a faint smile. Even Byakuya felt his lips twitch, he could commiserate with that sentiment.

"I must put things in order with the squad first, but I will return with the Hollow soon," Byakuya said.

The night continued to fill Renji with surprises. Had his captain just offered to look for the Hollow by himself, just to retrieve the antidote that could save Renji from losing his powers? He suddenly felt a strange sensation in his stomach, as if a million hell butterflies were fluttering inside him. Maybe it's the poison? he thought as he watched the noble captain leave his room, the sign of the sixth squad standing proudly on his white haori.