Retying Your Red Thread of Fate

A/N: So here I am, with a RenjiHime stroy. Yes, RenHime. I've just watched episode 303 of the anime and I saw some RenHime moments in there; the time when she changed at Urahara's and told him about spending time with loved ones, and the time when he and Ichigo and some others met her and Rukia at the shrine. I really liked the latter, when Orihime had thanked Renji for coming and I think he kinda blushed… I don't know… but they seemed cute together, no? I really like IchiHime, but sometimes I just can't seem to hate RenHime. So there we have it, my reasons for doing this RenHime oneshot. Hope you like it.

CHAPTER1: HIM.

He hadn't realized, when he had started to like her.

'Like' was an understatement at the moment.

He just realized he loved her.

He fell in love with her so hard, it scared him.

Renji hadn't given much attention towards Orihime the first time he had met her. He couldn't even remember her name properly when he came to the World of the Living to see Ichigo just before the Bounts appeared. He just knew her as a friend of Ichigo; that cheery, long-haired girl whom intruded Soul Society with Ichigo to save Rukia, the one with the unusual abilities. Maybe it was her special powers that led him to remember her name the second time they met at Urahara's.

The day she was kidnapped by the mod souls, Renji, Chad, Ishida and Ichigo had been to her apartment to search for clues of her disappearance. His first impression when they stepped in was that she was a lonely girl. It was most due to the fact that her apartment had little furnishing, and also for the fact that he saw the picture of her brother in front of a small shrine. He didn't know why, but he felt a little bit sorry for the healer. She was young, but she seemed lonely. And if it wasn't because of the surge of weird reiatsu the boys sensed on the day of her disappearance near her home, no one would've known she was kidnapped by those mod souls.

She was weird, that he knew.

It was when they asked her about what happened when she was kidnapped. She had said there was a tea party.

If it wasn't for his little squabble with Ichigo a few moments earlier, he would've chuckled a bit at her random answer.

Seriously, who would have a tea party in the middle of a kidnap anyway?

Ah yes, Urahara-san would.

In the end it was that ex-Captain whom kidnapped the bubbly girl and Chad. Never he felt so annoyed at someone at that moment. Renji had been fighting with Ichigo meaninglessly and they had even run around the town during one of those stupid games just to save Orihime and Chad. But then the gentle giant had said that there was indeed a tea party, and Orihime had been so innocent when she said, "I told you so." She was kind of cute when she said that, but that thought had gone as fast as it had appeared.

It had been just that one time when he actually looked at the girl.

Time passed when they fought the Bounts, him nearly getting killed but managed to survive. He didn't take his time observing Orihime, and thus their relationship was just like it had always been. Not-so-close friends. A friend of a friend. That cheery weird girl, that tattooed guy with the red hair.

Then the Espadas popped out of nowhere. They attacked Chad, and Orihime was there too.

Renji was quite surprised when Orihime and Chad came back to Urahara's, seriously injured and unconscious. Later that night he heard Yoruichi telling Urahara about Orihime trying to protect Chad with her shield and lost her Tsubaki when she launched Koten Zasshun. Ichigo had come later, but somehow the orange-head lost control of his own body and ended up beaten by Yammy. It was later in the morning when he saw Orihime lying in the futon, her arm bandaged and her face patched with gauzes. He had watched Ichigo apologizing to the healer for not being able to protect her, and he had watched, with slight fascination, how she had smiled and laughed it off.

She had smiled.

It made him wonder, just what exactly is this girl made of? Was she human?

She had stayed at Urahara's that night. The door to her room was left open a bit, and he watched her sleep. He wondered why such a frail woman as her would risk herself protecting her friends from an enemy that was so out of her league? Yammy was bigger than her, and much stronger. But Orihime…

"Renji-kun? Is that you?" She had called out to him, her voice sleepy.

He looked at her, and saw her sitting up in the futon. "You awake already?"

The girl nodded, and a sleepy smile stretched upon her face. "I can't sleep knowing you're not taking a nap. Do you have something to ask me?"

Renji thought for a while, and he decided to let himself in her room to sit next to her.

"You're weird." He had said.

She had looked at him questioningly then, her eyes blinking away the sleepiness. Then she laughed softly, a sound he thought of as chimes in the middle of the night.

"I get that a lot, Renji-kun. Yes, I think I am, why?"

The redhead scratched a spot under his chin, suddenly thinking twice of what he was about to ask.

"Why did you fight Yammy? He was like, really huge, and now you're all beaten."

"I wanted to protect Sado-kun and Tatsuki-chan, Kurosaki-kun too..."

"That's stupid." He didn't mean to sound harsh, but he couldn't help himself. How could someone be selfless?

He waited a while, his eyes focusing on a spot above her head. The room was dark, the light from the corridors spilled into the room, illuminating Orihime just enough for him to notice she was smiling yet again before looking down at her hands, folded neatly into her lap.

"Did you know, that I lost onii-chan when I was younger?" She could sense the tattooed shinigami nod a fraction, and decided to continue.

"Ever since I was a small girl, Tatsuki-chan was always there to protect me from bullies and a lot of dangerous people. She was my protector then and now. And I loved it, that I had someone I can always rely on..."

Renji decided to look at her as he saw her touch her hairpins with her good hand. Her smile disappeared, and he could clearly see her eyes getting glassy, a clear sign that she was about to cry.

But she didn't. She didn't cry, she held it in.

"Sado-kun, he nearly lost an arm today, when he fought Yammy. He shouldn't have fought with that Espada, I knew that... he knew that he couldn't have stood a chance against his enemy... but he did it anyways... because I realized that he was protecting me."

She took a shaky breath, and he waited for her to continue.

"Sometimes I just... you know... feel that I'm a burden... And I hate it, I just hate it. I really appreciate my friends for protecting me, but I want to do something in return. I want to protect them too, Tatsuki-chan, Sado-kun, all my friends."

She blinked back her tears. "I want to protect everyone too. Isn't that what friends are for? To protect each other? I'm sure you understand me, because you and Kurosaki-kun make a good team when you back each other up. Ne, Renji-kun?"

Renji blinked as she looked up, her tears still there, threatening to fall, but she smiled at him. Her smile was bright, and he found a hard time not to smile back. It was almost a blur to him when he heard her say,

"And maybe I can also protect you from those little blue men and brain-sucking aliens too."

Her arm was bandaged, he spotted a purple bruise on one side of her chin, and her forehead was bandaged. Her ridiculously long beautiful hair flowed down her back like a glowing waterfall in the dead of the night, and her grey, oh her grey eyes were bright and round. Her face was patched up all over but god bless his heart.

She was beautiful.

He had cleared his throat then, and quickly stood up to get out of her room. Stepping out of the room, he put a hand on the door to slide it shut. He had caught her eyes, and averted his gaze somewhere else to mutter, "That was such an ass backward reason, boke. Now get back to sleep."

She had laughed, and yawned. "Aye aye, Renji-kun."

Orihime's cheery reply had the corners of his mouth tug up into a small grin.

He had let out a breath then, as he slid the door closed for good.

Rukia had come back, and she was attacked by Grimjow, nearly dying. He never felt so torn before when he saw Ichigo straddling her, calling out her name. He was battling another Espada then, so busy he was that he couldn't keep his promise to always protect Rukia.

Then he felt it. It was Orihime.

She was healing Rukia, and he knew then, it was going to be alright.

He had thanked Orihime for healing Rukia, and of course, the healer smiled back.

But he noticed that the smile didn't quite reach her eyes.

Orihime was sad. He knew that just by looking at her eyes. Her grey eyes lacked that shine when she smiled.

It felt wrong and... weird.

Everyone was busy planning the oncoming Winter War, but nobody noticed the forlorn look in her eyes. Maybe he was just over reacting. He had thought that maybe she was just tired. She did a lot of healing that time, and he wondered when her body would give way.

He noticed the tear marks on her cheeks when he came to check upon Rangiku. They were faint lines, very so, but the marks were there. Renji hadn't known why he could see it, and wanted to ask Ichigo.

Wait, Ichigo?

The orange-head had a torn look on his face when he looked at Rukia.

Realization hit him.

He wasn't imagining stuff.

That lost look in her eyes. The missing shine in her round, grey eyes when she smiled...

Abarai Renji might be dense when it came to feelings, but he knew what transpired between those three.

Never in his life had he felt so angry at Ichigo.

He had secretly liked her laughter. He had just realized that.

Yes, he was stubborn to admit it then; but something tugged at his heart when he knew, oh when he knew she had those sad eyes trained on the Substitute Shinigami.

"I'm sorry, Inoue-san, but I'm afraid you have to sit out during this War."

Everyone present was shocked.

Again, that little something tugged at his heart when she looked at Urahara, her face unreadable.

And goddammit she smiled.

He had wanted to bonk her head so hard for being such an idiot.

Why in the world was she smiling when it was clear that her abilities, her unique abilities were brushed aside?

Renji decided to let off some steam when he trained with Chad. A few days after that he had heard from Hitsugaya-taichou that Ichigo was nowhere to be found, but no need to worry because Orihime had found him. He felt kind of jealous then, because it was crystal clear that the only possible reason she could have found the orange top had been because she had concentrated very hard to sense his reiatsu. He had wished someone had done that for him too.

Some moment after that, he heard news that Rukia was training with Orihime in Soul Society. He couldn't stop the pride swelling in his chest.

Good girl. Be stronger and prove to everyone that you are worthy enough to fight next to Ichigo.

Next to him...

Orihime disappeared the next day.

He was speechless when Yamamoto-soutaichou declared her a traitor.

No. Orihime was the kindest person he knew. She was not a traitor.

He wanted to blame Ichigo, Urahara and maybe even Rukia. Maybe if Ichigo hadn't look so torn when Rukia was injured that one time, maybe if Rukia didn't bring her to Soul Society, maybe if Urahara hadn't been so harsh to her about her abilities... Orihime wouldn't have been gone.

Renji wanted to blame them, but when he looked at the way Ichigo reacted... maybe he was wrong.

He felt bad for even thinking of his friends... his best friends like that. That guilt brought him to follow Rukia to Hueco Mundo, and fight with Ichigo to search for Orihime.

Maybe Ichigo had feelings for Rukia, but Orihime was still a friend. A very good friend.

And then maybe, just maybe... Orihime was something to Renji.

They just needed to beat the crap out of the Espadas, defeat Aizen, and bring back Orihime.

And they did it.

But then... what was this?

His hopes had died when he saw Orihime crying... That time when they went out of Hueco Mundo in time to see Aizen defeated... She cried tears of joy for that guy. For Ichigo.

And Renji couldn't forget the look on Ichigo's face.

No, he was mistaken all along. Ichigo didn't love Rukia, he loved her.

Orihime. The only human being Renji had cared more than a friend. More than he had realized until he saw that look in Ichigo's eyes.

They loved each other.

Then where had that left him?

...

...

...

It was more than a year when he last saw her... Ichigo had regained his powers then.

Renji was happy for Ichigo.

Really, really happy.

But he couldn't help feeling jealous of the orange haired Shinigami.

Ichigo might have not realized it yet, but Renji could see that she still loved him.

But why weren't they together? That wasn't his concern anyway.

"Renji-kun!"

She still called him 'Renji'. He realized how he missed her calling him that. She never called Ichigo by his name, and Renji secretly loved that. He wanted to smile at her. And smile, he did.

She was still beautiful, and still cheerful.

Her eyes, oh her grey eyes were shining again as her smile widened.

"Renji-kun, isn't it? Oh, wow! I really missed you!"

He couldn't have possibly missed the way her cheeks blush slightly; and he thought that maybe, just maybe...

Maybe he could still love her, and maybe she would realize that.

A/N: Phew! Writing a RenHime fic was waaay harder than I thought! I know... It's kinda short, but I can't really milk out anything more from my brain so there you have it. Please tell me what you thin and if this doesn't turn out well, I'll take this fic down.

Hugs and kisses!