Nothing's Changed [Byakuya × Renji]

6 - Flaming Monkey

Renji was out collecting small twigs and medium sized branches for the bonfire they were going to have before bed, at the same time they did every night.

Little did he know that tonight's bonfire would be different, that Zabimaru wasn't tucked in anymore, but instead he was hidden under a pillow far away from his bed.

Under the pillow of Grimmjow, soon to be tossed into the bonfire that the elementary child was gathering sticks for. He hummed a little bit as he piled what he had gathered into the designated area for the fire they circled nightly, looking around at the counselors and some of the children who were setting up chairs for everyone to sit at.

The reckless seven year old enjoyed having bonfires, the kids and counselors would tell stories, whether they were ghost stories, about the counselors' youth, the kids and things they did with friends during school, or whatever. He enjoyed it, being able to be surrounded by everyone, laughing at funny and embarrassing moments that others have experienced.

He absolutely could not get enough of it. The small red head went back into the cabin and walked over to his bunk, seeing that two of the older kids who picked on him where there, Aizen and Gin, who seemed to be having a conversation while Byakuya looked like he was participating.

He hesitantly walked over and sat down next to the teenager he liked most, looking up at the other two.

"Oh, hello Renji," Aizen smiled a little bit, pushing up the glasses that he only wore because he thought they looked nice. "Hi Aizen.." granted the brunette picked on him, but it wasn't as much as the puppy who followed him everywhere, Gin.

"Yaka, bonfire's almost ready, let's go and get good seats." He gently gripped the pale arm that was seated next to him, gently pulling on it so they could leave this situation.

"Alright, alright," the raven repeated one of his very annoyed sighs and stood up, gently taking Renji's hand and walking with him out of the cabin to the rows of uncomfortable camping chairs. Once closer to the small pit the seven year old smiled, "look at all the sticks I got Yaka!" Which earned him a slight head pat, and a "good job" from the eldest Kuchiki. The pat didn't last or linger long, but it made the spry child very happy to have earned one in the first place.

"I can't wait til Rukia can come!" "Just don't excite her too much, she's still younger than you, and more fragile." "What's that supposed to mean?"

Renji didn't know that Byakuya was trying to say that the seven year old was very rambunctious and had the ability to accidentally hurt his little sister when playing.

"Nothing, pick where you want to sit," "alright!" It took the monkey lover a little bit, but eventually he picked a slightly unstable camping chair that might have been a little too close to the fire pit, but he wouldn't know that until the fire was lit and until he started to burn up.

"You might want to move the chair back," but the raven didn't wait for a response, he got behind the chair and pulled it back to line up with the rest of the chairs. "Thanks Yaka!" The ball of energy looked up to his role model and smiled, then pulled his knees up to his chest, waiting for everyone to come to Counselor Yamamoto could light the pit.

Once everyone was there, the counselor lit the fire, then sat down in an empty chair, looking around at all the young faces, smiling to himself. "Now, how about some s'mores?" It wasn't very often that he'd let the children have the gooey treat; but tonight felt like a good one.

Gin and Grimmjow snickered at each other, their excitement growing whenever Yamamoto stood up and went towards his cabin to grab the three components to make s'mores and a cooler filled with ice and soda.

The blue haired nine year old pulled Zabimaru from behind him and walked through at least three rows of children before reaching the fire, looking to Renji and Byakuya who were having one of their normal, one sided conversations.

He cleared his throat, "ahem, Renji," once he received the tan child's attention he saw the life drain from his face as he dangled the plush toy over the fire, wiggling it a little bit before lowering it; waiting til the flames kissed it's tail and caught the cloth aflame.

"Zabimaru!" Byakuya looked over and got up, reacting quicker than he could think, he gripped Grimmjow's wrist and lifted it up so the baboon wouldn't receive too much damage, but once again; it had carried some flame with it.

This made a lot of the children panic a little, some of them yelling for Yamamoto who was close to returning, and once he was back he simply took Zabimaru from the two children standing dangerously close to the fire and dropped him into the cooler. "Now now, who's bright idea was this?"

Grimmjow grumbled a little and looked away, yanking his arm away from the very pissed off raven.

The next day Gin and Grimmjow were punished by not being able to join in any activities, instead they had to wait for their parents to come and pick them up.

Renji sat in his bunk, holding onto the now burned Zabimaru, his white fluff now had a singular spot where it was all singed and black, the edges around said burn were tainted yellow; stuffing could be seen leaking out of the center of his injury.

Every now and then Byakuya would sit next to who he viewed as his younger brother and would talk with him, bring him snacks and drinks to try and make him a little happier.