Mimic

Part V

Author's note : Thank you so much to all of my wonderful


Disclaimer : I do own bleach... I have some under the sink right now. (I don't own the anime/manga though)

Last chapter : *Renji had merely had to pick. Rikichi wanted that luxury... and in order to have that luxury, Rikichi would need people to grovel at his feet as well.
The only question was how.*

Rikichi woke the next day with a smile. He cleared his throat, threw back his comforter, and jumped out of bed. After a quick stretch, he skipped off to the bathroom for his morning shower. Rikichi was certain this was going to be a good day. When he shut off the water, he brushed out his hair. Grinning, he reached for an elastic. Pulling all of his hair back into a high, spiky pony tail, Rikichi happily hummed to himself. It was odd how he had woken with the answer right in his head. If he wanted people to treat him like they treated Renji, it was rather simple. He would have to be JUST like Renji. Pony tail and loud voice included.

Rikichi pulled on his uniform and placed it a different way then he normally would have. Instead of tying the white belt tight at his waist, he tied it lose, and low on his hips. He tugged at the uniform tops until they formed a low v, showing off a reasonable amount of Rikichi's chest. And, just before he dashed out the door,he looked in the mirror, flashed himself Renji's trademark grin and lifted the brand new sun glasses up onto his forehead. They may not have been Renji's extremely expensive ones, but they would do for the day.

Rikichi noticed the looks he was getting almost as soon as he shut his door. Some were looks of admiration, others were looks of curiosity. He didn't get more than a few blocks from his house before he was seen and stopped by Hisagi Shuuhei.

“What are you doing, Rikichi...?”

“Oi! Hisagi-kun! I'm actually just off to work now.”

Hisagi raised an eyebrow. He looked the boy up and down, smiled to himself and looked Rikichi in the eyes.

“Hey, I was just wondering if maybe you wanna head out to a bar I know after work. Renji usually goes with me, but since he's not here.... and since I wanna talk to you...”

Rikichi grinned his Renji grin.

“Alright. I'll see you later then. I have to get to work now though, or taicho will kick my ass.”

Hisagi nodded, and Rikichi continued on his way, smiling. Already he had someone interested in him?! And a Vice captain, nonetheless! This was much, much easier then it looked.
He got to the 6th division in a relatively short amount of time. So much so, that he was early. In fact, so early that he met Kuchiki-taicho coming around the corner of the building. Byakuya just stopped in his tracks and stared.

“Koso..... what do you think you're doing!”

“G'morning! Coming to work, taicho.”

“Rikichi. Office. Now.”

The pained look on Kuchiki-taicho's face told Rikichi that he should listen. When Kuchiki turned on his heels after staring for another minute and pushed through the door to the 6th Division office building, Rikichi followed as well. Kuchiki didn't say a word as he led the way to the spacious office, and flung open the door in a rather agitated way. Rikichi followed his captain into the office. The stoic captain just planted himself down in the chair and sighed.

“Rikichi, this is ridiculous. Why are you dressed up as Renji?”

“Dressed up? I'm not dressed up taicho. This is just my style.”

Kuchiki-taicho's eyes met Rikichi's.

“Sit, fukutaicho. I am not going to discuss this with you now. You will go to the vice-captain's meeting, and when you come back, your hair will not be in that pony tail, and you will not shout. Have I made myself clear?”

“Yes sir. But I don't see why you would object to me wearing my hair up.”

“It doesn't suit you. It is unbecoming for you to mimic Renji, as well. When you return we will discuss this matter further. Now, here is what I expect you to tell at the meeting today...”


Rikichi left the division office building a short time later, trying desperately to recall all of the information regarding the state of the training equipment while at the same time smiling and being as loud as possible. So loud, in fact, that Unohana Retsu met him at the front of the 4th division building.

“Rikichi fukutaicho, could you please not shout to Hanataro-san? He's on the third floor, and your voice is carrying all throughout the building. Also, after you finish work today, could you please come back here? I would like to have another look at your nose.”

“Yes, Unohana-taicho.”

“Alright then. Have a nice day, Rikichi fukutaicho.”

Rikichi carried on, this time reasonably quieter than he had been before. After all, pissing off Unohana-taicho was not on his to-do list, nor did he want to deal with her hot-headed vice captain.

Rikichi arrived just before the meeting began. Most of the other fukutaicho were there, and a few of them even mistook him for Renji when he walked in. Rikichi found Hisagi leaning up against a wall in the hallway leading to the main hall, talking to Kira fukutaicho.

“Oi! Hisagi, I'm not going to make it tonight. Unohana wants to look at my face some more.”

“Alright then, Rikichi-san. Can I walk you back to your division office after the meeting, I'd really like to speak with you.”

Rikichi nodded, but was prevented from saying anything when flash of pink caught his eye. He put his hands up defensively, but he wasn't quick enough. Yachiru had efficiently latched herself onto his short ponytail, and was happily swinging from it.

“Mimic-kun had a new ponytail! Kawaii!”

She dropped to the floor and beamed up at him. Rikichi's eyebrow raised as he reached up to fix the ruined ponytail.

“Mimic-kun?”

“Hai! Mimic-kun! 'Cause you mimic Abarai-san.”

She ran off just as the stern 8th division fukutaicho walked in and glared at Rikichi before pushing past him and unlocking the main hall. The meeting started promptly, and went nearly flawlessly. Rikichi hadn't screwed up anywhere near as much as he thought he would have, and Hisagi waited just outside the building for Rikichi afterwards. Together, at a rather leisurely pace, they started back across Seireitei.

“What was it you wanted to talk to me about, Hisagi-kun?”

“Well, Rikichi, I wanted to ask you why you were doing this.”

“Doing what? Dressing like this?”

“Yeah... It doesn't really suit you, you know.”

Rikichi looked towards the ground, sighing.

“Yeah, I know. Taicho already said the same thing.”

“Kuchiki saw you like this?! What did he say?”

Hisagi looked at the boy in a rather awestruck fashion. He hadn't known that this kid had the balls to even speak to Kuchiki while looking like that. Then it dawned on Hisagi that Rikichi probably didn't know why Kuchiki was upset. He listened to the boy tell him about what Byakuya had said, then stopped and sat on the roof they were walking on.

“You know, Rikichi, you really shouldn't dress like that around Byakuya.”

“Why?”

“Alright, I'll tell you, but you didn't hear this from me...”

“Ok.”

“When Renji first became Byakuya's fukutaicho, he very much idolized the captain. So much as to even try to mimic his appearance and mannerisms. It annoyed Kuchiki to no end, considering that he saw Renji as trash. Then Renji kinda grew up. He started to change his mind about Byakuya, started to see him as more than an idol. He kept trying to get the captain interested in him, but Kuchiki wouldn't pay attention to him for the longest time. Right after they brought Rukia back was when Kuchiki started to warm up to Renji, I guess it was because he started to trust him. Renji got over Kuchiki at about the same time, and started to pursue Ichigo. Then, one day when we were drinking, Renji told me that Kuchiki had kissed him. Renji responded by telling him that he was in love with Ichigo, and it kind of crushed Kuchiki a little. You know, Kuchiki finally decided to open up to someone, and got shot down pretty bad. It must have been hard for him to take. Anyways, you dressing up like Renji would hurt him in two ways. One, he knows what it's like to have someone copying everything about you. Two, you're just reminding him of what he couldn't have, kind of teasing him. Understand?”

Rikichi's eyes had gone wide, and his mouth was hanging open in an awkward way. Renji and Kuchiki-taicho? Kuchiki taicho liked men too?! It was a little bit much to take in all at once, but he understood.
He nodded to Hisagi, mind alight with the new information given to him. He was starting to understand his taicho a little more. No wonder Kuchiki had been so cold to him! He had been led on and shot down very recently, and his distrust of people had obviously been renewed. Immediately Rikichi regretted dressing up in such a fashion. He stood up, and looked down at Hisagi.

“Hey Hisagi, I have to run, I have to make a stop at home before I go back to work. Thanks for the talk.”

“Hey, no problem. I just couldn't bear to see you turning into a clone of Renji. You're a good kid on your own, you know. Besides, its bad enough having to put up with just one of him, ne?”

Rikichi smiled his own, true smile, and dashed off for home. He had to change, and fix his hair before he went back to work.

Author's note (again) : To BrucesGirl – thank you so much for reviewing, it really means a lot to me. Even if it is a bit awkward in the beginning, I really think I'm going to do well with this story, I just hope it can be even half as good as your and Brightside's Fire and Ice (favoritest story ever, btw)
To Luperus : I like how its coming together too, thanks for the review :D
To Evilchild : I loves uke Ichigo too, don't worry, there will be more where that came from :D
To Yaoi is in the air : Dont' worry, darling, there will be more RenjiXIchigo in the future, thanks for the review, and thanks for the support :D
To Samalexa – While my story contains angst, lemons, crazy people, and other assorted beings, it sure gave me a WAFF when I read your review. Its so empowering to know that my story is a favorite. I'll write this one to the end now, even if its only for you :D
To all the rest of you : Thanks for reading my fic, I hope you're really enjoying it, I'm enjoying writing it. I really would appreciate it if you'd review too, it really pushes me to pump out more chapters.