The Anime Lover's Must Read: One-Shot Collection

Freeloader! ~Renji One-Shot~

Jinta watched as Renji ran back and forth, sweeping the shop in a wild frenzy. The sight amused him, and occasionally he would order Renji about yelling 'You missed a spot!'. Renji gritted his teeth, both his arms aching from sweeping and cleaning, but his head aching from the constant ordering the little snot-nosed brat was doing.

"Over there, baka!" Jinta demanded, pointing at a random spot in the room that Renji was absolutely positive he had cleaned over twenty times already.

"Listen, you little bastard!" Renji yelled at the kid, throwing the broom to the floor in annoyed outburst. "I cleaned that spot-"

"No, you listen!" Jinta cut him off, stabbing a finger at him. "You freeloader! This is the least you can do to pay us back for all the freaking rice you've eaten!"

Renji gave an annoyed grunt, knowing that the little brat was right. Urahara was kind enough to let him stay with him during his frequent trips in Karakara town, but he came and went so much and ate so much, this was the least he could do to thank them. It was a pain in the ass to deal with, but it was his fault. He would have crashed with Kurosaki, but the jerk said he wouldn't stand another freaking Shinigami in his house. Orange-haired strawberry...

~~~0-0~~~

After about several hours of even more vigorous cleaning, Renji left, off to the spot where a friend of his waited. She was always so patient when he was late, accepting when he apologized about a hundred times in a twenty word conversation. She found it funny and a little cute that he always stuttered when he tried to say something while looking her right in the eyes.

As he ran through the city park, he saw her come into view around the corner. She was kneeling down, petting somebody's dog as the owner kept insisting that she'd better get going. Renji grinned at the sight, recalling her love her animals, but he knew she loved dogs the best. As he rounded the corner, the owner had finally managed to get away from her, now hurrying off to tend to other matters.

She stood up, brushing her dark jeans off as he finally caught up to her. When she noticed him, a smile immediately erupted on her face as it always did. She never changed, always a happy person who loved her friends. He found her refreshing, like a breath of much needed fresh air. After spending so much time with a captain whose somewhat annoying emotionless demeanor is always oppressing you, you really find this girl as a safe haven.

"Hey Varunee." Renji greeted her with a grin. "Scaring off the dog owners?"

"Hey, Renji." Varunee gave a teasing hurt expression. "And no, I'm not scaring them away, but they really don't want me to pet their dogs for over ten minutes. It's no fair!" She exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air in disbelief. She sat down on one of the park benches, where Renji joined her.

Renji chuckled at that. "I thought you had watch duties tonight?" He inquired, raising an eyebrow with mock skepticism. Varunee, despite her all-smiles personality, had the habit of 'forgetting' about her Shinigami duties. She usually was going around the town stores with Rangiku, who was also shirking her work. Of course, this didn't go without notice from the ever watchful eyes of Squad 10 Captain, Hitsugaya Toshiro. His constant lectures were always a bore to listen to, as she had told Renji numerous times.

"Nah." She smirked, pulling out a photo and holding it up for Renji to see. "I snapped this off Ikkaku. Blackmailed into to taking my shift, so I'm good." She said it an almost nonchalant way that could have made him laugh till' he snorted. The picture only added to the hilarity, since she normally was a sweet girl who no one really would suspect of such incrimination's. She grinned and shoved the picture back into her pocket for safe-keeping. "How's Urahara-san treatin' ya?"