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How to Have a Good Time

It didn't snow very often in Soul Society. Got cold all right, but didn't snow much. So when a good storm did happen, every once in a while, it was kind of a big deal.

At least, it was if you were hanging out with the right crowd. These stuffy bastards in the Sixth, no disrespect intended to his captain, were way too uptight to have a good time, so Renji was dressing for the weather and planning to pay some old friends a visit.

Good plan, too -- he could hear the yelling well before he got inside the Eleventh Division courtyard. Somebody, sounded like Ikkaku, was yelling that Yumichika was /so going to get it/, and Yachiru's laughter carried over the walls as high and bright as the jingle of bells. Renji ducked inside --

And /ducked/, immediately, as somebody pelted a massive snowball at his head. "Hey!" He didn't even see who it was, not clearly, but identifying the culprit was much less important than retaliating anyway. Renji scooped up a double handful of snow, packed it tight, and let it fly at the first available moving target.

He had to dive for cover behind a snowdrift as soon as he threw, and didn't even see who he hit. It seemed to be a free-for-all, no clear sides, no real allies for more than a second or two. Which was totally fine. Definitely the way a snowball fight should go, especially with these guys.

It actually took a few minutes, in the chaos, for any of them to realize that Renji was there. Mostly they were all just a flurry of black shapes against the white snow, trying to hammer the other guys as much as possible and dodge as many blows as they could. And then somebody got Renji in the back of the head with what felt like a brick of /ice/, and his hat got knocked askew.

"Renji!" Yumichika called, pausing in mid-stride, eyes lighting up in surprise. "When did you --"

And then he got cut off by a flying tackle from Ikkaku, who knocked him down and started enthusiastically cramming snow down the back of his haori.

"Aah, you bastard! Stop it! Renji, help!"

Renji stood there for a second, trying not to laugh too loudly and thinking about maybe going to Yumichika's rescue, and then an impact right beside him knocked a whole avalanche of snow off the roof and onto his head. For a minute, everything was quiet, cool and blue as light filtered through the snow overhead -- and then one massive hand plunged into the fallen snow and grabbed him by his collar, pulling him up to the surface.

"See?" Zaraki was saying, probably to Yachiru. "Told you that would happen." He lifted Renji most of the way out of the snowdrift, and grinned. "Abarai Renji. Came back for a visit, huh?"

"Hiya, Captain." Renji waved a gloved hand, smiling weakly. "Figured you guys'd be having the most fun of anyone in the Divisions today, and all."

Zaraki laughed. "Don't we always?"

Yachiru peeked over his shoulder, her cheeks as pink as her hair and her ears wrapped in bright blue fuzzy earmuffs. "Renji! You're just in time! Me and Ken-chan were going to go in and have hot sake, once we'd finished winning the snowball fight." She paused, and looked over at Zaraki. "Renji can come too, right, Ken-chan?"

"Depends." Zaraki put Renji down, clear of the pile of snow, and jerked his thumb at the rest of his squad, who were waiting, watching, the action paused for a second -- "You gonna play along?"

Renji shook snow out of the folds of his clothes and nodded, winking at Yachiru. "No glory in backing down from a fight, right?"

Yeah. Fuck it. There might be more honor in the Sixth, or whatever, but the Eleventh were the guys who knew how to have a good time.