Yeah, The shippings was always funny for me as Ichigo and Rukia never really ever had any romantic scenes while Orihime did with Ichigo.
Facts are better than fan fiction ha ha though don't say that or point it out to hardcore shippers.
Renji and Rukia wasn't really out of nowhere just barely mentioned or hinted now and again.
Renji's goal for getting stronger was mainly to protect his friend and a certain someone similar to Hitsugaya who had the same reasons but Momo hinted as his Rukia.
A conclusive and well thought of arc would have been great but then again it was Kubo and I do think the series should have ended after the battle with Aizen.
I haven't failed to see anything as I'm neutral on Bleach so no bias from me on this as overall Bleach was wasted potential on many things.
Kubo was given 5 if not 6 years to finish Bleach that is not a rushing him.
Just look at the monthly or years sales Bleach kept going lower had any other series gone like that they would have gotten axed well before a year.
Kubo did drag things out and not everything was explained and yes they had history with was built upon or hinted at during the series.
The friend I was talking about knew as a mod who liked to tease now again over the Bleach section and such but they said " Don't even think about it "