Thank you, PhantomKnight102, for beta reading!
Prologue
Once upon a time, there was a handsome young boy who was just growing into adulthood. And this day, when our story starts, seemed just like any other. The night sky was dark and sparkles of the stars and the moon illuminated the water of the river the boy passed by. A gentle breeze played with the remaining leaves on the trees; it had been autumn for almost two months and the streets were covered with brown, yellow, orange and red colors.
Lifting his arms and putting his hands together behind his head, Kuchiki Byakuya strolled through the paths of Seireitei. It was just another quiet night and he found himself suffering from insomnia once more. As if his tiredness was not bad enough for him yet, he did not even care that he was strolling around in his pajamas, a green haori with purple and yellow flowers on it around his shoulders to keep him warm.
Being next in line of becoming the new head of his family, Byakuya did not waste a moment to brag about it to the rest of his family. His grandfather was going to retire soon. At least, Byakuya hoped it was soon. As his grandfather had told him, he wasn't going to stop until he believed Byakuya to be a hundred percent prepared.
He was in his fourth year at the academy. One more year to go and Byakuya would be a full-fledged Shinigami, with a position as a seated officer in the sixth division, where his grandfather was Captain, already reserved for him. How much more grown-up could he ever become?
It was when he thought about more ways of becoming an adult that he heard the sobs and cries for mercy cutting through the silence of the night. Byakuya's natural instincts took over and he quickly made his way to a shady, cliché ally, where a petite, dark haired damsel in distress with the largest and prettiest violet eyes he'd ever seen, was being harassed by three big, broad-shouldered men, because the bad guys always seem to be coming in three. They snored with laughter and the heaviness of their bodies on the floor thumped throughout the dark night as they walked around, stopping her from running to a small child.
Adjusting his haori so that it waved behind him in the wind, Byakuya positioned himself, chest up forward, shoulders back, chin in the air and arms folded. "Stop, you thieves of my peaceful evening! Cry no longer, milady, for I have come to rescue you!"
So I am asking you to picture this. Young Byakuya in Zorro's pose, green haori on top of blue PJ's with cute little white clouds on them, his hair a mess and not a weapon within hand's reach.
"Dah-dah-dummm," one of the men roared. The others followed the laughter with their own. "You guys, this man just made me pee me pants!"
"I can't breathe! He looks so stupid!" said the stupidest looking man.
"Does he even know who he is talking to?" the third said. "We rule these streets!"
"Do not fear much longer, beautiful," Byakuya said with just a wink of his eye, ignoring the three bullies. "I will take you away from here."
But the girl was long gone.
The three men walked away with the child in one of their arms, roaring and laughing, other arms around each other's shoulders and a bottle of sake in their hands, leaving a baffled Byakuya behind.
And so, this is the start of a story not too shabby for us. A story about a man who can get any woman by just snapping his fingers, except for the one mysterious and beautiful woman, that one girl who had disappeared into the night, the mysterious lady…
…he now fancied most.
