I don't own any characters & blah blah blah. ~ Jushiro Ukitake. ~ 4,042 words. Chapter 1. Enjoy. c:
My day started as any other day would have. My captain was making me run a bunch of pointless errands because he was too lazy to get off his ass and do it himself. I couldn't complain though, being out and about distracted me from a lot of things. Meeting new people was also a plus to always doing annoying tasks. I would mutter small "hi's" to people I knew as I passed them. My life wasn't anything super amazing anymore.
My name is Noa Hamasaki, Im the 3rd seat in the 3rd division of the Gotei 13. My hair is blonde and falls past my collarbones, and its usually pushed out of my face, showing off my bright green eyes. Im only about 5'6", and I barely weigh 120lb, but my size surprisingly hasn't affected my ability to fight. While doing odd jumps around the Soul Society, I usually just wore the typical Soul Reaper type pants, and a white tube top. The guy I'm married to is kind of an asshole, but our marriage was really just for show so he could get his family off his back. I'm not a very open person in the beginning, but eventually I let people in. Despite doing all the errands I'm forced to do, I don't have many close friends. I never let that get to me. I've always been a lonely person, no matter how much I try and make friends.
I pulled away from my thoughts for a moment to remind myself of the task I was supposed to be doing. My captain had wanted me to deliver some parcel to the captain of the eighth division, Shunsui Kyoraku. After looking through a few more buildings in the eighth division barracks, I found the man I was looking for.
"Hey, little soul reaper. What brings you here?" Captain Shunsui asked, lazily looking up at me.
"I was supposed to bring you this parcel, from the 3rd division's captain."
Suddenly his interest shot up. "I'll gladly take that!"
I mentally shook away some confusion before asking: "Well now that I've delivered this, should I take my leave?"
"Sit down and stay awhile, it must be shitty having to run all these meaningless tasks."
Taking a seat across from him, I was at a loss for words. "It really is. I don't mean to be a bother, I'll really leave if you prefer."
"Nonsense." the pink-coated man waved his hand. "You're welcome to stay, especially now that I have this."
The Captain was happily waving around the package I brought him.
"Tell me," he stated, pulling the wrappings apart. "Do you enjoy drinking, little Soul Reaper?"
When he finished pulling off the package's paper and opening the box, I realized I had been sent on an errand to deliver alcohol. I was seriously getting sick of my captain treating me like I was one of the unseated officers. I was almost a lieutenant! Not that it would ever happen, the captain seemed to despise me for an unknown reason.
My eyebrow twitched before I asked Shunsui, "That is what I was sent to deliver?"
"Well of course!" he smiled broadly. "You even get a little reward for such a meddlesome task."
"I'm going to kill him." I muttered under my breath, mentally plotting the fucker's murder.
"Just say and relax awhile, Jushiro will be here soon to drink, maybe you'll like his presence." Captain Kyoraku propositioned.
After a minute's debate, I finally sighed outwardly and agreed to stay. Drinking with two respected men from the Soul Society was much better than doing stupid tasks for my captain.
"Um, Captain Kyoraku-" I started but was interrupted.
"Call me Shunsui, I don't care much for formalities. Don't object, just go with it." He said with a flick of his wrist.
"Okay, ahh Shunsui," Awkwardly, I tested his name. " I don't know how long I should stay, my captain's kind of a dick about everything I do."
"Well I'm also a captain, if he says anything, I can get you off the hook, it's something I'm good at." He poured the alcohol into three cups, handed one to me, then took his own and laid back.
It wasn't just my superiors I was worried about. My 'husband' was never to pleased when he found out I was hanging around other men. I pushed that thought to the back of my mind and started drinking from the cup Shunsui had offered me. After half an hour of sitting and talking, I was more relaxed being around him; I was less worried as well. Although the drinks could have played a part in that. From the other side of the room, there was a quick knock before a man with long white hair entered the room, smiling, and plopped down by Shunsui.
"Are you troubling people again?" the long haired captain joked.
"Ahhh yes, little Noa, my newest prisoner." Shunsui introduced me.
"Well since you're here now, Captain Ukitake, I'm sure you'll want me to be leaving." I said, awkwardly rubbing the back of my neck.
"Oh, you don't have to leave on my behalf! I'm sure Shunsui here has been keeping you entertained, please stay as long as you'd like." He gave me a warm smile, then added: "Just Jushiro's fine too, if you're comfortable with that."
"Sure" I replied with a small smile.
These two seemed like complete opposites, but they somehow seemed to be best friends. I didn't say much after Jushiro came, I mainly watched them talk. The way they reacted to each other and responded was like they had been together since birth. After about an hour, I had learned a lot of new things about both of them. I wasn't exactly sure if they had forgotten if I was here or not, but I felt weirdly comfortable. Seeing other people interact like this always made me wish I had someone to be close too. There wasn't much effort between us to talk, but I didn't mind the silence. For once it was a good silence.
After finishing another drink, I reluctantly said, "I should probably get going, I'm sure I'll have other things forced on me when I get back."
"That's terrible." Shunsui murmured, finishing his drink. "Come visit us again anytime, little prisoner."
"I wouldn't want to be a bother or anything." I said with a small smile. "But I've appreciated your company today, it's given me a little time to finally relax."
"It's no bother, come by whenever." The pink-coated captain said, pouring himself another drink.
"My door will also be open to you," Jushiro offered me a genuine smile. "Even though we didn't talk much, you seem like a lovely person."
"Thank you." I replied quietly, not sure what to say.
Steadying myself as I got up, I looked forward to seeing one of them again. All the alcohol I drank had given me a slight buzz, so I was quite happy when I finally got back to the third quarter barracks. Much like I had predicted, more work was just piled on me. I had to finish paperwork the lieutenant didn't bother finishing, as well as another delivery and training for the unseated Soul Reapers. I just wanted to go to sleep and die.
The paperwork had taken longer than anything, and the delivery was a quick brief one, as usual. Before going out to training, I ate a little snack in my favorite shop. The training was another boring thing I was forced to endure. Compared to my full strength, most of the new recruits were really weak. It was my job to teach them how to block against fast attacks, then retaliate even faster. I figured I had been purposely given this task because it would take a while, and the captain wouldn't have to deal with me.
When my day was finally over, I was tired and a little sore since I hadn't worked out in quite a while. Even though my day was over, I wasn't happy to go home. I wasn't exactly happy anywhere lately. When I got home, I walked in the front door to see my supposed husband flirting with another woman. No surprise there. He didn't give me a second glance.
The man I was married too was the current captain of the 11th division, Itsuki Satoh. The only reason we married was because of old family traditions, though I had long abandoned both them and my adoptive family. No matter what I said, divorce seemed out of the question. Instead, he would constantly flirt and sleep with other women, openly, especially his division's new recruits. It didn't bother me anymore, if he was messing around with other women, he wasn't paying attention to me. Our relationship had never been a good one. Itsuki would get easily over possessive when I was with other guys and would occasionally hit me. I did everything I could to avoid him. Ignoring him and his new quick fuck, I made my way to the office in our small house, where I slept on a small couch. I fell asleep quickly and didn't wake up until late in the morning.
Almost a month had passed, and my life seemed to be getting worse and worse. Itsuki got more aggressive and was constantly messing around with a different girl every night, and my captain was pressing down harder on me with work. The only good part was I had finally finished training the unseated officers in my division. I had moved on and started sparring with some high ranking members of the 11th division. At first they had been hesitant since they knew about me and their superior, but they soon got over it when they realized I was really into fighting.
Currently, I was rushing around the Seireitei with more stupid errands and deliveries. There was never time for me to do anything else but work and train, and I was beginning to grow irritated. Although training got rid of some of my stress, it was just piled back on twofold, and I barely got anytime to relax. While sighing and pushing my hair back, I concentrated on my next delivery, a letter to Shunsui Kyoraku. Letting out a small laugh, I figured this might end up being my little bit of relaxing time. In no time at all, I found myself outside the room we had been in a month before. Quickly knocking on the door, I entered to find the room empty, except for the other man from before, Jushiro.
"Hello." He smiled at me.
"Hi," I started, giving him a slight smile. "I got stuck delivering again, but I guess Shunsui's not here. Could I leave this letter with you?"
"Sure, Ill make sure he gets it."
"I should probably go, I've got a lot of shit being piled on me lately." I sighed.
"I can tell, you seem more sad than the last time we met."
"Ehh." I shrugged. I really was, and I didn't know it was that obvious.
"If you'd like we could wait for Shunsui to come back. I'll make sure your duties are excused." The white haired man suggested.
Considering his offer for a minute, I finally let out a sigh and said, "I'm sure I'd just get an earful if I don't come back."
"You forget, Miss Hamasaki, I am a captain. I would be able to excuse you very easily."
"Well." Thinking again, I finally agreed. "Sure, it'd be nice to have some time to relax."
"You haven't had any relaxing time lately?"
Shaking my head, I told him about what had been happening lately. "I've been getting all the grunt work for my division, I've had to personally train many of the new unseated officers, along with sparring with members from the 11th division, but that's mainly for fun. I can't even sleep good at night anymore. I'm sorry, I'm just rambling now. I didn't mean to bother you with my problems." I just wanted to curl up and die right now.
"It's no trouble at all, we do need something to talk about since we're here alone." Jushiro gave me another big smile. "I know doing all the underling type work is no fun, I've gone through that stage. Eventually when you move on to higher titles, you could end up missing it all, sometimes even I do."
"Really? I don't think I would ever miss this. All this running around is just bothering me." I confessed. "I wouldn't mind fighting all the time, I feel less stressed that way. But it was just to troublesome training all the new officers to fight."
"Maybe you're more suited for the frontlines?" He suggested.
"I don't know, I love fighting to my full extent, but that seems like it'd become tiresome after some time too. I'd really like a balance of bother with some time for me to actually relax." When I looked up at Jushiro, he was looking right back at me, and he actually seemed genuinely interested in what I was saying.
"Well perhaps one day you could surpass your current captain. My normal day usually consists of some random work, occasionally some sparring, but mainly relaxing. I'm the last person who's voluntarily going into battle. And I guess some days I just have to relax because of my disease."
"Disease? I didn't know you had one." I said truthfully.
"Well I suppose not many people do, I don't like to bother other people with my problems." He replied whimsically.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say anything wrong." I answered apologetically.
Jushiro waved his arms at me. "You didn't! I just occasionally cough up blood and sometimes I'll have some days where I feel a little weak, but it's nothing I can't handle."
I felt a pang of sadness. Jushiro was a really nice guy, he didn't deserve that. Hell if anyone did, that asshole Itsuki did. Right when I was going to answer him, a slightly tall lady with black hair came into the room.
"Nanao?" Jushiro asked.
The lady who had entered looked rather pissed. "Your friend's piss drunk and passed out at an inn in the Rukongai."
The captain sitting across from me sighed. "Well just leave him be, eventually he'll wake up and come back like he usually does."
"Alright, Captain Ukitake." Nanao bowed and left the room promptly.
Jushiro sighed and looked back at me. "Well, since your delivery recipient isn't coming, how about we get some dinner? I'm enjoying having someone to talk too."
"Sure." I agreed.
When I had met him the last time, Jushiro seemed like a distant person, but now I realized he was just quiet. Of course he had spoken to Shunsui and been very open with him, but I knew that was because they were very close friends. The two of us had been talking for over an hour when Nanao had come in, and I could see why. Captain Ukitake was a very easy person to talk to, he seemed to enjoy a lot of things. For dinner we decided to pick a small little shop near the edge of the Seireitei, that was apparently one of his favorites. I didn't have much money with me, so I was hoping that whatever was here was pretty cheap.
"I love coming here, the food is very nice, and so are the people. It's a nice quiet shop." Jushiro told me.
"It seems like it." I agreed, looking over the small menu of foods.
Finally I settled on some delicious sounding soup and some whiskey, while my dinner date decided to order half the menu, insisting I try all of it. I couldn't help but to genuinely smile, for the first time in a long time. I had finally relaxed for the first time in months, and I was about to have a good dinner that I could barely afford. But I was happy, because now I had a friend to go to. In no time at all, our food had arrived and I was being persuaded into eating a bunch of new things, some I adored, while others I wasn't so fond of. The soup I ordered was probably the best soup I'd ever had, and after we had eaten all the food, Jushiro suggested we go get dessert. I had offered him my meager amount of money, but he refused to take it, telling me I should save it for something else.
We left the restaurant and headed towards on of my favorite places to get snacks, still talking. I had told Jushiro a lot of things, and he had also confided a few things with me. There had even been a few more times when I actually smiled. The shop I took him to was a little known one, that specialized in selling goods from the human world. I adored coming here and getting chocolate chip cookies. This time, I completely bypassed the cookies and went for some white fluffy-looking cake with pale white frosting. Jushiro ended up getting a bunch of candy, muttering to himself about the third seat of a different division.
"This is my favorite place to go, I really love the sweets they have." I confessed, sitting down at the small table in the corner.
"My favorite place to go is quite different." Jushiro said whimsically, looking around the shop. "Maybe one day I could show you."
"That'd be festive." I mumbled around a mouthful of delicious cake.
"Festive, huh?" The captain in front of me laughed.
"Yup, I guess that might not be the right word." I replied with a small laugh.
"It's quite alright, you just have a different way of speaking."
Running my hand through my hair, I answered: "I guess so."
We stayed in the small snack shop for another hour, just talking and getting to know each other better, before Jushiro offered to walk me back home.
"Oh, no. You don't have to do that! It's all the way across the Seireitei."
"Well it is rather dark outside. I'd feel terrible if anything happened to you." The white haired captain protested.
"I'll be fine, Jushiro."
The 13th division captain never got to answer, a dark tall figure walked up behind me and grabbed my wrist.
"I'll be the one walking her home." Upon the answer, I could tell who this was. Itsuki.
The grip on my wrist became deathly tight when Jushiro asked, "And who might you be?"
"Her husband." Was all Itsuki said before yanking on my arm, unseen to Jushiro in the dark.
I looked back at the man I had spent my night with, before being fully dragged away by my so-called husband.
When we were a good distance away, around many corners, Itsuki finally spoke. "What the fuck do you think that was?"
"Am I not allowed to have friends?" I asked, crossing my arms across my chest.
"Looked like you guys were more than just friends."
"We've talked for about three hours, we're just friends. It shouldn't even make a difference to you. Why aren't you in bed with another one of your division's new recruits?"
When the grip on my wrist increased, I knew I had crossed the line with him. "Because soon enough my wife is gonna end up fucking some captain and ruining my reputation."
"What reputation?" I shot back. "Not like it could be a good one, especially since you bring home a new slut every night."
"At least they're quiet about it. I don't take them out to dinner and get all buddy-buddy with them."
"We're 'married'. You should at least have some consideration for me." Scoffing, I yanked my wrist back.
"Married?" I could almost see Itsuki rolling his eyes. "I'm married to you to get my parents off my back. Do you honestly think I would ever marry someone like you?"
Clenching my fists until my knuckles turned white, I replied: "You make it seem like I want to be married to a prick like you. I've been sleeping on a couch for the last few years because you've been fucking your underlings. I don't understand why you won't just fucking divorce me and marry one of your one-night stands."
"I'd divorce you if I could. Hell, I'd fucking kill you if I wasn't a captain. I don't want any people talking shit about me because of you. I already have to hear shit about you training with people in my division. I'm sure they're just friends too. Bet you definitely aren't fucking them."
I could take him opening his mouth anymore. My blood raced through my veins as I held myself back from beating him to death right there. It almost took everything I had. Turning on my heels, I headed in the direction of the Rukongai before shouting behind me: "Fuck off. Go back to your whores!"
Walking at a fast pace, I held myself from lashing out and hitting every Soul Reaper that walked past me. That bastard had no right to talk to me like that when he was the one at fault. My adoptive family had pressured me into the marriage, promising me a life full of happiness and a loving family. Ha. If only they could see how Itsuki really was. I had never been with anyone other than him, aside from a few drunk make out sessions at bars. Anyone walking past me could clearly tell I was beyond pissed, no one tried to stop and talk to me. Not too later, I found a cheap inn to stay at in the second district of the Rukongai.
Metal on metal could be heard as I clashed swords with the forth seat of the 11th division. I pressed down harder on my sword and broke his fighting stance. As he stumbled momentarily, I dropped my Zanpakuto, then thrust forward and collided my forearm with his chest, causing him to fall to the ground and loose our sparring match. I grinned when I realized I had won once again. My fighting skills were definitely getting sharper, I had never been able to defeat him before.
Picking up my cast aside Zanpakuto, I lazily saluted my oppenent and plopped down on the ground. A man I had become friends with, Hayato, handed my a small cup of sake that I poured down my throat in a matter of seconds.
"That was amazing! You're really strong." I smiled at him when he complimented me. For some reason the kid followed me around like a lost puppy.
"Thanks, I've been training really hard lately, I want to get strong enough to become a captain one day." I looked off into the distance at two more people sparring off, then added: "Or at least a lieutenant."
"You're definitely strong enough too. I'll bet you could become a captain in an instant!"
I laughed at his enthusiasm while hauling myself back up. "Well hopefully that'll happen one day. I've got to go report to my asshole captain, so I'll see you later Hayato."
"Bye!" I heard him yelling at me as I walked away.
Shaking my head, I could help but smile a little as I walked away from him. It was nice to have made a friend. The small trek across the Soul Society took a little bit, but eventually I ended up outside my captain's quarters. Without even bothering to knock, I pulled the door open and barged in. Instantly, I regretted it. My captain's eyes turned to look at me, so did the eyes of three different people. Two of which seemed really upset, and one was shaking. It took me a moment but I soon realized they belonged to my division, even though they didn't rank very high.
"Captain Otoribashi?" I asked, quite confused. "What's going on?"
"Sit down, third seat Hamasaki. We unfortunately have some important things we need to discuss."
I took a seat across from him and let my gaze wander to the other Soul Reapers in the room. This didn't seem too good.