A/N: Another oneshot to add to the small amount of Karin/Other people fanfics; not the first ever, but one of the initial Byakuya/Karin fics! Please enjoi and leave me a review.
No flames.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.
0—Butterflies aren't "Gay"—0
"Damn…" Karin Kurosaki glared down at her IPod as its small screen flashed for a couple of seconds before it finally went black in its battery's final moment of life. How lame. She sighed, pulling out her ear buds and slipping the now-dead listening device into the folds of her black robes. Now what..? She sat in silence, staring at the cuticles of her fingers before glancing over with boredom to her partner for this mission, Kuchiki Byakuya.
The captain in question was currently leaning against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest, and keeping his eyes firmly shut with his face devoid of emotion. He had a couple of Hell butterflies fluttering around his person, another couple resting on his broad shoulders.
She continued to stare for a few moments before an idea suddenly shot through her mind. But should I..? She wondered before allowing her confident smirk to pull at her lips. Why not, I'm sure that he's starved for a conversation as well!
"What are you up to, Kurosaki?" The captain's smooth baritone broke through the unwavering silence that had been established a few hours ago when they had first arrived on the plains of the living. A single ebony orb flicked open, regarding the young woman who sat a few feet away with thinly veiled suspicion.
Karin feigned innocence, batting her eyelashes rapidly as she had seen her fellow lieutenant, Rangiku Matsumoto use on her captain in times when she wanted to get away with something. "I don't know what you're talking about, Byakuya." She hid her sneer at the slight downturn of the noble's lips. He hated it when people used his first name, especially when it was someone of lower status. She knew that he hated it, and LOVED doing it. To date, she was the only person in the soul society that had the balls or 'audacity' as the Kuchiki called it, to talk and approach him in such a manner. Everyone, even Ichigo was intimidated by this man, and that was saying something, for she had heard that Ichigo had defeated the stuck-up ancient back in the day when he was trying to save Rukia from death.
His ebony hues narrowed in on the female, staring her down as if he could uncover her true intentions simply by doing so. "You were staring. What is it that you wish to say? Speak."
Karin managed a shrug. What the hell, she might as well come out and ask what was on her mind. "Why are butterflies necessary for the soul society to function?" She asked, her cool onyx hues locked onto the captain's form to decipher any emotions that he may show.
"It is a Hell butterfly; it isn't even to be considered the same species as the pitiful insects of your earth." He scoffed almost immediately.
"Adding the word 'hell' in front of it doesn't make it manlier, Byakuya…It merely draws the attention to how badly the men here want to make them seem cool."
The male sighed and barely managed to keep from face palming his forehead. Was this the true reason behind her perusal? He thought with a small frown; he couldn't help but feel aggravated with the female. "So simple-minded." He said with the slight shake of his head.
The female was quick to leap to her feet, her glare sharp and pointed as she sauntered over to the male. "What was that?" She said in low, dangerous tones. "Do you want to repeat what you just said?"
He showed no sign of intimidation. He merely stared down at her with a look usually related to that of a reprimanding parent. "You are a grown woman, Kurosaki, not a rampaging teenager. Not only that, but you have a high seat within the ninth squad's ranks, second only to Captain Hisagi. You cannot act as an impudent child at every scathing remark."
"Humph." She stared up at the male who was only a full head taller than her. She had really grown over the years, and was quite the tall, leggy woman that many females longed to be. She had died in an earthquake on earth a few months prior to this moment, her body appearing a few years older than her older brother Ichigo, who had left the world when he was but seventeen years old. She had died at the age of twenty-three, and as such, she tended to hang out with the older souls despite her being technically a younger age.
Not much has changed with her personality-wise. She paid attention to those she respected, ignored those who she didn't. She tended to hang out with Ikkaku and his gang of friends from squad eleven, avoiding Captain Kenpachi every chance she got; but as of late, she found herself with the captain of squad six, teasing the up-tight male as much as her free time allowed her.
Byakuya was always one who was known for his intolerance for annoyances in his life, yet somehow the tall, dark haired Kurosaki managed to weasel herself into his life without his permission. It wasn't as if he allowed her into his study every evening, it just happened. One moment he'd be looking down at paperwork, the next, she was sprawled out across his couch, either staring at him or flipping through some paperwork of her own.
"The men of the soul society aren't so vain as to call something that we deem as necessary 'cool' just because the vessel itself is not. We simply call it what we were taught to call it." He didn't understand why he felt the need to respond to a conversation that he had resolved. Most of the time, when people started small talk as Karin had, he'd ignore them completely, responding only if they had addressed him personally about something he deemed important. She seemed to be doing that to him a lot lately…
"Huh. Whatever, I think that some of the men here chose butterflies as their mascots because they're pretty homo themselves." Karin glanced off to the side, hiding her smirk when she caught the male's lips pull down pointedly.
"That is a mighty far leap from merely commenting on Hell Butterflies to questioning the sexual orientation of every man in the soul society. Should anyone but I hear you utter such nonsense; you'd get more than just a verbal rebuke. I'm quite sure that if you said such a thing in front of anyone in squad eleven, you'd be massacred."
"Hardly." She snorted with a roll of her eyes. "Ever since Tatsuki-chan joined, she's kept them on a short leash. If she hears that any of them other than Captain Kenpachi threatened me and engaged in an unfair fight, she'd kick their asses so hard they'd kiss the moon." The woman carefully angled her head away, for it was too difficult to keep the look of glee off of her face when she said her next words. "You know, back to our former subject, I never have seen you with a woman before, Byakuya…"
The man abruptly pushed off of the wall and straightened, gliding over to where the female stood; no hint of emotion on his beautiful face.
The female stilled. Did I go too far this time? She wondered, keeping her guard up as the male approached her with that signature deadpan look on his face. Her back straightened just as his has, tensing up as her right hand fell to her side near her zanpakuto. She wasn't nearly as good as Ichigo, but she sure as hell wouldn't stand there and allow him to slice and dice her just because of her little gay comment.
Her breath stilled just as he slid past her, half expecting a sneak attack, but paused when it never came. What…? She half turned and saw him opening the portal to return to the soul society.
"Our mission is complete, Kurosaki. Return to your barracks." The nobleman said curtly, moving aside to allow her enough room to trek through.
They made it inside in a matter of seconds, but when she turned around to bid him farewell, he was already gone.
0—Break—0
"…and then I pretty much accused him of being gay and he just walked off without saying anything more on the subject." Karin dodged a quick jab that was meant for her head before leaping up, narrowly missing the leg that had immediately moved to sweep her off her feet. She jumped back, catching herself before she slid off of the side of the roof, flicking her bangs from her eyes as they clashed with the amused bronze hues of the renowned female of squad eleven. "Do you think that I went too far?"
"Huh. No." The short haired female crossed her arms over her chest and allowed a wide smirk to cross her features. "I'm sure that Captain Kuchiki is smart enough to not take everything you say to him seriously. Half of the stuff you talk to him about is bullshit anyways and just a ruse to see if you can get him to react differently. Besides, even if he were angered, why would you care? You practically made it your goal to get some sort of a reaction from the guy and now that you've gotten it, you don't seem to care anymore."
"I know… It's just…" The Kurosaki grimaced and shook her head. She was starting to sound like the girls that irritated her back when she was attending university. "Never mind, Tatsuki, let's just get back to our training."
The elder female who appeared younger than herself blinked and shifted her weight from one foot to the other, concern flashing in her eyes for the briefest of moments. "You sure?"
"Yeah. If it continues to bother me, I'll go talk to Renji-kun and see if he can give me any advice." All of a sudden the air became less depressing as Karin grinned up at Tatsuki, waggling her eyebrows suggestively. "…Or you could go ask him for me, and catch up. It seems like ever since he's became a captain the two of you have been avoiding each other. Is there a specific reason?"
The brunette flushed. "No reason at all. And I'm not going to play messenger for you and go asking around about Kuchiki for you. That's something that you need to take care of personally or it'll never be resolved."
"Hn. Fine." Karin rolled her shoulders to ease the tension out; her hands snapping up into a block just as Tatsuki's foot came down in what would have been an axe kick to her head. "You're really not letting up this time." She commented dryly, leaping back another few paces onto another building.
"Of course not. If you can't keep yourself from dying in a friendly spar, how do you expect to survive out there in the real world?" The karate enthusiast grinned. "Alright, enough talking, it's time for the real shit now." And without warning she shot off towards the woman, fist clenched and ready to break bones.
0—Break—0
"Damn, she may be fourth seat, but her punches still hurt like a…" Karin trailed off, slowly coming to a stop when she glanced up, seeing none other than Byakuya Kuchiki standing a few feet away, his nose pressed into a small file full of paperwork. She swallowed hard when his sharp eyes flicked up and landed on her before looking back down dismissively, no sign that their last meeting bothered him in the slightest. Should I say something? She mused, biting down on her lower lip when he started to continue down the corridor without saying anything at all. It's now or never.
"Byakuya?" She spun around and took a few steps forward as he half turned to give her his attention. "I…Well…Did you..?" She shook her head with an annoyed sigh before glancing up with a slight frown. "If my comment yesterday bothered you, I'm sorry."
"…" The male lifted a perfectly arched brow before closing the file. "Kurosaki…" He moved forward with all of his seven feet of height, looming over the female until her back hit a wall. An arm shot out, his hand splaying out against the cool wall that he backed her into. He leaned forward, so close that she could feel his breath against her mouth, his natural scent of sandalwood intoxicating her senses and disorienting her. "Don't think for one second that your words bothered me." He slipped away so fast that she flinched from the sudden feeling of cool air hitting her torso, her eyes wide as an ocean when she noticed his small, but noticeable smug expression.
He could tell that I wanted him that moment. She thought, swallowing hard as he started to slowly back away.
"And just for the record, I am wholly heterosexual." He gave her body a firm once over before his face took on his blank expression, rounding the corner as if nothing had happened.
"W…whoa." Karin slid down until she sat on her knees, her senses incredibly muddled from that little situation.
If she learned one thing from this, it was that Byakuya Kuchiki was 100% alpha male, and he had NO qualms whatsoever proving it.
The female sat there for a few more moments before shaking it off and climbing to her feet with a small smirk. "Well hell…This changes things."
0—Butterflies aren't Gay/End—0
A/N: Huh… I suppose that I'll eventually write a sequel to this, but as of now it's a oneshot. Thanx for reading!