Samurai And Moon Flower
(A Byakuya x Hisana oneshot. I have no plans for writing more of this story, so if anyone wants to do it instead, you have my permission to do so.)
"Alright, Byakuya...It looks like we're done here for today," said the captain of the Sixth Division to his Lieutenant as he waltzed out of the small house into the muddy street, the sliding door shutting behind him. "We'll head back to the Seireitei."
"Yes, sir, father," said Kuchiki Byakuya, bowing his head in more of nodding fashion than a full bow.
The two men, clothed in black shinigami robes, the elder wearing a white long-sleeved haori and a white shawl, and both armed with zanpakuto, began walking away from the shabby neighborhood out in the center of the Seventy-Sixth District of West Rukongai. They easily stood out as not only a shinigami-rare sight, but also as affluent visitors to the impoverished inhabitants of the prefecture. As they ventured into other nearby neighborhoods, the quality of the infrastructure showed signs of decay and degradation, resembling the slums.
They entered a bustling open-market area less than a mile away, crowded and polluted with street urchins, homeless men, women and children, brothels on every street corner, and plenty of noisy neighbors hollering from their upstairs apartment windows at the people on the street below. Both captain and lieutenant swerved in-and-out and around every raggedly dressed pedestrian they ran into, receiving many glances and stares from them, to boot.
"What did you think of our recruit, father?" asked Byakuya, after several minutes of silence along side the captain. "Do you think he deserves an officer's seat upon entering our Division?"
"It's hard to say at the moment," he responded, clearing his throat a little, "but, I think one more visit to his home, and one to his dojo, will make it easier for me to decide what to do with him."
"I see—" said Byakuya, suddenly full-frontal ramming into something head-on as he glanced to the side at his captain. He gasped in shock, peering down directly in front of him at the top of the head of a small child, or so he thought. The large-headed, raven-haired figure shot a quick peek up at Byakuya's face, a glance the distance of about two feet. Her two large, purple eyes stared back at him, and he was able to decipher that the figure was a young girl with a very frightened expression on her face.
"—Oh, Nii-sama! Please forgive me, Nii-sama!" begged the girl as she backed away from him, her hands clasped together behind her back. She quickly bowed reverently in his direction. "I was not looking where I was going."
"Uh...it is not a problem, Miss," said Byakuya, returning the bow, now noticing from her voice that this young girl was more of a young woman, "I was not watching where I was going, either..."
"Thank you—you are very kind, Nii-sama," said the woman, bowing again at him, as she quickly backed away, trying to slip out of sight from behind the many street people standing around.
The two men watched her as she disappeared into the crowd, then glanced over at each other. The elder Kuchiki's eyes suddenly widened as he gawked at Byakuya's chest area.
"Byakuya!" started the middle-aged man, "Your necklace! It's gone!"
Byakuya quickly reached for his chest and patted around to discover the bareness observed from his father.
"That woman! It had to have been that young woman!" declared the older man, pointing in the direction she was last seen.
"Yes, you're right, father," said Byakuya, moving swiftly through the crowds after her. He used his height as an advantage to pan around the streets, desperately searching for any large, round, black heads that measured up only to his waist. He turned a sharp corner, entering an alley filled with garbage and homeless people. A stray cat on a window sill mewed at him, but he paid no mind to it, as he began to throw around debris from off the tops of some dumpsters and crates.
Under one such plank of wood he happened to discard, he found the young woman crouching down against the alley wall next to a large crate. He peered into her large eyes as they glimmered in the light of day, terrified of having been caught by such a large and cunning man. Her entire body convulsed as she clutched a long, golden beaded necklace in her tiny little hands.
"I believe that necklace belongs to me, young lady," said Byakuya staring directly down at her as he wore a slightly irritated facial expression. As he observed her shaking, his blue-gray eyes began to soften and blink several times. "May I have it back?"
He held out his hand in front of her, palm facing the sky, causing her to flinch and close her eyes at first. She realized, soon afterward, that his hand was not striking her as she had expected, but was hovering over her head, waiting to receive what she was holding onto in her own desperate hands. Still quivering, she lifted the necklace up to his large hand as he moved to grab it from her little fingers, lightly brushing them in the process.
After retrieving her own hand, she lowered her head shamefully down to the ground. She sensed something odd from him, that he was still standing in the same spot, not making a sound. She glanced back up at him and saw he hadn't moved and inch, and likewise, was still holding out his hand just as before. She quizzically glared at it and back to his face, noticing how his gaze was very solid and kind upon her. Instinctively, she reached up again with her diminutive, dirty hand and placed it gently into the palm of his, as it seemed to be waiting to receive it. Once she placed her hand in his, he pulled her from sitting on the grimy ground to standing on her little bare feet.
"Um...Thank you, Nii-sama," she said, a little unsure of herself as a light blush stole across her cheeks.
"Thank you," he said, calmly and kindly, still staring down at her tiny little person. "This is a valuable family heirloom..."
"Um, sir," began the woman, as she flung her arm over her head, behind her back, "Please forgive me for trying to steal your necklace. I only wanted to use it to buy food. Thank you for not punishing me."
"I see no reason to harm you," he said, "I only wanted it back. That's all."
"God bless you, Nii-sama!" she said, quickly bowing at him again. "I chose the wrong man to steal from today..."
"—There you are!" shouted a short, round middle-aged man wearing a light brown kimono and a bun in his hair, running down the alley towards them. "I've got you now!"
"No!" screamed the woman, as the fat man grabbed her by the collar of her dingy, worn kimono, pulling her away from Byakuya's waist after she lunged at him.
"Don't raise yer voice at me, ya little whore!" he said, pulling her up to his face as he breathed his stinky breath at her, "It's back to the brothel with you..."
"No! Please don't make me go back there! Please—no!" she screamed, struggling to wrench herself free from his grasp. "I don't ever want to go back to that horrible place ever again!"
"You don't have a choice, little lady. It's either go back to that whore house, or die in these streets. It's a good thing I found ya when I did, or ya would have become dog food in a few days time."
"Then, I would rather die in the streets!"
Finally, the insufferable old man noticed Byakuya standing nearby, looming over him as he held the woman forcefully by the collar. She continued to flail around her arms as best she could, coughing and gasping as he smushed his palm into her face to quiet her.
"Hey there, taicho! You look like a man with a large purse," observed the old business man, saluting him with two fingers at his forehead, "You wanna buy her?"
Byakuya only stared down the man with a blank, humorless expression.
"Cat got yer tongue?" asked the rotund man.
"No," said Byakuya, "I don't want to buy her..."
"You can look at our other ladies before you decide!" he said, grinning from ear to ear and batting his stumpy eyelashes.
"Out of the question," stated Byakuya, narrowing his eyes at the opportunist.
"Hmph! Suit yourself," he said, throwing his free hand up in the air at him. He rammed his face into the woman's again. "As for you, Miss Runaway—it's back the window with you!"
"No..." she whimpered, tears streaming down her dirt-encrusted face. The man stomped off down the alley, back the regular street, dragging the little woman behind him by the collar as she winced and sobbed while still in Byakuya's field of view. His face drooped as he watched her disappear out of sight.
The next day he found himself staring into a barred window, showcasing half-a-dozen pretty little girls and women all dressed in nice kimono. Every one of them smashed their faces up against the bars, desperately trying to get his attention, stepping on each others heads, arms and legs to get to the front of the display. A few of them managed to grab his white obi sash through the bars, which alerted his accompanying servant standing silently behind him.
"Nii-sama!" gasped the little thief he ran into the previous day, as she sat on a cushion at the back of the window display. She was dressed in a pale ivory kimono, her face and overall appearance having been cleaned and whitened since he last saw her. After exchanging a long silent gaze with her, Byakuya stepped in through the sliding brothel doors followed by his servant. He was greeted quickly by a short, round middle-aged woman who perked-up the instant he appeared in her view.
"My goodness! What do we have here?" said the older woman, her eyes nearly popping out of her head as she fanned her sanguine face. "A rich shinigami in our humble little brothel?"
"Taicho!" bellowed the short, fat man from the day before, all smiles, as he bounded his way into the parlor, "You've changed your mind, haven't you?"
"In a manner of speaking," said Byakuya as he closed his eyes and lowered his gaze to the floor.
"Which one would you like? Did you see one that caught yer eye?" asked the old man as he could barely contain his excitement.
"I came about the woman I found in the alley yesterday," said Byakuya.
"You mean Tsuki-hana...So, you would like to buy her, afterall?...Go get Tsuki-hana, wife!" he ordered, as she trotted off to the display window doors. "How much time would you like to spend with her today? For you, your first visit—no time limits."
"How much to buy her freedom?" asked Byakuya, his eyes serious and stoic.
"Her freedom?" asked the old man, confused and scratching his head.
"Yes, I intend to take her to my home and make her one of my servants. So, I'll ask you again, how much to buy her from this place forever?"
The old man's jaw dropped to the floor as did his wife's. The other girls in the window display, overhearing the conversation, went from shock to anger in only a few seconds flat as they watched Tsuki-hana waltz away from them towards the parlor room.
"Hey! That's not fair! Why does she get to go home with that guy? He barely even looked at any of us!" said various of the girls as they sat arms folded and dejected on their cushions.
"Are you certain you want to reclaim one of our girls? Such a thing is so rare in these parts," said the man.
"I am absolutely certain," stated Byakuya, his expression changeless. Tsuki-hana froze from her shock as she stood at the other side of the room, staring at him in complete disbelief.
"Well, I have to calculate what I'd be losing if I gave her up, so for Tsuki-hana, I'd have to say she'll cost around fifty-thousand ryou. A pretty penny, ya know."
"So be it," said Byakuya, without a moment's hesitation as he gestured to his servant behind him, "Yogata, make it so..."
The servant moved to the round older man, holding out a large cloth purse, which he placed in his stubby hands. Gasps emanated from the window case as the girls shouted expressions like, This is so unfair! and, I can't believe someone would pay that much money for her!
"Consider this a down-payment," said Byakuya, "I will have the rest of it delivered tomorrow in full."
"Nice doing business with you sir," said the beaming old man holding his prize, as his wife shuffled Tsuki-hana by the shoulders over to Byakuya.
"Let us go," he said to Yogata, as the latter placed his hand on her shoulder to gently guide her out of the building and into the street. There, waiting by the curb, was a black open horse-drawn carriage lined with red leather seats so shiny, so fine, the stray street children had already marked the finish with their grubby little hand prints. Yogata opened the carriage door for her as she stepped in, guided by his hand until she sat down on the billowy seats.
Once they were all settled in, Yogata jolted the horses with the reigns as they began to trot off down the muddy, crowded street. Byakuya pulled out a pure white kimono and threw it over her shoulders and back as he sat next to her.
"Thank you, Nii-sama," she said quietly, looking down at her wooden sandals. She turned her head slightly to the side to glance at him from the corner of her eye, "Do you really mean to use me as a servant, or am I just to be used in the same way I was at the brothel?"
"Do not worry," he said, staring straight ahead, his long black strands of hair blowing in the breeze, "I have every intention of keeping my word to you. I did not come here to sully your honor, but to redeem it."
"My real name is Hisana," she said, smiling softly up at him as her eyes glistened with small tears in the setting sunlight, "What's yours?"
"It is Byakuya," he said, turning his head down to face her this time, his large, soft eyes casting a serene glow around his countenance.
Hisana felt the rush of a rose bloom across her cheeks, once again, as she coyly turned her gaze back down to the carriage floor. To her, he was not only a merciful savior, but perhaps a god of some sort. She glanced over at him from the side, slightly turning her face towards his shoulder.
"Thank you a thousand times over, Byakuya-sama..."
...THE END.
Note: Hisana's harlot name is "Tsuki-hana," which literally means, "moon flower." But, the word "tsuki" can also mean "luck," which she obviously had plenty of, seeing as how she got to go home with and eventually marry Byakuya Kuchiki, or so the real story goes.