Title: The Baboon King and the Cherry Blossom
Rating: M
Summary: Byakuya is quite content with his life as a resident priest at the shrine. With Gin, a kitsune, as a friend, times are never dull. With the arrival of a mysterious cloaked figure at the dead of night, things are about to get more interesting for Byakuya.
Warning: This story contains yaoi.
Prologue:
Byakuya pushed himself off of the wall, turning towards the broom. A breeze blew past, picking up some of Byakuya's hair along with it. Just what he needed – wind. At least it was nearing the end summer, and not yet autumn, otherwise all his sweeping would have been for nothing. He took a spare hair tie from the small pocket in his kimono sleeve and quickly tied up his hair before it could get knotted by the breeze.
"I should go and check on the smaller shrines," he said to himself.
What else was there to do? The morning prayers were done first thing in the morning, and there were no religious ceremonies scheduled for the rest of the day. The garden had been tended to just three days ago. There were no pressing or even minor repairs that required his attention. Byakuya was almost at a loss. He did his job of maintaining the grounds and the shrines too well. He still had three hours before his before he needed to head into town. He could only occupy himself that long with sweeping, even if the shrine grounds were vast.
Byakuya gathered the broom and various other cleaning items and put them away in the storeroom. He quickly stopped in the bathroom to make sure his hair was in a respectable state. After all, he was the only resident kannushi at the shrine so he had to make sure he was presentable in case any shrine visitors chose to approach him. It would be very poor of him to tarnish the Kuchiki name due to an unkempt appearance.
Looking in the mirror, Byakuya noticed that his cheeks were flushed from the breeze. The weather was definitely starting to get colder. He tied his hair properly and inspected his clothes. As expected, his white kimono and purple hakama were clean and proper. Finding nothing else to fix in terms of his appearance, Byakuya left with a small cloth tucked into his kimono and strolled leisurely through the grounds.
Byakuya slipped on his zori sandals as he stepped out of the house, taking a quick look at his surroundings. The house was kept separate from the main shrine by a fence and a hedge of bushes. As it was with all other shrines in Japan, there were a lot of sakaki trees, sacred trees used to house the kami, but the grounds were dominated more by the variety sakura trees than anything else. The fuyusakura, winter cherry blossoms, would start blooming by the start of winter. While he was out and wandering around the grounds, Byakuya figured he might as well do a general inspection on the sakura trees as well.
The main shrine was actually an Inari shrine, but the smaller shrines Byakuya went to were dedicated to other kami and were scattered about on the grounds, which was uncommon as far as shrines went. They were usually gathered around the main shrine. When he had asked his grandfather about the matter, he had simply said that the smaller shrines had been their longer then the main shrine. The shrines themselves were small and only needed to be dusted off, but Byakuya didn't rush the job. The kami all needed to be paid their proper respects, even when cleaning the shrines, he couldn't do it in a disrespectful way.
With one shrine left to clean, the shrine dedicated to Konohanasakuya-hime, the goddess of cherry blossoms and the protector against volcano eruptions. Byakuya was grateful. It was undoubtedly his favourite place in Tokyo. The sakura trees there, when in full bloom, were the most beautiful. It was also near a natural waterfall where a large shidarezakura tree stood watch over the water with its branches drooping down over the rocks like a curtain.
Climbing the last stretch of the hill, Byakuya paused at the top of it, and just looked at the grove of sakura trees for moment. He played in the grove frequently as a child, and later he helped his father with the general upkeep of the grounds. His family had looked after these grounds for generations, centuries if the local tales were to be believed. Byakuya grew up knowing that he would have to become a priest and that there was little room for foolish things such as dreams in his grandfather's eyes. He was content with it. He was only one left to carry on the family name and its duties after all. Rukia was far too young and had too much free spirit to be bound to the shrine. Hisana had already passed over years ago.
Besides, Byakuya managed on his own, well, he supposed that things had been easier since Hinamori had applied to work at the shrine part-time as a miko after school. Sena had been quick to take HInamori under her wing. There were other kannushi who worked at the shrine, but Izuru only worked as a priest part-time and Ukitake didn't work as regularly due to his illness. That also made Byakuya the jōkai, the head priest.
"Ne, Byakuya-kun?"
Byakuya wanted to frown, but he wouldn't give that damned fox the gratification. Keeping his face as neutral as possible, he looked up and found Gin perched on one of the sakaki tree branches with a sly grin on his face.
"What do you want?" Byakuya asked, walking forward to clean the shrine.
Gin tucked his fingers under his chin. He was the shrine's resident kitsune, a messenger to the kami. He liked following Byakuya around when he had the time, because what better pastime could there be than trying to vex a priest?
"Aww, 'a've been gone for a few days an' I don' even get a simple 'hello' from ya."
Byakuya stayed with his back facing Gin. He was trying to focus on cleaning the shrine and he didn't need nor want a flee ridden kitsune prattling in his ears. Byakuya thought that after all these years he would be able to tune Gin's voice out and treat it as simple background noise. He had yet to figure out the trick to getting it right, so he was stuck with listening to every little titbit of gossip from the spirit world.
Gently wiping off dust that had gathered on the plague, Byakuya made a closer inspection to see if the ink needed to be reapplied. It looked like it would last until New Year's. He removed cobwebs that had been spun inside the shrine did another quick inspection to make sure he didn't miss anything. As he was finishing up, Byakuya noticed that Gin hadn't said a single word since he had turned his back to the fox.
Standing up straight, Byakuya dusted himself off. "Is there something bothering you, Gin?"
Gin leapt down in front of Byakuya. Looking down at the priest, Gin opened his eyes. It was something he rarely did. Byakuya never really understood why Gin went around hiding his eyes all the time. He thought it might just be something kitsune did. The way he was being looked at now didn't sit well with him.
"How 'ave you been sleepin' lately?" Gin asked.
Byakuya was almost taken back by the question and the seriousness with which it had been asked. He had expected some witty or childish remark. He didn't know if Gin actually wanted an answer, or if the kitsune was yanking his chain in some sort of way.
Without saying a word, Byakuya walked around Gin, not answering his question.
"Oi! Was that too simple a question?" Gin asked, skipping along behind Byakuya. "Ok, 'ow 'bout your dreams? No? Any strange yearnings then?"
Byakuya continued to ignore his companion. Yearnings? Knowing Gin, he probably meant it in a sexual manner. He wasn't going to answer any one of those questions. He had been able to see Gin since the day his grandfather had passed away when he was six, but that didn't mean he understood the creature.
"Not gonna answer me on those either are ya?" Gin asked rhetorically. "Fine, did ya know what day yesterday was?"
Now Byakuya had had just about enough. He stopped in his tracks, nearly causing Gin to walk right into him.
"Yesterday was a Tuesday, you fool," Byakuya said coldly. He had expected the kitsune to start cackling, like he usually did.
"Wrong," Gin whispered. "Yesterday was the 27th of June."
That was not what he had been expecting, but Byakuya wasn't all that surprised either.
"What would that have to do with me?" It made have seemed like a rather harsh comment, but to Byakuya it was rather redundant in the grand scheme of things. As long as he could look after Rukia and continue working as the shrine's resident priest, little else mattered.
Gin laughed, with a sly smile on his face. "The 27th of June is a very important date. I'm surprised ya don' know 'bout it. Ginrei shoulda told ya 'bout it. "
Gin had obviously been expecting some sort of reaction by now, but Byakuya wouldn't give him the gratification just yet.
"Fine, I'll give ya a hint," Gin said, putting a finger to his lips. "Someone died yesterday, give or take 'bout four hundred years ago."
"Excuse me?"
What could Byakuya say, really? Here was a kitsune, messenger of the Inari and other kami, telling him that someone died four hundred years ago. One hundred and fifty people died each minute, meaning one hundred and fifty-one thousand six hundred people died each day. So the statement in itself was nothing special, especially if it was someone that had died four hundred years ago. Gin might be a messenger of the kami, but Byakuya knew that he also loved his tricks, and the priest often found himself the target of said tricks. Gin couldn't have been anymore vague. Was it someone important? Could it have been an ancestor of the Kuchiki family or one of Gin relatives?
"Ya heard me," was the whimsical reply. "C'mon, follow me."
Gin walked back to the sakura grove, making a b-line for the waterfall. Byakuya didn't follow at first. He waited to see if Gin had anything malicious planned, but the kitsune was walking like he always did. He had a spring in his step and swayed his tails from side to side excessively as he walked. Byakuya wished that Gin could have forgone the humming though.
Reluctantly, Byakuya followed. Gin was waiting at the edge of the lake, his white kariginu sleeves and tails moving with the breeze. It was in that moment that moment when Byakuya actually saw Gin as a mythical creature and not an annoying friend. He knew that Gin was powerful, but the fact that he was on such friendly terms with the kitsune caused him to sometimes to forget that important fact.
"Ya see that tree up there?" Gin asked.
Byakuya didn't need to look to know which tree he was referring to.
"You're talking about the shidarezakura, I assume?"
Gin turned his head and smiled at him, his eyes open. "The very one."
Byakuya looked up at the tree. Since it was summer, the blossoms had long since fallen and the green leaves had grown in their place. The shidarezakura almost looked like a weeping willow tree in summer. Looking at it for a moment longer, Byakuya thought he would find a wondering soul floating about its branches, but there was nothing.
"And, are you going to telling me why I had to follow you here?"
Gin had his usual grin in place. "It's a pretty tree, isn't it?"
All Byakuya did was blink, and Gin was gone. Standing alone at the water's edge, he looked up at the shidarezakura and the waterfall. He had always had a nostalgic feeling towards this place. Byakuya frowned. There wasn't any obvious spiritual presence, but there were traces of it, and it was unlike the kind that Gin left behind.
Not seeing what Gin wanted him to see, Byakuya returned to the main shrine and was glad that there were no visitors. Not that he didn't want them, because he would never say no to their donations, be they food or money. He just wasn't in the mood to deal with people, or kitsune for that matter.
Byakuya put all his supplies away and checked the time on his phone. He hadn't realized that he had spent so much time cleaning the shrines. He had just enough time to change and be in time to pick up Rukia from school. He went back to the family home and changed into a pair of jeans and a plain long-sleeved t-shirt.
"Ne, Byakuya-kun?" Gin asked when the priest walked out of the house.
"Lounging on the roof again I see," Byakuya remarked, hoping to dodge any more pointless questions.
Gin swayed his tails from side to side as he stretched out on the warm roof tiles. "Wha' can I say? It's the bes' spot fer sunbathing."
Rolling onto his stomach, Gin watched Byakuya put on his shoes. The latter chose to ignore the kitsune. He should probably buy the annoying creature some dried permissions on the way home. That would at least shut him up for a few hours, nearly three if he bought a large packet of them.
"Watch over the shrine until I get back," Byakuya ordered.
Walking down the steps, Byakuya set off to Rukia's elementary school. With any luck, he might get in and out of there before any of the single mothers or nannies noticed him. He was always accosted with gifts or marriage proposals, and lately, the women had started trying to get to him through Rukia. Byakuya couldn't believe that some women, not all mind, tried to use his 5 year old sister.
Byakuya made it to the school with a handful of minutes to spare. He looked around and found that many of the usual crowd of woman actually appeared to be waiting for him. Luckily, before any of them had the chance to approach him, the final bell rung and children came running out.
"Nii-sama!"
Rukia ran towards Byakuya and hugged him around his legs. He really should talk to her about behaving when in public. Taking her hand, Byakuya started their walk back home before anyone decided it was a good idea to have a chat with him.
"Is Gin-san back yet?" Rukia asked, looking up at her brother.
"He returned earlier today," he said.
"He won't be sleeping when we get back home, will he?"
"You'll have to wait and see," Byakuya said. It was not the first time that he wondered why Rukai was able to see Gin or other creatures of the spirit world, but he still liked to wonder over it occasionally. "But, we first have to go to the store to buy some food for tonight."
"Okay!"
O0O0O0O0O0O0O0O
Byakuya was glad for some time alone. Rukia had been put to bed and Gin had wondered off somewhere. The two of them together were certainly a force to be reckoned with. The noise level alone would drive anyone else mad.
Quietly, Byakuya slipped out of the house and walked around the grounds. He liked going for a leisurely walk at night before bed. The breeze from earlier was back and he regretted not taking a jacket with him, but he had walked too far to bother going back for one now.
The wind aside, it was a beautiful night. Byakuya was constantly around people during the day, helping shrine visitors or spending time with Sena and Hinamori or Izuru and Ukitake when they were around. He also had his hands full with Rukia most of the time. Late at night was the only time Byakuya was really alone. Normally, that would have been fine, rather, he would welcome it, but in the last few days he found himself feeling lonely.
Byakuya took a moment to take in his surroundings. He was further away from the house than he intended to be. He was also near the waterfall and the shidarezakura. Not really thinking on anything particular, Byakuya walked up a separate path to the top of the waterfall and sat at the base of the sakura tree. It wasn't the oldest one on the grounds, but it certainly had the most spirit energy gathered around it.
Taking in a deep breath, Byakuya started to relax. The sound of the water, chirping crickets and the breeze blowing through the trees was truly relaxing. After a while, Byakuya's mind started to wonder to what Gin had said earlier.
Someone had died four hundred years ago. That person, whoever they were, was somehow connected to the shidarezakura in some way. It certainly wasn't a malicious spirit that needed to be exorcized; otherwise it would have made its presence known long ago. Byakuya wasn't the most experienced onmyouji, since he was only 26 years old and his grandfather had died twenty years ago before he could really teach him anything. His father had not inherited any form of power, not even the Sight. Luckily, Ukitake Jūshiro had joined their shrine as a young priest and was himself an onmyouji. He was able to teach Byakuya what he knew.
There was nothing other than a lingering feeling of sadness and the traces of another creature. Maybe Gin was just playing a trick on him, as usual.
Hey, SourFox here. I hope you all enjoyed the prologue. I thought I'd dip my toes into something different and try writing a fanfic. I know I was vague on a few things, but I hope there was enough to pique your interest to stick around for the rest of the story.
Reviews and constructive criticism are appreciated.