LC: HA! (Point finger at Tori) See? People reviewed!!
Tori: Still…
Ryu: Just say it. It's not that bad.
T: …
R: …Never mind.
LC: Tori! Say the disclaimer so we can move on!
Tori: (sign) Whatever.
Lauraconsa does not own Bleach characters or plot line. If she did, then Byakuya would have to be considered as an ugly git. And that's never going to happen.
Chapter 2
Tori signed, patrolling the district she's assigned to. It's been five months since she worked with Byakuya and she made no headways as to how the man thinks. He's kind, strong, and courageous, but never allowed anyone to go near him.
Flashback
A battle ground, bloody and body strewn. Several Hollows, gathered suddenly and attacked one city. Byakuya, Tori, and several others were dispatched to take care of the business. Everything should be fine, right?
Dead wrong. Almost literally, too. They just finished with the smaller Hollows and were about to deal with the others when three Menos Grande decided to show up. At their call, every Hollow from the surrounding cities came until the place was swamped in them. All of the Gotei 13 was called in to help.
Byakuya's Senbonzakura and his bankai, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi, was more than a match for the Hollows. But as fortune (or misfortunes) would have it, a Hollow who was on the verge of death managed to slash his arm.
"Byakuya-taichou!" Tori nearly cried when she saw the wound. Never had it cross her mind that he would be injured. When he didn't answer, she ran to him. "Byakuya-taichou! You're hurt! Let me treat yo-"
"No." He cut her off with a wave from his goos hand. His face and voice was calm despite the pain the wound must be causing him. "Go with the other fukutaichos and treat the critically injured ones."
"But Byaku-"
His next words came out in a hiss. "Don't touch me." The hand that reached for his arm and the body attached to it froze to immobility as the icy blue orbs pierced her soul. The spiritual pressure that suddenly enveloped her left just as quickly, making her stumbles backwards By the time she caught herself, her captain already was several feet away.
"You have your orders." His voice retained the icy coldness. "Now obey them."
She was about to argue when the tone that ends all conversations reached her. Swallowing the words that's biting her tongue, she bowed to the figure and said, "Yes, sir."
Eve though she used shunpo to shorten the time she has to dwell on the conversation, one thing still managed to jump into the front of her mind. When he warned her, the words were full of anger, frustration, coldness,, and a little bit of annoyance. Nothing out of ordinary.
So why, when she replay the words in her memory, makes her think of an emotion that's totally unrelated to Byakuya?
What in the world did he fear?
End Flashback
Tori signed, sitting back down. She still cannot connet the two things together. Fear and Byakuya just don't belong in the same sentence. It's as unordina-
"Stop saying your thoughts out loud or people will think you're crazy."
She stood up, indignant, and nursed the injury on her head. "God, Ryu! Couldn't you stop being so annoying for one second?!"
"Nah," The brown eyes twinkles as she flashed a grin in Tori's direction, "It's one of the perks that came with this job. Just as yours came with the advantage of being able to ogle at Byakuya everyday, mine -"
"Please! Could you not talke about nii-sama like that? It makes me feel sick."
"Rukia!" Tori greeted the short-stature girl with a spike of hair flopped down her face, "What brought you here?"
"This," She pointed to the huge tomb on her back, "Since when do captain delivers stuff?"
"Since you have a book freak like Tsuki." Ryu chuckled. "It's really unlucky that you became the captain for Gin's company. There's a lot of mistrust going on." She examined the package. "This looks more comfy on a dark shelf with a lot of dust and cobwebs covering it, though."
"Good," Rukia waved her arm in exasperation, "Now go tell him that!"
"Him?" the two chorused.
"Yeah! Urahara has to send that 'little' list of books that's not in the soul Society to her." AS she continued to rant about his stupidity, the pair realized that it was him she's mad at, not Tsuki.
Alight bulb went on in Ryu's head. "Listen, Rukia," she shook her shoulders to get her attention. "I'll go talk to him, ok? Maybe I can get some sense into him." Her eyes were alight with an almost maniacal glint, she rushed off.
Tori chuckled at the reaction in Ryu, causing Rukia to stare at her in confusion. "Trust me," she told the girl, "that message will probably be more 'I miss you, Urahara!' than 'Stop giving Tsuki books, you dumb idiot!'"
Rukia giggled. "Yeah. That's true. But that's -" she pointed to the book "not my only reason for coming here. Since I'm not around nii-sama as much and you do, do you know why he's so…depressed lately?"
"Him? Depressed?" Her eyebrows raised high in disbelief.
"Yeah, I know," She rolled her eyes. "Doesn't belong in the same sentence. It's hard for people to tell if he's experiencing any emotions when he's always so calm. But I know him better than anyone else. Something's got to have happened to cause that." Rukia suddenly became quiet as a thought struck her. "Come to think of it, it came after his arm was injured…"
Tori mentally grimaced. Now she knows exactly what's making him depressed.
"Look." She said quickly, "Maybe it's because of all that happened in Soul Society. Everyone's a little edgy."
"Hey, I know!" Rukia suddenly got an idea. "Since tomorrow is Christmas, let's get him a Christmas present!"
"Kirisutemasu what?"
2 hours and 15 minutes later
"Okay," Tori stopped Rukia and tried to sort the information out. "So you're telling me that this holiday called 'Christmas' is about a fat, red-faced man with a red get-up and drives a sleigh with, not horses, but flying deer, and he goes to people's chimneys and drop presents in people's homes." (A/N: sorry Santa…)
"Uh-huh."
"Who invented this crazy holiday anyway?!"
"I'm sure there's more to it than that!" Rukia added hastily, (A/N: Too right it does) "Anyway, my point is that we can give him a present on that day to cheer him up!"
"Good idea!" Tori nodded, "Let's go talk to the Central 46th Chamber about it!" Excited, she ran off with Rukia on her heels.
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LC: See? That's not too bad.
R: And it's all about you. Happy now?
T: Sort of.
LC: 'throws hands in the air' I give up. 'Slams door and left'
R: Ah, well. R&R please!
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