Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach! Tite is way better at this than I will ever be!
So… why would Byakuya go so far as to show anger in a captains meeting? Well let's have ourselves an annoying flashback story so that we can solidify our knowledge of the characters taking part here.
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100 years ago…
Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth, falling off of his chin onto his academy uniform. His eyes flashed angrily towards her as he leaped forward using shunpo.
"You are way too predictable, Kuchiki!" she barked as she blocked his blow with her own bokken. As he fell to her left she lifted her right arm and sent the hilt of the wooden weapon into the back of his skull. One side of her mouth curled up in a crooked smile as her pupil slid face first into the dirt.
"Bitch!" he spat back at her as he wiped the mixture of dirt and blood from his face.
Akia rolled her eyes at him. She hated having to mentor the second year student, she hated his cocky noble attitude, but most of all she hated the fact that she was being forced into mentoring somebody so very different from her. As a sixth year student she had to mentor a second year in order to learn the patience and skill it took to teach younger recruits. The exercise had its uses, but she had hoped to have a student who shared her goals and desires. A student who focused on the tactics and subtleties of sword play, battle, and the honor of being the strongest, or to die in the pursuit. Her place was fairly secured in the eleventh division when she graduates, but this punk!
Her sensei had immediately sensed her reluctance when he had told her the young Kuchiki prince would be her responsibility. However, sensei had only smiled and said that Kuchiki needed to learn better swordsmanship, and she needed to learn patience. So here she was, standing in a practice field trying her hardest to not only teach this brat, but also to not kill him in the process.
"Kuchiki, do not let your anger determine your battle. You will lose every time. Loosen up, enjoy the feeling of striking out at an opponent with your strength." She knew that her words would fall onto stubbornly deaf ears. He had let her know many times that she had nothing to teach him, for he was the noble, Kuchiki Byakuya. As far as she was concerned he was a total waste of talent.
"Shut-up, Ryuu Akai! You have no right to speak to me without any honorific, who do you think you are!" The Kuchiki kid did have a pretty decent sneer, she had to admit. She decided she would play with him just a bit longer.
In reality their ages were not that far apart. With the passage of time in the soul society, you could actually say that she practically shared a birthday with him. She was found and recruited into the academy from the worst part of the Rukon District. This was of course after she managed to materialize a zanpakuto in a charged sword fight over rights to food. Reiatsu was something she had always had, she was always hungry. Fighting to survive had led to a "premature" realization of her shinigami powers. She had to chuckle anytime anyone had called it that…"premature"… it had in reality showed up right on time and totally saved her ass that day.
"Oh! Please forgive me your highness!" she snarked back at him in the most sarcastic tone she owned. "Please strike me down for my disrespect," her lips curled into their signature half smile, "if you can!"
She really did not know much about her pupil. It did irritate her that he got bypass years to graduate ahead of time because of his damn blood line. You would think that this was some sort of prize pig contest. Well as far as prize pigs go, the Kuchiki's were right up there on the list of noble families. Everything about him screamed refinement, from his defined features all the way to his annoying habit of speaking down to every other living creature that crossed his path.
His eyes widened as a battle yell rushed from his throat. He charged her, bokuto poised for attack. She kept her arms calmly at her side, and watched as he approached. His anger left him full of openings, but she had to admit he was damn fast.
At the last moment she ducked down, and brought her shoulder up into the midsection of his charging body and threw him to the ground. She turned and slammed her right foot onto his chest as he lay prone and gasping for air. The tip of her wooden sword was brought to touch the pulse point on his neck.
"Looks like the mighty have fallen." she said with a bored air to her words.
in return he spat up at her, causing her to chuckle lightly before stepping off of him. She tossed her bokuto onto the ground near him.
As she sauntered off she shouted over her shoulder with a farewell hand held up in the air, "clean up this mess Kuchiki, we are done for the day".
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80 years ago
Nothing could ruin this day for her. Smiling, she once again ran her fingers over the badge that marked her as the fuko-taicho of the 11th division. This was the beginning of week two as the second in command for the battle hungry division. Learning the name of her zanpakuto was fairly easy as she had come to her in her sleep shortly after the weapon had materialized for her during a critical battle in the Rukon District. However, reaching shikai level and controlling that level had been a gigantic hurdle as it happened that her zanpakuto was volatile and hard to predict as she herself was.
Again she smiled as she sat in the little bar and downed one more saucer of sake. Akai liked her noon-time habit. Two shots of sake, and a plate of sashimi, were two things that she couldn't have even dreamed about when she had lived in the 80 district. Tossing some currency onto the table she exited into the bright exterior of the Seireitei, only to have her mood immediately darkened.
Their eyes met as he walked in her direction, but she did not back down by looking away. He had grown and filled out since their time in the academy. Now he floated towards her with his flowing scarf and stupid kenseikan like he was king of the world. Her eyes narrowed into a glare when he gave her that damn noble look of disdain. On his left arm was the fuko-taicho badge for the 6th division, and she thought it was total bullshit. The only reason he had been promoted to that position was that his grand-sire was the taicho. Kuchiki Byakuya did not have to work for his place in the seireitei and it made her sick to her stomach.
"Glad you are living up to the expectations, Ryuu." He said as he glanced at the bar she had just exited.
"I am not sure what you are accusing me of Kuchiki, but until you can back up your smart mouth with your sword, I suggest you keep it shut." Akai was almost surprised by how much venom was in her voice when she said the words.
"I suggest you think a little more before threatening a noble so blatantly." Byakuya's eyes had narrowed and his brows drew together in anger. It gave Akai a small amount of joy that she was able to piss him off just as much as always.
She laughed loudly and sneered at him, "just name the time and place Kuchiki, and I will show you the difference between a noble like you and a real soldier." Just as he inhaled to retort she spun on her heel and walked away, leaving a seething Byakuya behind her.
The two of them had never had any sort of relationship other than mutual dislike. She could never see him as a true comrade. In order to be comrades she would have to trust her back to him in battle, and she just knew that he would fall long before working with her. His swordsmanship had improved a bit, but he was still too prone to his own emotions. He also hid behind that metaphorical shield of his blood lines, as if hollows gave two shits over what ran through a shinigamis veins.
Just then there was a flash and Akai was pushed forward by foot driven between her shoulder blades. As she hit her knees she drew her zanpakuto to block the attack over her shoulder. The sound of blades meeting deafened her left ear. Her eyes swiveled to the side as she saw his hatred filled face beyond his zanpakuto. Shoving him back she leaped to her feet and turned towards him holding her sword down at her side. Despite the many times she had taunted him, this was the first time he had actually drawn on her since she had left the academy. Studying him, she could see that she had finally pushed his pride too far. His breath came in deep heaves, his shoulders were slightly slumped, his eyes were narrowed, and he was radiating fury filled reiatsu.
She raised her sword and pointed it directly at him, "Kuchiki! What are you thinking, if you continue I will only see it as a challenge."
He made no signs of putting away his zanpakuto, his reiatsu swirled about him dangerously. It was obvious that he was angry, she had known this day would come eventually.
She sighed, and as she was taught by her sempai, she calmly recited, "I am Ryuu Akai, if you attempt at me one more time, it will be your last, and I will be your opponent. Put away your weapon Kuchiki!"
Byakuya raised his sword and surged forward. "Damn he is fast" she thought as she barely got her sword into the defensive position before his zanpakuto fell upon her own.
She swiveled her wrist and feinted towards his shoulder, when he rose his zanpakuto to block she slashed at his open midsection. A half smile played her lips as she felt her zanpakuto make contact. The victory was short lived as his blade found her right shoulder. Akai hissed through her teeth as she blocked his next attack at her chest. Leaning back slightly she kicked him hard in his already injured midsection, effectively throwing him of balance and providing her the opening to rain down on him with attacks.
After driving him down to one knee she sliced at his wrist and flung his zanpakuto from his grasp. His eyes were wide, his breath was a fast pant of exhaustion. However, she was alive in the moment of battle, exhilarated by the irony taste of blood on her lips. The sharp edge of her blade pressed against the visibly pulsing vessel on his neck. She could envision the blood moving through it; envision how beautiful that blood would be flowing onto her sword and the ground. No longer did she see her old pupil in front of her, the red of battle had clouded her vision so that she could only see her victory.
"Fuko-taicho Ryuu! Lay down your weapon and step away!" A voice cut through her revelry. Her head swiveled to look over her shoulder to see the captains of the sixth and second division.
"Shit" Akai threw her zanpakuto to the side and turned to face her punishment.
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Later that week 80 years ago
She stood in front of the room full of captains; her head was down, blonde hair acted to shield her face from their judgment. Things had rapidly gone out of her control in her confrontation with the noble; however, the Kuchiki clan had cried out that it had been an assassination attempt. How was she to know that he had just been named the heir to the whole shebang? Akai didn't care about all the damn politics involved in the noble ring of clans. All of that aside, she knew that not knowing about those "damn politics" had put her in a precarious situation. From what she had heard even that punk had defended that she was not an assassin. Moments ago he spoke out saying that he had drawn first, but you could tell that he was not doing it as any favor to her. Especially after pointing out in his testimony that she held no respect for his noble rank and that she had insulted the Kuchiki clan. Things were not looking so good for her.
"Fuko-taicho Ryuu Akai, for raising your sword against the heir of a noble family we are sentencing you to duty in the southern realm." The captain commander spoke with a calm authority, despite the fact that the strong blond woman had begun shaking. "You will spend 80 years in solitude as the shinigami on duty in the area. If you carry out your sentence as a mission with pride in your duty, you may be allowed to return when your sentence is served."
That is how Ryuu Akai became the queen of the icy lands south of Japan. She was the goddess of death for lost fishing vessels, stranded scientists, and foolish adventurers who attempted to survive the harshness of Antarctica.
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I hope you were all able to get through that! I know that flashbacks are not always as much fun as the actual story! In the next update we will get back to the original characters of the story.
The song that really inspired this chapter
"Enemy of mine, I'll fuck you like the devil.
Violent inside, beautiful and evil.
I'm a ghost. You're an angel.
We're one and the same, just remains of an age.
Lost in a day dream, what do you see?
If you're looking for Jesus, get on your knees!
Enemy of mine, I'm just a stranger in a strange land.
Running out of time, better go, go, go!
Angel or a demon, I gave up my soul, I'm guilty of treason, I've abandoned control"
"Stranger in a strange land" by Thirty Seconds to Mars (This is War Album)
