A/N: I apologize for the annoyingly long author's note last chapter. It was my first post and I was excited. -sweatdrop-
Disclaimer: (see chapter 1)
P.S.: My offer for the guess-the-chapter-order thing still stands. -grin-
IMPORTANT TIMELINE NOTE!: This takes place about five years after "Sight" and the Aizen war-thingy is now done and over with.
.: Hearing :.
The gardens of the Kuchiki estate were beautiful in any season. In spring, there were the Sakura trees with their elegant pink blossoms; in summer, there were cool pathways along a small stream, shaded by draping willows; and in fall, the fiery colors of the leaves before they fell were breathtaking. And then winter came again and the snow fell, coating the rock gardens with a delicate layer of white.
The twisted and pitted stones were supposed to symbolize the many facets and crevices of the mind and soul and help in the process of meditation and introspection; or so said the garden's designer. Frankly, Byakuya Kuchiki found them gloomy and depressing most of the time and the now-slightly-dirty layer of snow that had fallen a few days ago only added to the their bleak grayness; he hated the sight.
Perhaps that was part of the reason he was now walking the lower streets of Seireitei, near the wall. Normally, he would never even think of leaving the inner circle for any reason other than business but today… today he had been restless.
He gave his thoughts free reign over his feet as he strolled through the orderly streets, leaving footprints in the old snow-turned-slush, and they rested on his new Lieutenant. Well, perhaps not so 'new' anymore; Renji had been with him now for almost 5 years now, thought that seemed so short when compared to his previous fukutaichou's 50. He thought about their most recent assignment; helping 11th division to handle a pack of particularly stubborn hollows that had been plaguing a small town in Hokkaido for some time. Byakuya realized that that was the first time he'd ever actually seen his lieutenant fighting seriously at such a close proximity since the ryoka incident. He'd known Renji had grown both as a swordsman and a tactician over the years, but he had proved to be much more capable than Byakuya would have first given him credit for and had much more finesse then he would have expected from someone with a background in 11th. The man still had a ways to go before he reached Captain-level, but the potential was certainly there for greatness someday.
Before he realized what he was doing, Byakuya unconsciously began angling in the direction of the red-head's reiatsu; leading him a little farther out of the portion of Seireitei that was home for most of the seated officers and more into the 'entertainment' district consisting mostly of bars of varying shapes, sizes, and cleanliness. He finally realized where he was when he was snapped out of his reverie by the reek of sake and unwashed body coming from a man stumbling past more than three feet away. Wrinkling his nose in disgust, he resisted an inexplicable, childish urge to dump the drunken man into a snowdrift to sober him up a bit and hopefully get rid of some of the stench. But, he kept walking, pulling his scarf up to cover his nose a bit more, and set a course that would eventually turn him back towards the inner city.
As the evening sky deepened quickly into early night, he realized it had been a long time since his meager lunch of tea and sweet-bread. Not really expecting anything decent in this district, he looked around anyway, surprised when his gaze lighted on a little tea-shop tucked in between two taller buildings so that it was almost obscured in shadows. Definitely not what he was used to, but it looked clean and quiet, so he entered and was seated near the back in a comfortable little out-of-the-way niche. If the woman who brought him his glass of hot, peppermint tea was surprised to see a noble in a humble shop like this, she did a good job of hiding it.
The place was surprisingly relaxing and the tea was just as good as (if not better than) what he got back at the mansion; Byakuya found himself lingering over his mug and did not refuse when the girl brought him another. Halfway through it, his serenity was disturbed by the sound of the door being flung open and six people entering, laughing loudly. He raised his head from his mug, glaring toward the commotion at the front of the room. He recognized the bald man and the pretty boy from 11th division, the huge-chested fukutaichou of 10th, that blonde boy from Third that he'd heard was going to be promoted soon and the vice-captain of Ninth with the tattoos on his face. The last person to enter was mostly obscured by the others, but the fiery red hair and voice gave him away easily as his own fukutaichou.
They had obviously just come from a bar, quite possibly one of the ones he had passed earlier on his stroll. Matsumoto still had a large bottle of sake in hand that she took a swig of every now and then. As the party settled at one of the tables near the door, their voices lowered a bit, but they were still loud enough to be heard clearly by the semi-hidden noble.
Byakuya wondered why they were here. Perhaps to alleviate the drunkenness with something other than sake?
Entirely without intending to, he picked up on their conversation and listened with mild curiosity as he sipped at his tea.
"-dared try and take a peek down the front of my robes! I swear, if he wasn't a Captain, I would have decked him good!"
"Well, y' can't really blame 'im. I mean, s' not like yer really hidin' anything! Yer half hangin' out all the time anyway!" said the blonde man in a heavily booze-slurred voice.
The others roared with laughter as they held back the violent woman from their brave (and very drunk) friend.
"Kira!! Dammit, Yumi, let me go, you big ass or I'll shave off that pretty hair you love so much and use it as a mop for my kitchen floor!"
Yumichika hastily let her go and as soon as she was free she smacked him upside the head before flailing across the table at the sloshed blonde with her bottle. When she finally got in a lucky shot, it caught him on the head and stunned him momentarily. She smacked him around a bit until he eventually passed out from the combined effect of the booze and the beating, his head hitting the top of the table where he commenced to snore after a few moments. Matsumoto poked him curiously; giving up on her righteous crusade to defend her chest, she leaned back heavily in her seat as the effects of her own sake binge began to finally catch up to her.
"Oi! Now who's gonna carry this idiot back home?" asked Renji suddenly, drawing attention back to himself and the inebriated Kira.
"Well, you and I are obviously the only one sober enough, and I sure as hell don't want to", commented Ikkaku.
"What?!" exclaimed the red-head indignantly. "I don't wanna have to haul his ass halfway across Seireitei!
He suddenly grabbed Rangiku's bottle dangling precariously from her fingers and downed the entire rest of its contents in several big gulps.
"There! Now, when that hits me, you'll be the most sober one!" He lips curled in a smirk of accomplishment that was just beginning to waver from the alcohol. The bald man groaned when he realized that this was true.
"Hey, how come you're not drinkin' this time, Ikka-kun?" From his observation point, Byakuya saw Ikkaku jump slightly when Yumichika breathed the question into his ear. Everyone turned to look at him in sudden curiosity and the man looked a little sheepish.
"Orders from Dr. Mom," he said, referring to the 4th's Unohana-taichou. "Remember that last nasty skirmish with that really annoyingly stubborn pack of hollows up North?" Nods greeted the reminder. "Well, I got distracted for a second and my left leg got mangled pretty good. The doc fixed it up good as new, but she said she put some medicine stuff in me that doesn't react very prettily when mixed with booze. So I've gotta lay off for a couple of weeks unless I wanna be spewing my guts up every five minutes from some nasty side-effect or something."
"Well, that sucks…" said Yumichika brilliantly from his position, leaning on his bald shinigami friend. "But, hey… how come Renji wasn't drinkin' much, either? Hey, Red, did you get all fixed up recently too, or something?"
"Don' call me that, ass-face!" complained a now-slurring Renji. "Nah, m' perfectly healthy. Not like that pansy you're hanging all over, there." Ikkaku growled and the red-headed lieutenant smirked. "S' just, me 'n Taichou just got a mission day tomorrow. Means 'm gonna be staying late at the office again. Damn paperwork… swear it friggin' breeds… mission day… wait…"
Renji's rant tapered down into annoyed grumbles but then abruptly stopped as he realized what he had said. He slapped his face into his palm, suddenly remembering the exact reason why he had avoided more than one or two drinks until his slip-up a few minutes ago.
"Ah, crap!" He glared at the peacefully snoring Kira. "If I wake up t'morrow with a messy head, 's all your fault."
"I can take him back," said Hisagi suddenly. "He lives near me, anyway."
He stood abruptly, slung the unconscious man's arm over his shoulder and dragged him out the door, weaving unsteadily. The rest watched with amusement and a bit of concern... but mostly amusement.
"'Ya think they'll make it this time?" asked Renji with a smirk at Shuuhei's poor attempt to disguise his own drunkenness.
"Bet'cha a bottle of 'm best sake somebody finds 'em passed out in an alley somewhere," said Rangiku, pillowing her head on her arms, returning the smirk broadly.
Back in his corner, Byakuya frowned slightly. I should tell someone of the night watch patrol to keep an eye out for them. But, the more he thought about it, the less inclined he was to do anything. Those two would come to no harm within the walls and it might be good for them to spend the night outside; they might learn from it. But probably not; it sounds like this is a fairly common occurrence. He shook his head and went back to enjoying his drink, but his attention was called again by the use of his name.
"-taichou's not gonna be happy if I come in tomorrow smellin' like a bar. I should get home 'n take a shower or something an' sober up again." Renji started to get up, wobbling only slightly.
"'Y know, you're always talkin' 'bout 'Taichou this' an' 'Taichou that' an' 'Taichou says "jump"'. He must be a real hardass." Hearing this, said Taichou stiffened in displeasure at the insulting tone. Yumichika's expression suddenly turned contemplative. "He's really pretty, though. You're lucky you get to work with someone as beautiful as him."The offhand comment made Ikkaku frown beside him. Yumi smiled sweetly at the bald man and slid over to sit in his lap. "But you're the mos' beautiful one of aaaaall!" he cooed tipsily, placing his hands on his lover's shoulders and leaning in for a kiss.
Frozen in surprise and unable to turn away, Byakuya watched as they kissed deeply, only managing to look away in uncomfortable embarrassment when he clearly saw the pretty-boy slide his hands into the front of Ikkaku's kimono to touch bare skin. He heard their busty companion whoop and cat-call while Renji laughed and told them to get a room. Thankfully for the noble's flailing sense of propriety, they stopped, flushed and grinning, and Yumi slid back into his seat.
"Seriously, though", he said, resting his cheek in the palm of one hand. "How on Earth d' you stand workin' with the Soul Society's number one prude, the Ice Princess, himself?"
Embarrassment was instantly forgotten as Byakuya's whole body went rigid in annoyance this time, and if the flamboyant man from 11th could have seen the cold glare that was being leveled in his direction, he would have frozen solid on the spot. However, he remained blissfully ignorant of the captain in question's presence barely even twenty feet away and set his gaze expectantly on Renji, to his left. Despite himself, Byakuya too, found himself straining his ears to hear his lieutenant's reply.
"'Princess'?"
The way Renji was sitting, Byakuya couldn't see his face, but he really didn't need to in order to hear the raised eyebrow in his tone.
"He's too pretty t' be 'Prince'."
When they all snorted and chuckled, the noble's ire rose a bit more, but, for the sake of his curiosity, he restrained himself from making his presence known. But, what he heard next made him freeze in place, all anger instantly banished by shock.
"Yeah, Taichou's definitely a looker," said Renji.
It want so much the words as it was the subtle, almost wistful, tone to the red-head's voice that gave him pause and filled him with an inexplicable, uncomfortable tenseness. The tattooed man continued in a voice that was now heavily slurred from the effects of downing almost a whole jug of sake in less than two minutes.
"He's got that long, shiny black hair that looks like it'd be softer 'n silk an' really, really nice eyes (y' know, dark an' deep an' pretty an' stuff), an' those long, pretty hands that're stronger than they look... And he's got a nice ass."
Byakuya nearly choked.
"He's not really that bad 't work with. I mean, sometimes he can be real annoying when he starts acting like a stuck-up rich-boy with that 'greater-n'-thou' attitude. An' the fact that it's so damn hard t' read him cuz he's always puttin' up that marble-statue face. An' I think we spend way too much time in th' office doin' paperwork instead 'a fightin' out in the field. I mean, can't we just give some of the paper stuff t' Rikichi? He's third seat now and he's damn good at takin' care of th' technical stuff."
"Other 'n that, 's not so bad. 'S nice t' have a pretty face t' look at when I get bored with paperwork, an' he spars with me sometimes; teachin' me new stuff with Zabimaru and helpin' me with kidô stuff. I still suck at it. An' we talk; mos'ly like weather and stuff 'bout the division an' all, but s' nice t' relax every now and then. Oh, yeah! An' sometimes he invites me t' dinner at the mansion when we have to talk 'bout stuff that's gonna take a long time. An' there're servants for everythin' an' I get my own rooms (I swear they're almost as big as my whole apartment!). He's actually a pretty nice guy when he's not bein' a pompous prick."
When Renji stopped talking, the table was silent for a moment, but then Rangiku suddenly laughed.
"Red's got a 'thing' for Kuchiki-taichou! Man, I think you've got the lowest alcohol tolerance of anyone I've ever known!"
Renji sputtered as Ikkaku smirked and Yumichika clapped him on the back with a broad smile.
"I-I do not have a 'thing' for him!" he shouted, indignantly. "We all already agreed that he's pretty an' if it's cuz I think he's got a nice ass… that don't mean nothin'! He jus' does! Ask anybody! Jus' cuz I noticed don' mean I got a 'thing' for 'im! Hell, Baldy over there has a nice ass, Hisagi has a nice ass, freakin' Zaraki has a nice ass; that don' mean nothin'!"
But he said it with such a monstrous blush that neither his friends nor their hidden observer believed a word of it. But, Renji protested anyway and eventually changed the subject by force. With the main event now off limits, their talk dwindled quickly and they managed to drink several cups of tea each, in hopes of lessening the eventual effect of all the alcohol they had drank. They left soon after, in various stages of staggering.
It had been a whole two hours since Byakuya had walked into this humble little tea-shop, hoping only to find a good drink and some peace. He now left it, not long before mid-night, wrapped in an outward appearance of calm, though, in truth, he was anything but. Slightly dazed, more than a bit flustered and… somewhat curious, he somehow found his way home through the fog of confusion in his brain. Later, as he lay awake in his bed, trying to sort through all that he had heard, there was one thing that he kept coming back to.
How on Earth am I supposed to act around him tomorrow?
A/N: You know the drill, people! Constructive criticism is always appreciated! Hope you liked it! -grin-