Ch 2: Welcome to Seireitei
A soft blade of grass tickled my cheek. Opening my eyes and looking up the sky and saw cerulean blue dotted with a few puffy clouds. I slowly sat up and looked around. I was in a small clearing. Behind me was a huge gate; doors closed. Hmmm…so much for a rabbit hole.
"Hello!....Welcome!" A nervous voice proclaimed in stilted English. Looking to my left a figure came into focus. He was short and pale with a mop of dark hair that hung limply around his gaunt face. His wide gentle eyes were dark rimmed, as if in need of a good nap. "My…my namu is-u Hantarou desu." He shook his head "iie, iie..Hanataro. Not desu" He seemed to no longer be talking to me but to himself.
"Japanese is ok" I reassured the nervous looking fellow. There was no bunny hole but this guy was as skittish as a rabbit. A look of relief washed over his face when he heard me speak Japanese. "I see." He crept a bit closer. "You are the guest Urahara-san sent?" I nodded and stood up. "Of course, please come this way and we will get you ready for a day in seireitei."
Dressed in a black hakama and gi I looked like everyone else that I had seen around this strange city. "What is this place? Amish?" I asked Hanataro. He looked puzzled.
"Amish? I don't think so. Everyone inside Seireitei is a shinigami. Today you will be meeting the gotei 13, very high ranking shinigami." He explained patiently. He pulled a small paper out of his pouch and unfolded it. "Let's see…first on the list is…" He faltered and his mouth flopped open.
"well?" I prompted.
"Captain Kuchiki…." Hanataro whispered. Turning even paler than usual. He redirected our path down a wide paved street with a huge structure looming at the end.
Hanataro stop in front of an imposing manor gate. Swallowing hard he went up to the guard. He returned trembling "We may proceed". The gates swung open and the guards stood aside. At the manor, we were greeted by a servant. Hanataro never lost his nervous edge and it was beginning to rub off.
Who was this Kuchiki person? Was he that terrifying? I wondered as Hanataro talked to a servant.
"Okay, Captain Kuchiki is at home. Please follow Takeda-san, she will take you to him. I will meet you later." He smiled dolefully and scurried away. Great, so I am in this alone.
The manor had a grave hush about it. Even the servant's voices seemed muted and cool. The middle aged woman appraised her guest then gestured for me to follow. After what seemed a maze of hallways the woman opened a door leading to a huge room almost empty room.
It was a traditional Japanese room much like the rest of the manor. Tatami mats lined the floors, sliding shoji screen composed one wall with a few pulled pack to reveal a tranquil garden outside. The view was mesmerizing. A huge cherry tree was in bloom dominating the garden with its massive black trunk off-set by a cloud of chiffon pink petals. A sigh escaped my lips as I gazed at the tree.
"This way miss." The servant murmured bowing low and gesturing into the room. Looking toward the end of the room I noticed that I was not alone. At the far end sat a stiff looking man in black. Cautiously, I approached. He neither spoke nor looked up at me. He wore the usual black robes with a white haori on top, a pale blue-green scarf loosely drapped around his neck, and some weird metal hair barrettes. I noted there was a wide white paper laid out before him and a small ink stone with a brush on the floor near him. He sat seiza with his feet tucked beneath him, back perfectly straight. Emboldened by his silence, I stepped closer.
He was beautiful! His chiseled face was pale and deadly calm with smooth black eyebrows arching haughtily across his brow. A soft snake of ebony hair swept across his porcelain face before blending back into the black hair cascading around his shoulders. Unclosing his eyes, he looked up at me. Emotionless slate gray eyes met my enquiring gaze.
"Please, be seated." He stated. Was it an invitation or a command? I couldn't tell but didn't care. His deep baritone voice sent shivers up my spine and my eyes refused to leave his face. Unfortunately that made walking difficult and I nearly tripped walking to his side. Desperately trying to regain my composure I sat down beside the beautiful man and studied his face.
He closed his eyes and concentrated. He did not seem to want to talk but I was fine staring. Time dilated and seemed to almost stop. Then a bird chirped loudly out in the garden. Trance broken, a second sheet of paper came to my attention. Was he magic? Then I remembered the servants. Nope, just rich and powerful…*sigh*
Remembering that it was probably rude to stare in this world too, I grabbed a paint brush from a nearby ink pallet and started to write. First,just a doodle then a swirly and a smiley. The brush wrote pretty well. Next I tried my name in English then in katakana. Not bad at all. I drew a line under it then a heart beside it. The heart reminded me of the man sitting next to me. Looking over I saw his eyes on me and immediately my face grew warm.
Was it possible this paragon of beauty found me in some way attractive? My heart fluttered wildly and I nearly dropped the brush. Collecting my thoughts I stole another glance to the side. He was still looking at me. Well, less my face more my hand where I had a death grip on the calligraphy brush. I looked down at the ink stone. There was only one brush and it was in my hand.
Laughing nervously I handed the brush over to him. My fingers gently brushing his as I relinquished the writing implement. A tingle ran through my arm and sent my heart hammering. Appearing not to notice he took the brush.
Closing his eyes again, he seemed to focus. Taking a long, deep breath he opened his eyes and set the brush to the paper. He wrote in strong dark lines. Complex intertwining kanji danced across the paper. With a smooth steady movement he drew the final line to a slender point. I wanted to applaud the performance but kept silent. He set the brush down and seemed to relax the slightest bit.
"It's beautiful" I breathed, breaking the silence. He looked at me out of the corner of his eye but said nothing. The kanji were so stylized and complex I could not make them out but it didn't matter. They were beautiful. Strong black characters seemed to flow forming more a picture than a word. "Can I….have it?" I mustered up the courage to ask and to look into his perfect face.
"Yes." He said simply then he stood and arranged his robes. He turned to face me and bowed. "Have a nice day." He said stiffly. Jumping up I caused the ink stone to wobble sending midnight ink dangerously close to the expensive tatami flooring.
"Thank you very much" I replied bowing as low as I could. Heart still thrumming strongly in my chest. When I lifted her head he was gone. But the calligraphy piece was all mine. Smiling happily I went to inspect my prize. "If only I knew what it said."
Rolling it up gently I went out to find Hanataro with a spring in my step. I was beginning to like this Seireitei place.
A/N: So now we have run into the gorgeous but distant Byakuya Kuchiki. He was my second sketch (some of which are in my scrapbook on deviant art if you are interested). Next up Zaraki or Gin?