Byakuya awoke the next morning in the worst mood ever after he recalled the events of the day before. He got up and got dressed before practically storming – or as close to the heads of a noble clan get to storming because that would be beneath him – out to the main room for breakfast. Even though his outer façade looked, for all intents and purposes, like nothing had changed, those who knew him better, like Yoruichi, could tell something was on his mind and he didn't like it.
"So, what's got your panties in such a twist, Byakuya?" Yoruichi said, earning a subtle glare from said shinigami. She smirked at his response. "Does it have anything to do with Sakura?" she questioned. His only response was to look down into his cup. "I'm right, aren't I?"
He looked up, glaring. "You were spying on our little exchange. I'm right, aren't I?" he said, echoing her words. She bit back a grin while Urahara pulled out his fan to hide his smirk, confirming Byakuya's suspicions. Of course Yoruichi, being the former commander-in-chief of the Onmitsukidō, would spy on him.
He decided to leave the two, instead heading back to his room to think by himself. He didn't want to go to school today and teach with her in the class. It would only make his mood worse. To distract himself, he decide which was be worse: having Sakura around and angry with him, or going back to the Soul Society and facing the head-captain's wrath for disobeying what was essentially an order.
~ meanwhile ~
Sakura
Mr. Kuchiki was absent from school that day, as well as Ichigo. She didn't want to worry about them, but she couldn't help it. Ichigo had been her friend for a while now, and while she barely knew Kuchiki, over the last few days she'd come to like him. 'As a friend,' she quickly added. She didn't love him, like her.
She spent the rest of the day worrying about them, when she wasn't angry at them. After school she went to the usual park they seemed to be seeing a lot of each other in. It was on the swings Ichigo found her. When she noticed him out of the corner of her eyes she promptly ignored him, even looking the other way. Then he sat down on the swing next to her, forcing her to acknowledge him.
"What do you want?" she snapped, though she immediately regretted it when she saw the hurt on his face.
"Nothing. I just wanted to see if you were fine. You obviously are, seeing as you can still snap at me. I'll leave now," he said with a scowl, making a move to get up. He was stopped by Sakura who had grabbed his hand and pulled him back onto the swing.
"I'm sorry, please stay," she pleaded, not wanting to lose her long-time friend. "I'm just confused," she said, looking down at her hands resting on her legs. "Was what you and Kuchiki said really true?"
Ichigo looked at her for a while before answering. "Yeah, it was all true."
"Who is Kuchiki, really?" she asked, a question that had been burning inside of her. She saw how he carried himself, his proud stance, and the commanding air he carried about himself. He intrigued her, this beautiful and lonely man.
"Well, you know about the Soul Society and the shinigami that live there, right? Within the Soul Society is a…society, basically, and at the head of that society is, among others, the Four Noble Houses. The Kuchiki clan is one of the most important of these families, and Byakuya is the head. He's also the captain of the 6th Division. So I guess you can say he's a pretty important person."
Her assumptions were correct. He practically oozed power, and just by being in his presence she felt slightly intimidated. "Do I look like her? Hisana, or Rukia even?" she asked quietly.
Ichigo studied her face, mentally comparing her to Rukia. "Almost exactly, though I can't say for sure. Your hair is the same, though a little more frayed. You even have that one strand that goes in-between your eyes, though yours goes on both sides. And your eyes are a similar shade of purple, but yours are slightly darker. Other than that, no one would think you weren't sisters."
She seemed to think about this, imagining herself a noble lady with Kuchiki, and then with Ichigo. The ideas were too farfetched for her to make sense. "Why did you befriend me? What's so important about Rukia that you had to have me because you couldn't have her?"
He blushed slightly at her question. Though he didn't like to admit it, he really did have feelings for the short-tempered midget. But she'd never know about them because she was in the Soul Society, unavailable to him. "I guess I am in love with her," he admitted out loud, more to himself than anything.
Sakura heard anyways. "Are you in love with me?" she asked, watching him for any reaction. He was looking at the ground, so it was hard to tell.
"I guess you could say that. You're so much like her, in your own way, that it hurts. But when you get mad, you don't hit me," he said with a smirk, remembering Rukia's fondness for hitting him when he insulted her artwork.
"What about Kuchiki? Is he still in love with me?"
Ichigo considered it before responding. "Honestly, I'm not sure. He's still in love with his wife, of that I have no doubt. And you probably remind him so much of her. But it's hard to say. That dickwad is probably trying to tell himself he doesn't care, but I think he does, deep down inside. Do you remember that day we first saw him?" She nodded, wondering where he was going with the question. "That was the anniversary of her death."
She gasped, starting to understand how the proud man would have felt seeing her there. "That must've been a horrible day for him. First it's the anniversary of his wife's death, and then he comes here and sees me, when I look exactly like her. And he sees you with me. He must be feeling horrible now. I feel bad for saying I hated him."
Ichigo patted her back. "Don't worry about him too much. He'll have to deal with it eventually. He's probably fine."
"We should go see him and make sure he's alright," she demanded, making Ichigo grimace.
"He probably wouldn't appreciate seeing me, and considering what you said to him yesterday, he probably doesn't want to see you either," he reasoned, trying to talk her out of it.
Sakura thought about this, but it didn't deter her one bit. "I still think we should go. If he feels that way, then we'll just apologize." She gave him a pointed look. "Both of us. And what if he doesn't feel that way and really needs a friend?" Ichigo scoffed. "No matter what you say, we're going to the shop tomorrow," she said, glaring at him as if daring him to challenge her. When he said nothing she stood up and walked home, not waiting for Ichigo to follow. But he did, his eyes rolling behind her back.
~ later ~
Byakuya
He concluded, after thinking about it for most of the day, that any punishment the head-captain could have come up with would have been much better than coming here. And he was positive others would find his conclusion to be true.
