Chapter 4

You Should Know

It was the first time in what felt like months that he didn't have to get up in the morning. He was glad that he didn't have to. He laid in bed, staring at the ceiling. Maybe it's a good thing that the new recruits had special training today of all days. He didn't want to go to the training; he was certain that everything would be completely different. He wanted to avoid Kuchiki for days. Wait, I can't do that, not to her. Especially since I'm the only person who seems to care about her. He quickly got up and began to make his way to training grounds…

He sat on top of the hill, watching the recruits battle. It didn't take long to find her. She always stood out in a crowd, even if she was the smallest one. It was almost her turn. She seemed unnaturally nervous for a Kuchiki. He chuckled a bit. She seemed to sense him looking at her and turned her head in his direction. Their eyes met. He decided to give her his "legendary" wave and as much of a smile as he could muster up. She smiled back, gave an excited wave, and quickly turned her attention back to the battle before she could get in trouble. Suddenly, she didn't seem as nervous as she was a little while ago. Kuchiki...
"Oy!" a familiar voice shouted, followed by a whack on the back.
"Eh, what are you doing here? This isn't your squad." He looked up at the young shinigami; it was none other than Hisagi Shuuhei.
"Ah! I just figured that my senpai would like to know that I've already been promoted to fourth seat!" Shuuhei said as he sat next to Kaien.
'"Really?! That's amazing! Of course, I wouldn't expect anything less than someone who's following in my footsteps." He ruffled the hair on the young shinigami's head.
"So, what's going on here?"
"New recruits, they're showing what they've learned so far. It's kind of our squad's way of determining who advances and who doesn't." He looked up at the battlefield just in time to catch Kuchiki's first dance help her into an easy victory. She was already getting better at it. After she was confirmed as the winner, she quickly ran over to him.
"Kaien-Dono! Did you see that?!"
"Ah! Kuchiki! You're getting better everyday!" He patted the top of her head. Maybe things weren't going to be awkward. Shuuhei coughed as if to avert the attention back to him.
"Hisagi Shuuhei," he said as he held out his hand, introducing himself, "...and you are?"
"K-kuchiki Rukia" she timidly replied as she shook his hand.
"A Kuchiki? No wonder why you're so good for a rookie." The girl blushed and looked down at the ground.
"Kaien-Dono, I have to go back now." she said, still blushing a bit. "I'll get in trouble if I stay here too long."
"All right Kuchiki, hurry up then. You can't always use me as an excuse to get out of things." He patted her head, sending some hairs astray. She blushed a soft shade of pink before she ran down the hill to reunite with the others.
"What's up with her?" Shuuhei asked, a bit confused.
"She's your replacement!" Kaien joked. "She's kind of timid and all so I decided to give her special training instead of letting her have such a hard time interacting with everyone else. She needed a good friend."
"Oh. And falling for you, was that before or after the training started?"
"What?!" Falling?
"Eh, you can't be serious." Shuuhei looked somewhat perplexed. "You mean to tell me that you've spent all that time with the girl, and you had no idea that she liked you?"
"No she doesn't. She couldn't. I'm just a friend. Besides, I'm married and she's well aware of it. That'd be foolish of her. "
"Really? Good then. She's kind of cute, maybe I'll..."
"Oh no you don't!" There's no way Kaien would actually let Shuuhei get close to Rukia. Even though they were great friends, Kaien wasn't ready to find out exactly why Shuuhei had that tattoo on his cheek, especially not if Rukia were involved.
"Oh? Alright then." Shuuhei said as he began to walk away, smiling. "Just remember, there's more than one way to fall in love."
What the hell is that supposed to mean...more than one way? And why is he smiling?!

A/N: Sorry, this was kind of rushed. I'm going to busy the next couple of months so I won't be able to update often. I promise the next chapter will make up for all of it. This was kind of just to ease into other things.

And why Shuuhei? Well, firstly I'm tired of the predictable fanfics where it's always someone like Miyako or some other (usually female) character who notices that Rukia likes Kaien. Secondly, Kaien and Shuuhei kind of remind me of each other. They both were kind of like prodigies in school (not like a Toushiro prodigy) and they kind of do resemble each other. I just thought it would be an interesting twist. I may edit chapter this from time to time…