4 Midnight Encounters
The moon was full and hung high in the night sky. Yuri sat out by the court yard on the edge of the walk way, her legs dangling over the side. Kicking her feet she stared at the moon and breathed in the delicious scents of the plum blossoms. The spring breeze picked up her hair and mixed it in the air. The long brown tresses swirled in the breeze and thrashed around her face. When she heard footstep approaching she twisted her hand around her flowing locks and pulled them down. When she turned to see who was coming she was surprised to see Captain Hitsugaya.
"Your up late Captain." she said.
"You are one to talk." he replied with a grin.
She laughed and turned back to her moon gazing; trying to not look at him. He wasn't wearing a kimono. Just his hakama. This made her blush, to see his bare chest. He was very well muscled with a lean frame and strong shoulders. It was quite attractive, and peaked her arousal. Making it even harder for her to look at him. Suddenly, he sat down next to her. She blushed deeply.
"So, why are you up so late?" he asked leaning over to look at her face.
"Well, I have problems sleeping. I often sit out when the weather is nice. And you?" she looked into his deep green eyes.
"Pretty much the same thing." he replied.
"That's pretty ambiguous. It's the middle of the night. What are you really doing out here? You aren't checking on me are you?" she teased.
"No." he sat up straight and looked away. "I have trouble sleeping too. Rangiku can be a handful and I have to get away sometimes."
"Oh, so you were with Rangiku then." she said morosely.
"Oh, no, no, no. It's not like that. She is my lieutenant and we do spend a lot of time together, but she is....a handful. Not my type either." he asserted.
"She is very pretty though." she continued.
"Yeah, I guess. I don't really think of her in that way. She is my lieutenant and we must be professional. Like I said though; Not my type." he said while looking around the court yard and away from the woman next to him.
When he had first seen her sitting on the walkway he noticed the pretty kimono that she was wearing. Obviously, something that she had brought from home, and her hair was so dark and long. He wasn't able to determine the length of her hair previously because it was pulled up. The dark brown locks cascaded to her lower back with soft waving curls. The breeze would pick up the loose strands and carelessly toss them around in something akin to a dance. The young man found it hypnotic the way they would almost frolic in the breeze like they were at play. The patterned kimono she wore was better suited to her figure. The green obi tied at her waist showed how small and delicate she really was. The young captain also notice upon sitting next to her how this kimono did not cover her breasts as well as her uniforms had. The woman's figure was more beautiful then he had previously imagined.
"So, you don't have many things in your room?!" he unexpectedly broke the silence.
"No, not really. I didn't bring much with me when I left home."
"You make it sound like you ran away." he looked back at her.
"No, not really. My mom said that if I left to become a soul reaper to never come home." she was quiet for a while. "My dad was more supportive, but gave in to my mothers assertions." this thought made her very upset, and she was on the edge of tears. "He did send some things to me later though and writes from time to time."
"I'm sorry. I didn't know or I wouldn't have asked." he was kicking himself for bringing up the subject at all now.
"It's O'kay. That's another reason that I want to get by on my own merit." she perked up.
"I got here after all." she smiled at him now.
Her smile was beautiful. It made her whole face light up, and she seemed different now. More carefree.
"You deserve to be here." he said with a crack of a smile.
"Thank you." she smiled again; at him this time.
The two sat together for a while staring at the moon and not saying a thing to each other. From time to time they turned to look at the other and smiling when making eye contact. The two had a lot they wanted to say to each other but couldn't. Especially, Yuri, she had so many things that she wanted to tell the man sitting next to her, but she was to shy and embarrassed to say anything at all. After some time, Toshiro got up, and said.
"You should try to get some sleep. Goodnight Yuri." and he left her.
She sat for a little while longer and then left for her room. This time she was able to get to sleep.
Morning came quickly but as was normal she didn't feel tired. The shower was warm and relaxing; which cleared her thoughts. After dressing for duty she met with the rest of the squad for their daily assignments. Today she was in charge of her own division, and were ordered to go to the training grounds to practice.
The division and their new leader went to the squad ten's training grounds. Once they arrived she broke everyone up into groups of six and instructed them to take turns with one on one, and two on one combat. Everyone broke off into there groups and began. To begin with she sat out and watched. Then she joined in with one of the groups.
Hitsugaya had come to the training grounds but stayed out of sight to see how his new squad member was handling her new duties as fifth seat. He watched as she was now the person on the defensive in her group. He didn't know anything about her zanpakutou. She stood in the center with her six comrades circled around her. One by one they came in on her and attacked, and she fended off each one with out releasing her zanpakutou. Standing up straight she barked at them to come out her for real this time. He was impressed by her realizing that the squad was going easy on her, and that she was unhappy with this.
"Treat me as an equal." she barked again. "Because I will not go easy on you again." the conviction in her voice was scary. The squad knew this time that they had to be serious.
"Sing, Hana Yuki Arashi*." she spoke while sweeping her index and middle fingers over the blade of her katana. *(flower snow storm)
The sword blade became white as snow. The guard was now shaped like a silver lily flower, and the hilt was white and lilac with a lilac ribbon flowing from the end. She slashed the blade in the direction of her combatants. A flurry of snow flew from the tip of the blade covering the first two that attacked. Two more came in on her now and she spun around gracefully, and blasted more snow from the tip. The next attack was unexpected. She raised the blade in the air above her head,
"Hana Shibuki*." slipped from her lips. *(flower spray)
A spray of lilies flew from the blade and surrounded the attackers, she spoke again.
"Hakai Shimasu*" and the lilies spun like blades and swirled violently around her opponents. She then slashed her blade down and the lily blades rushed in around everyone. At the last possible moment she raised her blade parallel to the ground and the lilies disappeared. *(destroy)
The whole division on the training ground was standing watching her with mouths opened. Hitsugaya was astounded at her great control of her zanpakutou so early. There was no doubt in his mind that he had made a good decision to take her into the squad. After everyone recovered from her display she order the division to continue training and to include kidou training while sparring.
Toshiro came down from his perch and stood next to the fifth seat. She didn't turn to look at him, and continued her gaze toward her division.
"Hello, Captain Hitsugaya. Can I help you?" she said very formally.
"That was incredible." he started in a stoic voice. "I've never seen a zanpakutou that had two forms like that."
"What do you mean sir?" she turned puzzled at his comment. Then it dawned on her.
"It's got one form sir. My zanpakutou is a snow type. The lilies are made up of snow. It's hard to see from that distance." she nodded over her shoulder to the area that Hitsugaya had been observing the battle.
"You are something else, Yuri. Good to have you with us." and he walked away.
"Thank you captain." she replied.
That night Yuri went back to the walk way by the court yard and sat kicking her legs again. After a short time Captain Hitsugaya joined her again. Nothing was said for a while. They set and looked at the moon and stars. Yuri would look to the plum tree that was in the court yard from time to time. It was very fragrant right now since it was fully blooming. The spring breeze swirled around them picking up Yuri's locks as it did before.
The young captain noted all of this. With each day spent with this amazing young woman he grew more and more fond of her. Finally, Hitsugaya broke their silence.
"You were really good today." he said softly.
"Thank you Captain." she replied.
"You are very talented, and you really took charge today with your assignment. I think you rather enjoyed that." he grinned at her.
"What woman doesn't enjoy a bit of power." she snickered and smiled at the silver haired man.
"Yeah, I guess everyone does from time to time." was his reply.
"It doesn't seem to bother you, Toshiro." she gasped, "Sorry, sir. I meant Captain Hitsugaya."
"That's O'kay. When it's just us like this, Toshiro is fine."
"I don't know that we should be so informal." she was shocked by his casualness with her.
"An informal relationship is fine, if it's the right person." he looked up at the moon again.
"Really?!" she looked down at her hands and began to fidget.
"Is something wrong?" he leaned over to try to look at her face, but she wouldn't let him.
"I'm fine, sir. Thank you for asking." was her very weak reply to his quarry.
He reached in a brushed a brown strand from her face. She quickly grabbed his hand and moved it away from her face. The captain was surprised at her sudden unexpected movement. The skin of her hand was so soft and smooth. This contact between them made each one burn with desire, but neither was willing to act, and she knew it best not to. She lowered his hand and released it after a brief moment.
"Sir, I have to say that I don't think it right for this type of thing to happen." she finally spoke.
Without any indication she jumped up and ran down the walk way to her room. After sliding the door shut she sat by her bed a moment then laid down for sleep. With no warning she began to cry. She didn't understand why she would be doing this though. After some time she finally fell into a deep sleep.