Chapter IX: Rotten

It happened shortly, subsequent to experiencing unfathomable bliss after falling asleep; she woke up with a jolt in the middle of the night after a nightmare. It was a short memory of what had happened. At the end of the day, after reciting it in her head to not even think of letting her stupidity speak for her, she realized she agreed to treat Hisagi Shuuhei to lunch, again. That reality called for yet another sleepless night and for the rest of it, she rolled underneath her bedding, still half-heartedly believing in that miracle called slumber.

Regrettably, it never came and at dawn, Akiye rose from her futon. There were plenty of things that could tire her enough to lead to the desired result, and she took the time to go out to the back of her house to rebuild the shed her brothers destroyed. She had to scavenge through the boxes in her closet in order to find the blueprints she had drawn up the first time building it. There were others when the modifications came in, but she figured she could come up with a number of changes to previously determined ideas. Manual labor seemed painful to think about, but when it came to her privacy, she was willing to go there and farther.

Once outside, she merely stood at the scene of the piled remains of her shed, earning odd looks from across the garden. Arms crossed over her chest and eyebrows furrowed pensively, a mental calculation of every measurement necessary whizzed through her mind.

"You're up early."

Akiye grunted and looked over her shoulder to see her crimson-haired sister standing at the foot of the stairs leading up the verandah. She was still wearing her sleeping robes, but it was evident that she had already gone through her daily ablutions and taken the extra time to fix her hair into a bun.

She nodded and looked back to the decimation, having figured out a good portion what she would start first.

"I'll make breakfast for you," the older woman decided, leaving the screen door opened.

Akiye moved aside a few planks of wood. Some of them were chipped and scratched, other's burned and broken apart, but from time to time she came across the sort of wood she hoped to use to rebuild it. Those she would put aside for further inspection and the trash was thrown in a pile near the corner.

While digging out traces of her freelance work inside the piles, she heard footsteps approaching her way and stop. She lifted her gaze in that direction to see Naoto standing in nothing but his underpants scratching places he should have considered taking care of before walking outside. His white hair was messily made, done through a series of patting in order to get the small hairs from standing and dull eyes still showed the sleepiness she longed for.

"Morning Aki-tan," he greeted, following a yawn.

"Morning pervert," she replied, tossing aside more trash.

He frowned. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"You're a bigger pervert than I am," he accused.

"Don't lump me in with you." He mistook her curiosity for perversion and nothing she could do or say would make him realize it.

He stretched the silence between them by feigning interest and roaming around the garden for a while. He did few stretching exercises and a warm-up to get his adrenaline pumping for a training session he would partake in his division. She heard his punches as they ripped through the wind and occasionally looked up to see him kicking high.

"Your left hook is off."

Naoto stopped abruptly, regarding her with a blink. "H-huh?"

Akiye dropped a few metal pieces to her left, hearing them clank noisily against one another, and turned to her older brother. "Your left hook is approximately three point thirty-four seconds slower than it should be, even with the training you undergo daily," she pointed out. "Did you fracture it recently or something?"

"I slept on it," he said, opening and closing his left hand. "It's still numb."

She nodded, retracting her previous assumption and going back to digging things out.

Naoto had not moved. "Do you need help with anything? I've got time to kill."

"Nah."

Her brother continued his training for ten more minutes before going back into the house. By then she had already heard Kaito's voice from inside, and the scent of Tokiwa's cooking ventured her way. With a simple whiff, she was able to tell her sister had been carried away with the spices, which meant she was packing lunch for everyone.

"Fuck!" cried Kaito outrageously. "I fucking hate you all!"

"What's wrong with him?" asked Naoto.

"He refuses to have vegetables in his bento," answered Tokiwa.

Naoto chuckled.

They conversed lowly for a while and she was enjoying the silence.

"What're you drinking?" questioned Naoto. "It smells bad."

"You smell bad," Kaito replied snappishly.

"Tch."

"Kaito, don't get on your brother's nerves."

"He's getting on mine!"

Akiye had already messed up her routine calculations just listening to their senseless banter and arguments when she had no room to lose concentration. Her brow furrowed as she whipped around to see all three of them standing around in the kitchen still going on about Kaito's coffee.

"Shut up!" she shouted, drawing their attention. "You're getting on mine!"

There was a brief silence between them before all three scurried out of the kitchen to tend to their other morning rituals before leaving the house to work. If she had not been kicked out of Twelfth Division for that long agonizing while, she would have already been inside the Science Department, picking up where she left off in her experiments.

Instead, her equanimity as an intellectual was dwindling by day, spending time at home doing nothing and being lumped in with people she would rather not spend time with, like Hisagi Shuuhei. She never even considered spending time with anyone but the people who surrounded her—the lump that benefited her presence—because she was used to working overtime repairing broken zanpakutō for careless shinigami and running tests on subjects before Captain Kurotsuchi had time to get his hands on them. It was the best fun she had ever experienced, even if it meant being yelled at by her captain because she paid too much attention to the idiosyncrasies than making sure to get the job done properly.

With a forlorn sigh, she dug up the last boards, which were used to cover the larger room underneath the shed. She peered inside; meeting with darkness and an otherworldly scent that made her nose cringe with disgust.

"Shit, it went bad…"

She kicked aside the rubble that obstructed her vision and headed into the house. Upon entering through the back door, she surveyed the kitchen until she noticed a box of matches sitting on a counter. She swiped them and took them out with her, lighting one up before getting to the square on the ground.

She dropped it inside and waited for the flames to consume the remains of her hiding place. She intended to remodel everything and there were plenty of things down there she no longer needed.


After putting out the fire she jumped inside with her nose and mouth covered to begin cleaning out the underground room until her she decided to take her break. The walls lining the interior were fire resistant and proved to be the underground's best aspect, else she would have spent a lot more time cleaning than necessary. She swept through the ashes and cleared out the broken down furniture, saving the few pieces that were reusable in the future construction.

While rummaging through a pile of cinders and parts of a broken chair, her gaze was drawn to a glint of something lying among the trash. She blinked and noticed the light reflect on her glasses.

"Hmm."

She crouched down and scoured through the cinders, brushing her fingers against something sleek and silver. She pulled it up to eyelevel to look upon a silver pendant with a name engraved on the back of the decoration. The kanji was weathered away, melted onto itself because of the fire it overcame. "Where did you come from?"

She fiddled with it, slipping it between her fingers until she dropped it into her pockets. There would come a time when one of her brothers came looking for it, though she could be certain it didn't belong to Kaito.

She finished cleaning as well as she planned before heading back into her family home to take a well-deserved nap. She dropped down underneath the window in the living room, pulling one of the cushions under her head and shut her eyes. She nestled against the soft fabrics and breathed a sigh, curling up until finding comfort.

Too tired to acknowledge the things that had plagued her dreams, she was able to embrace slumber for a few hours. By the time she came around again, it was late afternoon and the only disruption now was her hunger. She rolled around for a good while until the feeling returned to the left side of her body and got off the tatami mats, sauntered into the small kitchen space in search for the breakfast bento her sister had kindly prepared. It was sitting on the counter with a small card with her name on it. Curiously propping the lid off, her nose wrinkled in disdain at the sight of the food: Sushizume. The square case was full of sushi for her to enjoy and choose from, except, she didn't like sushi.

Akiye sighed. Tokiwa got it wrong again.

She figured the older woman was in too much a hurry to realize she left the wrong lunch and now someone else was enjoy the wonderful food designated for her.

A loud growl disturbed the silence, causing her to moan with disapproval until she remembered having to drop by Ninth Division for the next part of Kurotsuchi's article. She had some basis as to what the next subject would be, but needed the rest of the files before she could consider starting. If she took care of that, she could easily go somewhere to grab a bite to eat.

She decided on that course of action, but on her way out her household decided to look down. She was a mess from head to toe, clothes stuck close to her perspired body with ash and dirt sullying her robe. She pulled her collar to her nose and took a whiff, quickly retracting and nearly gagging at the stench.

She jumped right back into her home and headed off to take a quick bath to scrub the muck off her, at least. It was enough to know everyone believed her to be strange, there was no need for them to confirm she smelled bad too. She headed towards the bathroom, only to stop a few feet short of entering when a different thought settled. If those norms knew I smelled bad, they would instinctively stay away and just leave me alone for the rest of my pitiful existence. Then, maybe I shouldn't take a bath, but I am going to Ninth Division…and I am gonna see that guy…never mind, I should.

She bolted inside, bustling out of her clothes after getting the water running. When she bent down to remove her socks, her glasses clattered onto the wooden floorboards.


Akiye arrived to the Editorial Department, sauntering by in an unwelcoming environment. The members of the division were still skeptical about her reason for visiting, and it would be a hard reality to digest she figured, all which looked her way in the most distrusting looks. All with the exception of those that took care of the Seireitei Communication, who were aware of the punishment she was complying with, some which were brave enough to greet her upon entering. Things were quite different from the first time she arrived, where the other shinigami wore sour expressions, these strangers smiled her way and complimented her ghostwriting abilities. She was commended in her ability, by people walking past her to say things like "Good job on that article," or "I enjoyed reading it very much," and the creepy, "I framed it." Okay, the last one was sweet delusion, but there was plenty of praise tossed her way like arrows to a target. She merely nodded her head as she moved further in to meet with their tattooed lieutenant about the next article. Normally, captains took care of greeting people from other divisions, but Captain Tōsen was currently out somewhere.

After wandering around like a fool for what seemed like hours, she stopped a woman on her way out. "Where's your lieutenant?"

The chubby woman smiled. "I loved your idea for Captain Kurotsuchi's article."

Her mouth dropped, believing the praise would stop once she arrived at the core of the building, but it only persisted. "Well, isn't much ghostwriting if everyone knows who's doing it, is it?"

She stared back at her sheepishly and held a hand over her mouth. "You're right, sorry, but the information doesn't manage to make its way out the building, so you're pretty—"

"What do you want?" asked a familiar young maiden.

Akiye watched the chubby girl turn, shudder, bow, and rush off to reveal the lovely Hibino standing by the doorway glaring at her. She pushed back her glasses, ignoring her, as she moved on but Hibino stepped in front of her, blocking the passage into the other room.

"What do you want?" she repeated coldly.

"Your blood?" answered Akiye, quirking an eyebrow.

"W-what?" she spluttered, taken aback.

"Don't worry 'bout it." Akiye shook her head, a hint of a smirk appearing on her lips as she held in her share of hysterics. Hibino's face was twisted in confusion once the idea registered and knowing her, she was possibly capable of anything. Akiye read past her discomfort and cut her some slack by going straight to the point. "I'm looking for your boyfriend."

"B-boyfriend?" The woman looked taken aback.

"That lieutenant of yours."

Hibino's cheeks flushed red. "He's not my boyfriend!"

Akiye smirked widely. "Okay then, where's that superior of yours?"

"He's not here," she stated strongly, regaining some color in her cheeks to bypass the mortification. Though it seemed obvious that she could only hope Akiye's statement would be right after a while. "You can just go back where you came from."

The bespectacled girl blinked. "I'm sorry, I can't seem ta do that," she answered smartly, "ya see, I don't remember—"

Hibino stared at her blankly before roughly turning her around and showing her the way out. "No one asked you, so get out!"

Akiye winced at the feel of someone else touching her—leading her to the end of the hall. "I hope your hands're clean."

Hibino scoffed. "You're so annoying!"

She humored her until she was pushed out the doorway and another person emerged from behind them.

"What's going on here?"

Hibino dropped her hold on Akiye and turned around rather nervously. "N-nothing!"

Akiye glanced over her shoulder to see the lieutenant that was supposedly not there, but obviously present. His eyes went from Hibino to situating on Akiye's smaller form.

"I was kicked out," she said bluntly.

Shuuhei shot a disapproving look to the brown-haired woman. "Hibino-san…"

"She was being rude to me, I had no—"

"Yeah, I called her a whore," Akiye interjected, pocketing both hands with a smile on her face.

Shuuhei sighed, dismissing Hibino with a quick gesture, but she stood there reluctantly. "Hibino-san," he pressed until she conceded and rushed off. He looked at the raven-haired woman, the same disappointed look now directed at her. "Kurogane-san, you shouldn't come here to upset people, or I'll have to ask you to leave."

"What makes you think I came to do jus' that?" She frowned, turning her face away from him having to see her do so. "Besides she's the one that kicked me out."

"And, what did you do to make her do that?" he asked.

It seemed as though he was treating her like a child and her frown grew deeper for a second before turning into a childish smile as she turned back to the tall man. "I called her a whore," she chimed. "It aint that bad. I could have done so much worse."

He blinked, shook his head and forced the smile forming over his lips to vanish. He looked down at her as serious as possible. "Then it was in her right, you should refrain from calling people names so carelessly, Kurogane-san," he continued sternly. She nodded mockingly as her went on about how horrible it must feel for the person being called that, even going so far as to asking her, "How would you feel if someone called you that?"

"I think I get called a heap of things 'lot worse than whore and I aint complaining," she replied. "I mean, four-eyes, curly—I won't even go into detail on the more explicit—"

He shook his head, cutting her off. "That's not what I mean?"

She scooted closer to him and elbowed his arm jokingly. "Then whatcha mean?"

"Nothing, forget it," he said quickly and breathed a sigh. "You must be here for something, right?"

"Oh yeah, see I need the rest of the files in order to finish that article," she stated.

"Okay, follow me."

Shuuhei turned down the hall and she followed suit, entering the larger room and glancing around to notice Hibino shooting a deathly glare her way. She merely smiled and waved as the two entered a smaller room and Shuuhei closed the door behind her. The look of jealously spread across her face was a brighter light to her day, her insides squirmed with immeasurable, sick joy from having to see her eyes glint with a tinge of longing.

He walked around a small desk piled up with different stacks of paper that required proper organization. He reached into one of the many drawers behind the desk for old records to pull out a folder she recognized from the first time and placed it on top the shortest stack. "That should be all you'll need," he said. "Again, you can do it anyway you want, as long as it's original and meets requirements."

"Anything?" she asked, smiling.

He moved a few stacks to the side, gaze lifting to meet hers shortly. "So long as it's appropriate."

She arched an eyebrow. "Are you saying I'm capable of writing something inappropriate, Hisagi Shuuhei?"

He shrugged his shoulders with a smile as he pulled out the seat and plopped down.

Akiye walked closer to the desk and took the file, rocking back and forth on her heels as she looked at its contents to make sure everything was present. She could still feel his eyes on her and when she glanced up over the frame of her glasses, she noticed his expression was different from normal. She tensed up, eluding her thoughts away from categorizing what that look met, though it was obvious.

She slapped the folder shut noisily to get his eyes back to her face. "Okay, thank you," she said quickly. "I should be off…"

"Have a good day, Kurogane-san."

She nodded, dropping her head slightly when her cheeks burned with embarrassment. She thought about it. "Yeah, you…" she trailed off, walking backwards to the exit, "and vice versa." Her back hit the door and she jolted, turning around to reach for the handle.

"Are you busy?" he asked suddenly.

She stopped. "Ah, no, not right now."

"Would you mind staying a while?"

Oh, what the—? She vented her pink cheeks with the folder at hand. "What for?" she coughed out.

She heard the rustling of his clothes after he shrugged. "Only if you want."

Akiye moved to the nearest seat, a chair sitting underneath the window in his view and quickly sat, keeping her face down until the coloring in her cheeks went away. "Don't you have like work to do?"

Shuuhei leaned back in his chair, looking up to conceal his own blush. He believed his approach might have been too abrupt especially because she was on her way out, but it slipped. "I'm on break, besides, I already finished all my assignments for today."

She puffed out her cheeks, feeling the heat drop to normal, before facing him to see he was slouching in his seat, very different from what she expected out of him. He was on break; it allowed him enough time to slack off a bit, considering how hard he worked.

She smirked cynically when his gaze met hers again and she caught a tinge of red in his cheeks. "You're so able, Hisagi Shuuhei."

"Don't laugh."

She snorted. "Right."

"Kurogane-san…"

A giggle escaped her lips, but it only happened because he asked her not to laugh. "Okay, okay, there..." Her body shook as she held it in, "pfft—let's change the subject!"

He chuckled. "What do you do on your time off?" he asked quickly, not referring to Iko, of course. He wanted more of her pastimes than her other job.

She twisted her lips and leaned back in her seat, holding the folder in between her arms snugly. "Are you interested in joining me?"

He laughed nervously, turning his face away as he did so where she could easily daydream of how much greater his profile would be were it not for the inkiness of it. She averted her gaze.

"Well?"

He looked back to her face. "Are you inviting me?"

Her cheeks flushed a light pink as she walked into her own trap and she took the initiative. "Only if you're free tonight…"

He smirked. "I am."

She mentally slapped herself for inadvertently asking him out with that audacity. She was burning in her own hell. She knew it. Else there would be no reason for her to even do something as careless as spending so much time with the man, disregarding the temptation it presented—if only to see Hibino's jealous face. And the realization did very little to her decision.

"Is that a yes?" She arched an eyebrow, a playful smile playing on her lips.

He leaned into his desk and nodded. "It's a yes."

"All right then," she said. "When you get outta work meet me at Raven, it's a confectionary shop west from here. Have you heard of it? I can draw you a map."

"I can manage, thank you."

"Okay."

"Set a time, I'm punctual if that's what you're worried about."

She shook her head. "No, just meet me when you get off work."

"I don't want to make you wait too long."

"I don't mind it."

"I do."

Her heart palpitated slightly. "You don't have to; I can be there a few seconds after you if it'll make you feel better."

He laughed lightly and dropped his head a bit. "Yes, that'll make me feel better."

"Okay."

"So, where are you taking me?"

"I'm not sure yet." She looked down at the folder in her lap. "I hope you don't mind not knowing. It would certainly bother me."

He laughed, again, lifting his head up. "I'll look forward to it."

"Good, you should."

There was a brief silence and she reclined the chair to pass the awkwardness away. She waited for him to say something before she forced something out of her mouth. Then again, she hardly had anything to say after that conversation and got out of her seat.

"Are you leaving already?" he asked.

"I forgot I promised to visit Kai…and I just can't leave him hanging," she lied, crossing the distance to the entrance and sliding it open.

"Okay, I'll see you after work."

"Yeah," she muttered, heading out the door.