Impertinent little brat
Chapter 10: "I see."
"I have a sister." Byakuya repeated with something akin to awe. It was a statement that seemed so impossible, almost ludicrous, to him that he couldn't quite wrap his mind around it. He had always been an only child, always alone and kept apart from any other child that may cross his path at the Kuchiki house. Children would get dirty while playing, his grandfather had reminded him, and the heir of the Kuchiki clan could not afford such a faux pas.
And now suddenly he had a sister.
He wondered how old she was.
Surely much younger than he. Or… younger than he apparently was supposed to be? Maybe she was much older than he was now. How old was he supposed to be anyway? He found it odd that he hadn't thought to ask Ukitake-san when the captain had explained the situation to him. An unforgivable slip in common sense, he berated himself sternly. He needed to know all there was to know.
"Yep." Yoruichi nodded. She was eying him curiously from across the table at the dingy restaurant, as if trying to measure his reaction. "Rukia. She's a shinigami too. From Ukitake-san's division."
"I see." He didn't know what else to say. He wasn't certain how he felt about suddenly being inflicted with a sister he didn't know. Forcing down the urge to bite his lip in a most undignified manner that would make Renji proud he contemplated this new revelation before coming to a decision. When he spoke he made certain to keep his voice cool. "And how did I come about gaining a sister?"
"You adopted her." The woman replied. Then seemed to consider something herself before continuing in a much softer voice. "She was your wife's sister."
His eyes widened. Wife? And then that other word pressed into his mind and despite knowing that he had not misheard her or misunderstood her in anyway he couldn't keep his lips from forming the words. "Was?"
Yoruichi nodded.
"I see." It was rather considerate of Yoruichi to let him dine before telling him of these… events, he figured. Otherwise he doubted that he'd have an appetite.
From the corner of his eye he numbly noted that the dark skinned woman made a movement and her hand reached for him. It hesitated in mid-air, and then she tried to disguise the movement by running her hand through her hair. Had she been thinking of touching him? Consoling him? Perhaps… but as always it seemed that that pristine noble blood halted her from lowering herself like that. Not even Yoruichi Shihoin was entirely immune to it, no matter what she said
Any other time he might have found it funny.
"Come on." Yoruichi said and abruptly stood up as if shaking off an uncomfortable feeling. "Let's get back, Bya-bo. I bet Renji-kun is chewing through the carpet in worry as we speak."
"What does it matter to me what that baboon-fool does or does not?"
Ukitake-taichou had advised him to go home to wait for the brat and that damned cat to get back, so he had told Rikichi to take over the division for the day. He had even done as told and gone back to his apartment; had paced back and forth on the living room floor for a while, tried to sit down and relax with a cup of coffee before he started pacing again, until he couldn't take it anymore and bolted for the door.
He'd find his cap'n himself, dammit! What kind of fukutaichou would he be if he couldn't even track down his own pintsized captain? That damned first round didn't count.
Renji wasn't home.
Byakuya wondered why that fact made him feel so… disappointed. He found that he wanted to… what? Speak to the baboon? What good would that do? He sneered at himself. What good could come out of that course mouth?
Yet the apartment felt oddly deserted and cold now, and he soon found that he had difficulty settling down. He needed to do something, he needed to move, get some answers to the questions he couldn't bring himself to utter to Yoruichi Shihoin. Would she have answered them? Yes, he decided. She would. Had he only asked.
But he couldn't lower himself in her eyes… no, she wouldn't have held it against him, he admitted… he just couldn't lower himself in his own eyes like that.
So then what?
What should he do?
"Rukia." He voiced her name aloud for the first time. It was a fine name he decided with some distant sense of approval.
He wanted to see her. He had to see her. Who was the girl he had adopted as a sister? The sister to his… late wife?
She was of Ukitake-san's division so he assumed she should be there. Nodding to himself he opened the door to the apartment and flashstepped towards the division.
Another day spent with Akihiko and she was certain that she would go mad. Not because her brother's cousin was particularly maddening if viewed from anyone else's perspective; on the contrary he was the epitome of false politeness and empty smiles. Neither of which was traceable on his pretty, noble face. But she knew. And it drove her mad to not be able to confront the bastard.
"Why, Rukia-chan, you seem distracted today." He falsely polite and unwelcome company commented and continued to eat the rich food dished out for them. They were sitting outside near her brother's sakura trees.
"Not at all, Akihiko-sama." She replied and tried to force an equally convincing and false smile onto her own lips. She didn't think she succeeded. "I was just enjoying the food."
"I see."
Those words. How many times had she heard them coming from her brother? She had come to realise that when spoken in noble company those words could mean anything between a simple 'yes' or 'no' to something different entirely.
"Have you had word on when we should expect your brother's return?" the question was asked nonchalantly, but she knew it was anything but.
"Not yet, Akihiko-sama. Sometimes Yamamoto-taichou's missions take time."
"I see."
Again those words. Was this an omen?
Byakuya made an abrupt halt on the roof of one of the division thirteenth's buildings and gazed down at the small yard that was placed like an oasis in the midst of it. He had come here once before after Renji had told him about his grandfather and Ukitake-san had sat him down and talked to him. Explained things.
It seemed that the captain had failed to explain all things. Had the man wanted to keep his sister a secret? Was she perhaps that great a shame to his division? Or was she terribly unsightly?
"Hey, you!" a loud voice yelled at him, and Byakuya coldly redirected his gaze towards the man standing directly below him. It was a rather big man, clad in the shinigami uniform though it hardly looked standard as he also wore a white headband and shoulder straps. Another brute. "Get down from Ukitake-taichou's roof, you little scoundrel!"
"And if I do not?" Byakuya asked and raised an eyebrow. Certainly the fool should know better than to address him in such a manner. Otherwise he'd just have to teach him.
The man seemed taken aback for a moment and then an angry flush rose on his face. "Or I'll take you down myself!"
Byakuya wasn't sure he kept the smirk from showing on his face. "Will you now?"
The man's face darkened in anger. When he flashstepped Byakuya almost found it laughable how easy it was to avoid him. A quick step to the right was enough.
Slowly the man turned back around to glare at him.
"You stay right there." He said and held up his hands in front of him as if trying to zone in on Byakuya who merely raised his eyebrow in reply. Was the man serious? "Right… there!"
Again he leaped at him and Byakuya lazily sidestepped. He felt like giggling. This was too easy.
"Alright… I see now." The man muttered and squinted at him.
Another leap and another sidestep.
The man's shunpo was beyond atrocious.
He didn't keep track of how many times they repeated this procedure before the noble grew bored and reminded himself that he had better things to do; so when the man once more leaped at him he jumped down from the roof and landed on the ground. He heard a cuss behind him, followed by a loud crash when the shinigami found himself grasping at thin air and fell on his face on the ground behind Byakuya.
Turning around to witness the disgrace he rolled his eyes.
"Hah! You… I got… you down… from there…!" the man panted in triumph as he picked himself up from the ground.
"Hardly. I decided to come down on my own accord. That decision had nothing to do with you or your messy shunpo." He replied and turned to leave the sweaty and out of breath man to his own inane device.
"Hey!" The brute yelled again. "Where… where do… you think you're going…"
Byakuya didn't bother to look back at the man. He could barely catch a breath as it was, and his slow shunpo was no threat to him. "I have business here."
"Wha… what… kinda business?"
A thought struck Byakuya then. He had no idea of what this Rukia looked like; it would be beneficial to him if he had someone pointing her out to him. "I'm here to meet Rukia Kuchiki."
"Hah, tough… luck… she's not here today."
That stopped Byakuya in his tracks. He hadn't taken into account that she might not be here. Wasn't shinigami supposed work? So far few of the ones he'd met seemed to get any work done at all. Obviously they needed someone to make sure that they did what they were supposed to.
He was so preoccupied with that thought that he didn't notice the pause in the other man's heavy panting.
"Hey… you… wait a sec…!"
Too late he realised that there were recognition in the man's voice and without looking back he flashstepped away, hearing a last yell of "Wait!" before he was well out of earshot.
Damn…! That man had recognised him. He knew that he had. No one was supposed to know; he berated himself and cussed the fool man as he ran back toward the apartment. He was being a hot headed fool, just as his grandfather had said many times. He had to retreat, consider the situation and act accordingly, not run around like a child fresh out of…!
Crack!
Was that his jaw breaking? The thought ran though his head even as he felt himself hurled through the air before slamming into the roof tiles with enough force to knock the breath out of his lungs. Coughing he tried to draw air into his lungs and scrambled desperately to get back up, but his limbs suddenly felt weak and didn't cooperate.
"There you are. We've had a mighty fine time trying to get a tête-à-tête with you, little rabbit."
Forcing his head up Byakuya came face to face with tall, slim man dressed in common, slightly tattered clothes. His face was hidden behind a black mask which he knew all too well. Assassin.
Byakuya's hands clenched and he forced himself to focus on the pain in his hands rather than the fire burning in his lungs. Breathe. That was all he had to do. He couldn't run unless he could breathe.
"Seems he surrounds himself with strong friends." Another voice chimed in casually and his head was yanked back by his hair. Air filled his lungs when his gasp of pain made them work again but now he was trapped by the other assassin's strong grip. "Only weak brats depend on others to protect them." The man who was yanking on his hair said, and Byakuya had the impression that he was sneering although he couldn't tell since his face was covered as well. "Didn't you know?"
"He's just a rabbit not a lion. Cut him some slack." The first assassin said mildly. "All learn in good time. Too bad yours is out, rabbit. I'd dare say you may have made a mighty fine lion one day."
"So… kill him?"
"We are assassins."
"You wanna do it?"
"Why don't you do the honours? I did get the one prior." The first one replied lazily.
"That's nice of you."
"Fair is fair."
The man holding his hair scoffed, and again tugged at Byakuya's hair hard until his head was bent back as far as it could go without breaking his neck. Cold steel touched his throat and the breath caught in his throat.
"Let's cut that lilywhite noble throat then."
Byakuya grit his teeth and his hands came up to grasp the hand that was holding the blade to his throat. He heard a laugh but he wasn't sure which one of the men found his struggle amusing.
"Seems the rabbit isn't ready to admit defeat." It had to have been the first man who laughed then. The other one growled.
"Ready or not doesn't matter. Death comes no matter what." He spat down at Byakuya and the blade pressed tighter against his throat. He felt something warm running down his throat and he knew he was bleeding.
Dammit! He was bleeding! How dare they make him bleed? A sudden rage rushed through him and there was a flash. For a second he could've sworn he heard another voice somewhere distant and he wondered who it was, but the next second his head collided with the roof tiles and he blinked. Something pink fluttered in front of his eyes and he reached up to grasp it, but when he made to grab it disappeared.
The two assassins were standing some distance away. One as unharmed as before while the other bled from various cuts. They were both gazing at him, one in cold calculation and the other in anger.
"Seems the rabbit is a lion cub after all." The unharmed one commented slowly.
"Fuck it! Whatever the hell he is I'll make a stew out of him!" the other growled and ran towards Byakuya again. "You hear that, you little bastard? I'll fucking eat you for dinner!"
Run. Was that his own thought or that distant voice again? Regardless Byakuya wasn't going to argue and he scrambled up and flashstepped.
The moment his feet made contact with the tiles of another roof he felt his knees buckle and he stumbled. Why did he feel so drained? He caught himself from falling with his hand, and briskly told himself to stop asking questions he couldn't answer. He had to run. Gritting his teeth he forced himself back up, ignored the fact that his knees felt like wet noodles and ran.
They were chasing him. He could feel them behind him, nowhere near as far away as he'd have wanted them, and he pushed his legs to go faster. Ignored the pain and fatigue.
He sensed rather than saw the attack and he dove to the side, barely avoiding the blade. Again he stumbled and cursed the sudden and overpowering weakness that made him so slow.
"Gotcha!" the man roared and dove at him. A bloodstained knife gleamed in his hand as he descended, and once more Byakuya felt that force rush through him.
This time he saw it. The pink he could not yet put a name on. It rose up around him like a cocoon and rushed at the assassin.
There was a shriek that cut through the air like a razor when the pink… force… tore through the man as if he was made of tofu. Blood splattered on the roof and the man fell to a heap of useless meat and bones. Had he just…? Did he kill that man just now? He forced himself to stand, gathering himself to jump, but before he managed to take another step he felt someone grabbing him from behind.
Then he gasped but the air wouldn't go down in his lungs, the sharp pain in his back kept it at bay. His knees buckled and he fell back into a pair of strong arms.
"Perhaps not a rabbit…" a voice hissed in his ear. "…but yet a mere cub nevertheless."
Blood filled Byakuya's mouth and he coughed. Felt it running down his chin as his head fell forward like that of a ragdoll's.
Oh… damn…
He thought the man was still speaking but he could no longer hear the words. He felt the grip on him loosen, felt the man push him off the roof and then he had a brief, yet never ending feeling of falling though open air before he slammed into the ground.
TBC