Hello everyone! Oh my God, it's been loong hasn't it? I am terribly sorry for that, but I had to take a gap year after my first year, and I had my beautiful son, Arthur :) I suppose that should explain my absence. He;s eight months old and takes up all my time! We still live with my parents, which helps haha! Anyway, they've taken him out this afternoon, and I was looking at my fanfic account and all the stories I have on here, and I decided I would not let Life without Logic die, and so here I am gracing you with this new chapter! I so hope I haven't lost any readers! Please, please, pleeeease review and let me know you have not left me! :(
As always I do not own Bleach, I only own Ai, Saki and Yumi.
"It will not take much force to knock this door down, I had been under Yoruichi-taichou's teaching once you know," Ai spoke in a nonchalant voice; all the while the temperature of the room contradicted her words, and her eyes. Oh, her eyes, they were bright frozen emeralds, showing just how much contempt she felt for whatever ideas the pair of fukutaichou had for her.
Mashiro looked nervously to Lisa, Ai had learned vigorously under the supervision of Yoruichi, and that in-turn meant she was well inept to the art of Hadou and Ho-Ho, otherwise known as hand-to-hand combat, although she was still training to perfect her shunpo. Lisa just pushed her glasses up slightly with a small smirk on her face, "Oh but Ai-chan, you remember that deal we made all those years ago do you not?"
Ai's memory clicked almost immediately, although you could not tell by looking at her face since it was unchanging; she knew exactly what she was talking about, while Mashiro just looked utterly confused, she scratched her green head, a pout on her face at not understanding what they were talking about.
"Why do you insist so incessantly that I dress in such a vulgar manner, Yadomaru-san?"
"Because my dear Ai-chaaaaan~, it gives you a chance to show off your… Assets," she spoke with a wink. Ai could honestly say she had never been so disgusted in her life.
Ai knew she would have to give in, she knew it, and Lisa very well knew it. You see, a few decades ago, when Ai was a slightly younger teenager, and just developing her breasts, Lisa would never miss an opportunity to dress Ai up in the most scandalous of 'underwear', and Ai wanted to put a stop to this immediately. Lisa told her she would only she would stop if Ai finally found a lover and gave Lisa full reigns over what she wore for that first date.
Ai wasn't going on a date though.
"Before you go thinking that you are not going on a date today so that must mean your free, well you are sorely wrong, I have already told mister hot-shot to pick you up at six o'clock, he sounded quite excited actually, he already had somewhere in mind to take you,"
Ai suppressed a groan. Since when, may she ask, did Lisa decide she was in charge of Ai's love life?
If there was one thing that annoyed Ai the most, it was when people decided to make themselves involved in her business. Screw the deal, of course she wanted to have a nice and proper date with Kisuke, but she wanted to do it on her terms, she was not one for surprises, and it is highly likely that she would not accept a date from Kisuke if he decided to spring it on her out of the blue.
Well, that was what she thought anyway.
Ai turned her back on her friends, facing the door once again, her raven hair swaying in its hair tie, her anger and distress oozed reitsu from her pores, immediately having Lisa and Mashiro stiffen at the abrupt change in temperature in the room, they were sure it was below freezing.
"I am afraid we will have to a put a hold on that deal, Yadomaru-san," she said, and instead of punching through the door as she had originally planned, she noticed a window to her right slightly open, and, as much as she wanted to in that moment, she decided it be more polite to not cause damage to the fukutaichou's living quarters.
She leapt through it before Mashiro could stop her, but as she took the first step, Lisa placed a hand on her should, with a soft smile on her face, "Lisa-chan?"
"Urahara-taichou really is changing Ai, and for the better,"
A frown creased Mashiro's delicate green eyebrows, "What do you mean, Lisa-chan?"
"Didn't you feel that? That was Ai's anger, something I had never experienced before, it was literally oozing from her pores in reitsu, she usually has the best control over her emotions, and consequently, her reitsu…"
"And you didn't care about that 'deal' at all, you just wanted to see if you could get a reaction out of Ai-chan, because usually she's so cold and distant, you were testing how much she has changed, if she has changed at all…?" Mashiro may act and look stupid at the best of times, but she could be really quick if she wanted to be, and this was one of those times, well when it came to her friends at least.
"Exactly," Lisa nodded her head, and a resolute expression claimed her face, "Ai-chan will calm down, she will bump into Urahara-san before the day ends, and I am pretty sure that when she realises just how excited he is about taking her out on a date, she will not be able to find it in her to refuse,"
"But how do you know that, Lisa-chan?"
Lisa turned her head to look Mashiro dead in the eye, and her shining blue orbs gazed into her own hazel ones softly, "Because, isn't it obvious Mashiro-chan? She is in love with him, more than we know, and love can really change a person,"
Lisa had been right about one thing, Ai did eventually manage to calm down, it was strange, it was just like when she had felt that split second rage well within her when she had told Shinji of her feelings for her captain. It left her as quickly as it had come, and she felt strangely exhausted, as if that strong emotion had taken a toll on her. She hadn't felt anything like that in… Hell, she could not even remember ever being angry in her life.
She sighed as she sat beneath her favourite overgrown cherry blossom tree, leaning her back and head against the bark, she had one leg outstretched while her right knee was pulled up and her arm was resting on it. She closed her eyes as she became thoughtful.
Why is this happening to me? I thought I had everything locked up tightly.
Ai thought she had wrapped her mind up around what was going on within her, but really she still so clueless, she just could not find any logical reason behind this inner turmoil, a simple thought of that shaggy haired captain, and she would be so overcome with… Well she didn't know what it was really, her heart would pound harshly in her chest, she knew her temperature would rise, and become flushed, she had thought it just be simple desire or even lust, but then, the immediate reaction would fade leaving a small smile in its wake, and had there ever been anyone to see her they in that state they would see the softening of her eyes.
She knew it was 'love' but she felt so unprepared for such a strong emotion that it made her feel like a child attending her first day of school.
She thought back to the day before, when she had woken up that morning with Kisuke's strong, but gentle, arms, after declaring her innermost feelings the night before, she had never felt so content, so calm, so free… of worries, of work, of life.
Then a spark went off in her head, and thinking of yesterday reminded her of a particular scene she had witnessed the evening of that same day.
Pushing her confusing thoughts of emotions and nonsense, she headed off to the dining hall.
The third seat just so happened to make it to the dining hall on time, she still had a few hours until lunch would be served, and this was usually the time she would come to the hall for a snack, but at that moment there was a matter she needed to discuss with a certain cook.
Actually, now that Ai thought about it, she had never had a real conversation with Saki, sure when she collected her food they would make idle chatter, ask how their days were going and the like, but never had they really talked. Ai could honestly say she did not know a thing about Saki, what went on in that mind of hers, what she liked, what she disliked, of course she knew of her past, how she had gone to the academy with her parents and uncle Shunsui… Nothing further than that though. With these thoughts came questions, which squad had she been in? Which seat? Why did she decide to quit as a shinigami and become a cook instead?
Ai took a deep breath, cleared her thoughts, and decided that then was as good a time as any, maybe she could get some insight into her mother hen?
