A Kuchiki Affair
Ruka walked to her captain's office with a tired swagger and a sore foot, insignificant battle scars for any shinigami but she'd received them from two of her colleagues so she'd keep mum on the embarrassment. Her blue eyes surveyed the reports a last minute check to deem them worthy of disclosing before knocking on the door. Her day at the second division had been an easy one for the restless Ruka as it mostly consisted of watching the fierce captain train mercilessly, her lazy lieutenant eat (and eat some more), and asking about recent changes in the division and Seireitei itself. The captain-commander had definitely brought a new change throughout the past three years to further unit cohesion between all of the divisions to prevent future disasters to the Soul Society. But mostly, it was just watching Suì-Fēng open a can of whoop ass on everyone and that could entertain Ruka for hours on end. That is, until she decided to use her as a punching bag which would cause Ruka to retreat back into the safety of her division.
The third division would be next on her itinerary and she wondered whether Captain Abarai would do the same to his subordinates, given the rumors of his short-fuse. She didn't mind one bit since her own captain was quite level-headed for one so young but as long Abarai didn't unwillingly drag her into a training session, it would be fine. Her zanpakuto was an elemental and could be fierce during the heat of battle, once she kicked him awake to take part in one. Her quickest way was to call him an 'old soul' since it irked him to be called as such due to his graceful easygoing nature but either way, it never failed. She'd briefly met Renji Abarai during her previous visits when he'd served as Byakuya's lieutenant and the young man practically walked on jagged glass shards every time he was in the noble's presence. She'd never have imagined him Byakuya's pick in lieutenancy due to the rough edges but the man was a determined soul which is why Ruka had nodded off happily to her friend when it came to picking him (she'd used gas bombs to escape being asked herself).
For a younger man, I still got to say he's pretty darn hot, she thought impishly about the tattooed man and loved teasing the Kuchiki heir about it just to ruffle his feathers.
"Come in, lieutenant" her captain answered from inside while she smoothed out any wrinkles in her uniform to appear presentable as always and opened the door slowly to step in. Polite as always, Ruka gave a small bow to her captain before placing her reports on his desk with a faint smile to maintain friendly professionalism. During her station with the seventh division, she could casually pop in to deliver reports to the captain without appointment but her reign of endless travel and home with the Komamura's squad had ended. Now, she adhered to the rules of the Seireitei and followed decorum to make sure her honor wasn't sullied by her own actions.
"Here are the reports from my second division experience, lieutenant's meeting, and the new recruits sorting into their quadrant squads" she informed evenly with a smile, happy she was done for the day and could wander off to spend the rest of her time doing things she liked. Also, she needed to wash up before meeting Byakuya at his estate or risk his blood freezing stare for appearing less than appropriate. Then again, if she had an entire group of handmaids to help dress her, she'd be set like him but she dressed herself (there was no way she was changing in front of people). Clasping her hands neatly behind her back, she piped up hopefully, "If there isn't anything else, I'd like to sign out and head to a prior engagement."
Shūhei nodded with satisfaction as he skimmed through the concise written reports, catching glimpses of her thorough handwriting as she didn't skip on being descriptive. His pile of paperwork was gradually disappearing with the passing days as she took bundles to work through them in her office since keeping the division efficient was imperative and he was impressed. The ninth division was a specialty field and Shūhei could not fail his newest position after trying to keep it together since Tousen's betrayal more than a decade ago. He was definitely glad to have her at his side and reminded himself to send a nice gift basket to captain Komamura as thanks for the suggestion. Setting the papers in his tray designated for finished work, he dismissed Ruka for the evening and advised kindly, "Your work is perfect as always, Ruka. However, I would like to see you spend more time here. You haven't been at dinner lately and I can only assume you've been at the seventh division."
Busted, she thought miserably at having her little secret discovered since grabbing food and flash stepping away wouldn't have sufficed for long before rumors started. She'd been splitting her dinner meals with her uncles and Sajin to prevent the awkwardness of being the new kid on the block. It was natural for shinigami to be cautious of newcomers in high rank due to past incidents but she'd been in the thirteen court guard squads for over a century and held extreme loyalty to the Sereitei (ugh, Aizen totally ruined it for them). She'd been a child of shinigami parents herself so her exposure began the moment of her birth, leaving little dedication to anything else as she'd watched her parents leave for missions during childhood and come back with stories. . .she missed those. Unfortunately, she'd been stamped as the oddball by most in ninth but she'd yet to think of a plan of how to change that.
"Sir, with all due respect, I still feel out of place here but I am trying my best" she answered calmly but felt the twinges of anxiety biting at her heart because being in trouble was unacceptable to the law abiding part of her. She could loophole her way out of the rules after decades of extensive reading but a chance to prevent disappointment would always take priority; she lived for the Seireitei. Her superior was the last person she would hide her problems from as conflicts of interest were to be annihilated and Ruka sighed softly to explain her reasoning, "I am trying to include myself in division nine activities but I've had a way of doing things on my own for a century due to my international relations station. I've been a lone wolf for decades, traveling through Soul Society under Komamura's command and haven't made many permanent bonds with shinigami here due to that. However, I'm a fast learner and will adapt to my new squad mates but sometimes. . .social interactions can be a little. . .tough."
"Meeting new people is hard, I will admit, and if it makes it easier for you, you can sit next to me during meal times to build your courage" her captain said softly to encourage her attempts and she nodded quietly to the suggestion. She didn't have many people to sit by without feeling uncomfortable because most had her feeling alienated within minutes and wondered if she was naturally repelling them like two negatively charged reishi particles. Her hope rested with the captain's kind offer since she had to make them see she was their second in command, a person they could depend on, or the respect would fall into the crapper.
"I will, sir, but I have to meet a friend tonight for dinner" she agreed gratefully with a sheepish smile since saying no to the sixth captain would not bode well but Shūhei dismissed her with a friendly wave of the hand. She bowed once more in respect and began to turn around until she remembered a recent discovery on her way to the captain's office. Ruka had never considered herself a very lucky person since burning your hair off was a prime example but she always found odd knickknacks for herself or others. Digging into her uniform's sleeve pocket, she produced a scrap of paper and handed it to her captain with a perky smile as she informed enthusiastically, "I found this coupon on the floor on my way here. I'm not much of a drinker but Rangiku says this is a good place to get 'drunk off your ass'- pardon the language."
Her eyebrows shot up as she remembered another tidbit and added in quickly, "Oh, and the Vienna sausage package I ordered from Germany's Seireitei will be here tomorrow and I will handle it personally."
He couldn't help but chuckle to her friendly nature as it was all he'd seen since her arrival and wondered why she was having a difficult time fitting in. Heck, she'd managed to find his favorite food from its direct homeland with her connections so he wouldn't complain. He would have to sit her down tomorrow to eat with their division in the mess hall before people started to think she was deserting them. Either way, he grabbed the coupon for a free beer after being strapped for cash this past month and smiled graciously, "Thank you, Ruka. I will use this off-duty."
"Or on duty, I don't mind covering for you- I've seen Nanao do it more than once for my uncle" she grinned cheekily to her uncle's laidback nature with his division and wondered if Nanao indeed was the toughest worker there. She'd actually prodded her playfully to transfer as Byakuya's second when Renji Abarai was promoted due to her strict work ethics but it only earned Ruka a hard hit on the head with her fat book.
"Your estate is rather far from my new squad" Ruka pointed out breathlessly after cheerfully greeting him, quickly trying to brush stray strands of damp hair behind her ears. She was dressed in a simple lilac komon kimono as the Kyōraku emblem decorated the sleeves to show that she hadn't lost her touch at appearing half-decent for a friendly dinner. A shower took care of the daily smell from training too so that did wonders for her after today's lengthy wanderings, especially if uppity nobles were wandering the estate. It was plainly obvious to the sixth captain that she'd sped through getting ready since she was a stickler for being early, whether ready or not. He didn't know whether having her late and prepared was better but kept the comment to himself.
Byakuya, however, had remained in his captain's garb for the evening and she assumed he had work to do afterwards. If she had any energy left after her excursions, she'd have done the same but no- she actually yearned for her bed tonight. Suì-Fēng ran her division strictly and Ruka's playful nature had no place there, which brought her extreme happiness at seeing her old friend. He might show the emotional capacity of a rock but he was the best at keeping her on her toes during conversation, allowing her to escape away from life's troubles. Smoothing out her kimono's sleeves, she grinned ecstatically and piped up proudly, "See? I dressed up to look normal for once in my life. . .ugh, I miss my comfy uniform."
This is normal?, Byakuya almost found himself speaking aloud but spared his friend's femininity since she avoided noble attire unless in his presence or her family's. If his elders had been present, he'd be justifying her simple and sloppy appearance to her military work while most likely being lectured why he maintained a friendship. Being a clan leader included the arena of politics and continuing its future dominance but he stoically indulged by keeping worthy friendships, regardless of a person's status in the aristocracy. Besides, it wasn't against the law of the Seireitei and therefore, legally allowed. Although her choice in kimono was fine, the layers were uneven at the neckline and her hair was damp while being left without style at the nape of her neck. He blamed this on her recent encounter with fire while abroad and wondered who was the idiot whom allowed her to wield it in the first place- Ruka shouldn't be near anything flammable, it just didn't end well for anyone.
"Ruka, setting your hair on fire gives no excuse for a lack of styling it" he lectured simply as she abandoned fixing her short brown hair, longing for long hair to brush. Hmm, maybe she could sneak behind Byakuya and brush his? He'd kept his black tresses at shoulder length for the past years in similar fashion to his father but they still surpassed her chin-length hair, cursing her failed experiment. She smoothed the ends of her hair but they refused to budge, remaining curly on end and she frowned to her stubborn tresses. First, they refused to curl and now, they were! Why couldn't she have stick straight hair like Byakuya? Her uncle had humorously told her that his own hair started out straight during his youth but eventually became wavy and untamable; it wasn't a welcome thought to poor Ruka.
He frowned slightly to her not so subtle attempts to brush through her strands and decided that next time, he wanted her presentable so she'd be the one making dinner. She tried to nonchalantly whistle her way out of it with a cheerful tune but he wasn't buying it and sighed disappointedly, "Ruka, must I do everything for you?"
Digging into the pocket of her right sleeve, his assumption was correct when he found a hair comb hidden within. Brushing back her damp hair to tuck it behind her ears, he rolled her short strands into a small French twist at the middle of her head and stuck the comb into it to tie it all together. She frowned to having her hair styled by one of her best friends, not to mention the Kuchiki heir, and she murmured a meek thank you. This wasn't the first time he'd done so but that would be kept between them as friends and also, he really didn't want anyone to know he held such skills. She might carry the strangest things in her pockets but Byakuya was pinpointing accurate to what somebody might need; he wasn't a captain for nothing.
"You are lucky my home is rather empty today but I can't speak about the estate" he informed calmly and straightened the layers of her kimono by hiding the middle ones because they were too crooked to fix. He was certain she'd use shunpo to head to her quarters immediately after dinner and any qualms clan members might have with her were often dismissed; he had more important things to worry about. Ruka was fortunate that her clan ranking didn't demand the heavy responsibilities his brought and couldn't imagine turning indifferent towards others simply because the clan commanded it. Byakuya's father had been quite the opposite, a jovial man with similar facial features and indigo eyes, but he hadn't broken clan rules like his son to warrant a constant critical eye looming over his shoulder. His slate colored eyes met her sapphire hue and he sighed under his breath in gentle reprimand, "You're still a little bird, you know that?"
"But I'm trying, I'll be a tough eagle one day. . .when I feel like it" she evaded the question by diverting the topic elsewhere before another lecture began about attaining her potential rather than staying stagnant. Her friend demolished all obstacles that allowed him to surpass his current skills but she went at it on her own pace in private to avoid everyone's expectations. She liked inventing new gadgets to help the Sereitei, especially for the fourth division, and it contributed just enough to match her lieutenancy assignments. Crossing her arms, she gazed at the hardwood floor to hide the flicker of shame he caused and murmured flatly, "You always make me feel self-conscious, your stern logic and lawful mind must be getting to me because it failed to do so decades ago."
She followed him through the silently empty corridor and she would've found it eerie in anybody else's house but this was Byakuya's, a ghost could fart and nobody would hear it. That's why she preferred the barracks, her private quarter was cozily small and she'd never find herself lost in a maze of silence. Within the Gotei 13 or in private, they walked alongside each other as a form of mutual respect but whenever there were others around, public roles shifted into place and she slipped behind as the inferior. Ruka didn't mind it one bit; she enjoyed teasing him about his hair but now that it was shorter in length, she couldn't use objectifying catcalls to irk him. Their voices echoed through the wooden hallway as he pointed out with satisfaction to her remark, "It's about time, you weren't this eccentric decades ago."
"And you were close to needing serious anger management ages ago, especially when you knocked that Hollow right through a human building" she stated impishly to his own quirks that he'd nipped in the bud ages ago during his station within Ukitake's squad. Ruka, however, would always remind him to see him squirm. . .well, mentally.
(100 enlightening years ago)
Byakuya pointed to two separate wooden laundry baskets in the washing room of his family's mansion and grasped cotton socks from both. One distinctly read 'dirty socks' and the other 'clean socks' but he'd found filthy socks in both, infuriating the young heir. Who wanted dirt particles over clean clothing? It infuriated and baffled him! Standing in the middle of the doorway that led into the large laundry room that was currently empty of washers, he yelled furiously throughout the entire place, "When I put a sign that says dirty socks and clean socks, I expect them to be arranged correctly! Are you people blind and illiterate? I pay for your soap!"
Two weeks later brought another bout,
The young heir held a wooden bowl filled with a fragrant blue liquid and yelled to a dinner table full of his cousins, "Who's the person stealing my fabric softener? This stuff isn't cheap, it was recently created, so I expect names! Just because we're family, it doesn't give you the right to shamelessly steal from me!"
(End)
Byakuya showed no recognition of the events as his face remained coldly neutral but his voice held conviction for his petite friend, "I held no qualms with inanimate objects."
(75 humorous years ago)
Byakuya was seated peacefully in his gigai, reading a human newspaper in his rented room for leisure when he heard a crash in the kitchen area. His investigating instinct kicked in instantly since he felt less safe in the humans' strange world and didn't want to see a burglar trying to rob his temporary home. He ran into the adjacent kitchen to find Ruka wrestling with a metal contraption called a 'can opener' and his face wrinkled in bewilderment to what he was witnessing. It had become entangled in her powder blue sweater by her left side and she condemned loudly with a hiss, "Foul creature of the dark abyss, you killed my blouse and now you've come back for me!"
He put an end to it by wrenching it free from her hands in one forceful yank, tearing a small hole in her sweater in the process, and threw it in the sink.
(End)
"What? We don't use metal contraptions to open food canisters here!" she justified matter-of-factly with a stiff nod to her perfectly reasonable reaction but the six captain merely gave her an apathetic gaze.
Rukia popped in to see the two adults locked in a staring contest, blocking the entire hallway, and wondered whether it was safe to throw herself into the fray. She usually allowed the two to resolve their issues (they never really became enraged at one another) since stepping into it would send them into another contest. It was times like this that she wondered, what would Chappy do? When she approached the two granite statues, she realized they weren't even blinking and asked with a calm voice, "Swapping stories for domination points again?"
"I partake in no such frivolities" he stated coldly since he was adamant that nobody knew of his younger wilder years since he followed each law down to the last word. Over the last five years, he eased his tight grasp whenever he found an injustice within the law itself because it wasn't perfect with the passage of time and allowed Ruka to do investigative work for him in the search of new evidence whenever he was in charge of controversial cases. The woman might be idealistic and foolhardy sometimes but she performed her task perfectly, digging into old archives until she found contradictions to current laws. He walked forward into the dining room with his confident gait and billowing captain's haori, beckoning the two women simply, "Rukia, Ruka, come along."
Ruka grinned broadly at the other lieutenant, milking the fact that their names were similar in sound to badger the captain and grinned cheekily, "We're a tongue twister all on our own. Ruka and Rukia raise rabbits-"
Byakuya merely kept walking towards the dining hall but silenced her by informing calmly with an underlying subtle threat in his voice, "I saw a porcelain doll today. . ."
Silence followed the rest of the walk.
"Ruka, put the jagaimo down" Byakuya reprimanded with dismay on his porcelain face as she'd stabbed two small boiled jagaimo with her chopstick to imitate dancing as she used her head as the prop. Rukia had been laughing throughout the entertainment but Byakuya was one that enjoyed a calm and easygoing dinner, not one where his friend used his food for fun.
The lieutenant grumbled under her breath but listened, picking one up to chew on it. Apparently, her friend would never use humor to unwind from underlying stress. She smiled mischievously as she stared at the half-eaten spud and imitated a small squeaky voice, "One for all and all for-"
"Eat with your mouth closed" Byakuya interjected immediately and she resisted from hurling the potato at his eye since he was insistent to treat her like a child. She narrowed her eyes but his stony glare brought an end to that and Ruka finished her potato, eyeing the soup in the porcelain bowl with interest.
"You should've made alphabet soup, you can eat while you learn!" she suggested enthusiastically about the food she'd tried in the human world during her tours there and Rukia joined in to tell her all the words she'd formed with it. Byakuya was less than amused as items from the world of the living had no place in his life, deeming them unworthy unless they held importance to the Sereitei by improving technology or standards of living. He only visited the realm when Yamamoto ordered it himself and would not step foot there unless there was a dire need, resorting to sending his lieutenant to oversee missions. His frigid stare caused Ruka to shrug meekly since she was open-minded in incorporating human advancements with theirs and she justified knowingly, "It's what the advertisement says."
He sighed under his breath with that apathetic ambience of his and lectured coolly, "I truly hope this is not how you've behaved abroad or with your clan, Ruka. You're disappointing me."
"I always disappoint you, I could be the Spirit King hiding in sheep's clothing and you'd still complain" she dismissed easily with a witty grin and Rukia blinked in surprise to her efficient response, their discussions reminding her of battle strategies as they flung arguments back and forth. If the words had been directed towards her, her confidence would've plummeted into the ground and pushed up daisies. Her brother rarely criticized her, a thankful comparison to decades ago, and when it did happen, it was due to clan duties since her work in the Seireitei brought no issues.
"If you were the Spirit King, we'd all be in serious trouble" Byakuya baited with a calm voice as he kept the debate ongoing, taking a small bite of his food with a graceful flick of the wrist. Ruka chuckled softly to his rebuttal, grasping a piece of beef from the soup with her chopsticks to tear into it with her sharp teeth to indicate she was preparing for her next bombardment. He would welcome it and sink her words like a steamboat to the bottom of the sea when striking an iceberg.
"If you were the Spirit King, we'd all be monotonous zombies with no personalities" she replied cheekily to his strict logic and allowed her eyes to glaze over Rukia with a listless face, hands falling into the stereotypical zombie pose. The younger Kuchiki muffled a snicker from the hilariously frightening expression since Ichigo had once tried the same tactic for humor purposes but it failed horribly when she beat him into the pavement in fear. The young Kurosaki would never attempt frightening her for as long as he lived. Ruka's mouth slacked in the classic pose as she'd seen them in the humans moving pictures and nodded off languidly with slurred words, "Yes, sir. No, sir. Very good, sir. No personality within, please insert soul."
"I'd prefer it over a court of jesters" he remarked coolly since he'd lived several days every few months over the past eighty years with Ruka's absurd humor when she returned from traveling abroad. Strangely enough, that was when her humorous defense began to build and the modestly sweet Ruka he'd known became buried under playful hilarity. He only caught glimpses of the polite woman during Gotei 13 business but within her division or home, she was a rambunctious hamster on sugar while assignments twisted her into a dangerous wolf. The fact that she and Yachiru had joined in an unholy alliance boded badly for him now that she was a permanent resident in the Seireitei.
Ruka pointed a chopstick in his direction, twirling it in a circle for emphasis and stated matter-of-factly, "Laughing can kill you in the right amount. . . .and gas."
Her eyes suspiciously darted in both directions and she coughed nervously into her hand before muttering hesitantly, "I, uh, probably shouldn't have said that."
"Ruka, you know better than to be working with poison gas" Byakuya spoke firmly to her secrets experiments, hoping she wasn't working on something dangerous or illegal. He didn't question her when she created items for the fourth division but the fact she'd caused herself bodily harm on more than one occasion didn't sit well with him. She wasn't clinically insane like Kurotsuchi to use self-experimentation or live test subjects but the scientific demands for a breakthrough could change a person. Plainly put, he didn't want her doing unethical research on herself or anybody else.
Rukia knew she'd suffer her brother's wrath and couldn't help but ask curiously, "Why do you assume that it's poison?"
"It's Ruka, everything she touches either explodes or catches fire" Byakuya's voice rose to point out the woman's uncanny ability for destruction and cursed the day she joined the twelfth squad. If she never met the insane Kurotsuchi or allowed her scientific talents to flourish, she'd never have traveled abroad and would've retained half her sanity in public. Of course, she was her own woman so he couldn't have a direct say in her life and would make sure to use her as an example for his sister so she didn't turn out that way. He would also be steering Ruka from visiting the twelfth division to wean her off research projects to keep her mind whole and focused on serving her new division, one where she could pour her creativity skills to help the Seireitei. Their magazine was surprisingly popular.
Ruka merely smiled innocently to ruffle the captain's feathers and commented calmly with satisfaction, "I'm quite proud of my reputation so thank you for the compliment."
Byakuya's blood freezing stare and Ruka's unnatural perky smile kept Rukia's eyes moving like a ping-pong ball between both. She'd stopped eating her delicious supper to watch the two since most meals she ate alongside her brother brought unfortunate boredom beyond renown- he wasn't much of a conversationalist. It wasn't obvious to determine that she loved having agreeable company over from the Seireitei. However, her brother tended to place his disagreements with Ruka solely between them and like the hallway incident, this time was no different. Despite Byakuya's eyes were occupied in an attempt to squash Ruka's rebellion, he didn't hesitate to remind his younger sister like a stern parent, "Rukia, eat your meal before it grows cold."
She mumbled out an agreement and continued eating her meal but her eyes remained on the two, her ears eager for their entertaining chats. Her brother might not find Ruka's replies agreeable like a lady should behave but she found them hilarious, especially when she brought facial twitches to his face. It reminded Rukia of a melting iceberg as each move motioned that he was dwelling on his next move.
Ruka sipped her drink innocently since accepting her eccentric behavior was irksome to her disciplined friend and smiled afterwards to inform casually, "I meant laughing gas, you know. In the British Seireitei, upper-rank parties were held just for the fun of it. I thought you'd have heard since uncle Shunsui and Rangiku attended one during their vacation leave six years ago."
"And here I thought it was just an anesthetic" Rukia smiled to the new information, keeping her gaze lowered to avoid any frigid glares from her brother; they tended to leave a nightmarish mark on your psyche. She wasn't hesitant anymore to speak openly but made sure her opinions were neutral and not against her brother (he still held a higher rank, after all). She idly poked the vegetables in her soup as she explained with a curiosity laced into her voice, "In the world of the living, I saw this moving picture- a 'movie', they call it- with a painted villain like Kurotsuchi who killed people with such a gas and here I thought it was fake."
Ruka's face lit up to the existence of a fictional film about such a use for a gas and asked excitedly, "Oh! I must have the name, it could extend possible research about the chemical compound and-"
"Can we please have dinner without morbid talk? This is not suitable dinner conversation" Byakuya demanded firmly to silence their girlish gabbing about using gas for warfare and they quieted instantly to return to their meals. He nodded in satisfaction to their lady-like behavior at the table since discussing death by gas toxicity was the least appealing topic anyone could partake in. On the other hand, if it had been about Seireitei news-
A second later, Ruka's voice broke the silence by stating grumpily, "I should've gassed you at the door just to see you giggle."
. . . "Ow!"
Ruka rubbed her forehead when a tiny orange projectile struck the center of it, her blue eyes pinpointing the culprit and found a flower-shaped ninjin (carrot) on the table. Rukia blinked with surprise since she hadn't seen a thing until the lieutenant yelped to the strike but if neither she nor Ruka had thrown it. . .
Byakuya dipped his chopsticks into his meal without glancing at the women, nor acknowledging his hidden actions, and calmly stated with his regal voice, "Manners, Ruka."
A/N: Well, I went on a long hiatus for this story but life allowed me to write up a few chapters since humor is what I love so thanks to those readers who stuck with this story. Despite the lapse of time, I still haven't decided how this story will steer romantically because Byakuya and Ruka have quite a tight bond while Mayuri is embedded like a leech to his research but she loves her science. We'll be seeing more of the crazy man soon. For those who've read my other stories, I'm an author that loves character development and Ruka is no less as well as the canon characters. Either way, I want the humor in the story to stick while exploring new conflicts with the Gotei 13.
Next Time:
"So those surveillance images of you eating bags of 'junk food' in bed while hearing unsavory music in the human real were protecting the Seireitei?" Byakuya questioned dryly about her particular quirks when she visited the realm and her face fell to being pinned with the facts. So she liked eating the strange addicting foods of the humans, was it so wrong?
Her brow furrowed as a legit question popped into her scientific mind and she crossed her arms to demand curiously, "And just how do you know this information, captain? Sereitei law indicates that investigations cannot be conducted unless concrete evidence is presented. May I ask what crime I've committed?"
The sixth captain cursed her thorough knowledge of the law and tried to back track his slip of the tongue by evading the question by stating coldly, "Where I received the information is none of your concern."
"It is if you managed to get it within my bedroom, that's trespassing" she disproved easily with an impish grin because she knew if anyone hired or dispatched people to follow her, it would be him. Maybe Komamura for protective reasons but Byakuya would always be number one. Sometimes, she wondered if he was a little paranoid by keeping tabs on her but maybe it was a pastime of his when Rukia slipped away from his brotherly surveillance. Byakuya Kuchiki was shrewdly perceptive in deciphering others, after all, so she'd have to carefully inspect her lodgings whenever she traveled from now on. She wagged a reprimanding finger in circles and grinned amusingly to remark cockily, "You're lucky I know you so well or I'd report you to my captain. I will, however, act as if I heard nothing when I open my office door to find a basket of delicious swan food and other goodies-"
"You're not dismissing this, are you?" he questioned flatly to her cryptic demands, or blackmail as he called it, and her lips widened in a cheshire smile.
"Not on your life, Kuchiki" she chuckled evilly to the sudden power she held in her hands and tapped her fingers together in what she called 'the pyramid of evil contemplation'. To the sixth captain, she appeared like a clichéd villain from children's stories and cursed her strange behavior. Either way, he was now expected to do something to forget the entire matter or have it brought up continuously over his shoulder.
Gritting his teeth for what he was about to do, he informed calmly with great restraint, "I hear there will be a basket of items by tomorrow afternoon."
Thanks for reading my story and I'll see you guys next time!
