Summer Snowflake
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Bleach, which is a shame.
Note: Holy crap. The response to the previous chapter blew my mind. One of my pet peeves is an author stipulating how many reviews he/she gets before he/she posts the next chapter to his/her fanfic so I promised I wouldn't ever do that. For you guys to send your reviews in and let me know that you're there really does mean so much to me because writing is often only done when I have the time to relax.
Sorry this chapter took so long to post. My thesis is in full swing now and I have to produce a collection of essays for publishing which is terrifying but exciting at the same time. Wish me luck and enjoy this chapter!
P.S. I don't particularly enjoy making my characters faint, it's just that I needed Miyako to faint so that Byakuya could get mad at her for something. Hehehe.
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Chapter 12
Kansai
Something swished in the air before the unmistakeable sound of whip hitting skin reverberated in the middle of the pavilion's square. There was whimpering in the middle of the group of servants that had congregated to see who had incurred the wrath of the elders this time. On the ground, at the center of attention, was one of the youngest servants of the Kuchiki manor, her kimono loosened and pulled down to expose her back to the angry elder who brandished his whip angrily.
From afar, the young servant's mother watched, unable to do anything as her daughter was punished for 'speaking out of turn.' The lady of the estate was away on business with her husband, the current clan head. With elder determined to make an example out of her daughter, all she could do was hope that it ended soon and that her daughter's wails would cease.
Byakuya had just finished his training with Ginrei when he walked towards the pavilion, playing with the little ball of light that he had created with one of the most basic of kidou spells. He tripped on the hem of his uniform and the ball of light vanished, the spectacle in the pavilion coming into view when it did. The servants parted when Byakuya walked towards them, allowing him to go straight to the middle and see just who it was that was unfortunate enough to merit punishment.
"Mi...Miyako?"
Spinning around, Byakuya immediately ran from the sight the girl being punished. He was determined to find his mother when he spotted Miyako's mother, running to her instead.
"What happened?"
"Byakuya-sama," the elderly woman replied, her voice trembling.
"What happened?"
"The elders are making an example out of her, Byakuya-sama."
"But why?"
"They caught sight of her talking to you, my lord," the woman replied, her head dropping, "Gomen."
Madness. That was the first thing Byakuya could remember thinking as he rushed away from Miyako's mother and towards the elder dealing the girl her punishment. Byakuya had just about reached the crowd again when he felt a strong hand grasp his shoulder, stopping him from moving any further. Looking up, Byakuya's eyes met those of his grandfathers. Ginrei shook his head before he let go of Byakuya and put a stop to Miyako's muffled sobs.
"She's just a child, Nagasaki-san," Byakuya heard Ginrei murmur, "She didn't know what she was doing was wrong. Stop this. It would do you well to perhaps warn a child of her wrongdoing before taking such drastic measures."
The servants rushed away from the area as soon as Ginrei stepped in and Miyako's mother ran to her, covering the angry red marks left by whip with a long worn out shawl. Before Byakuya could even think to step forward Miyako, Ginrei was back at his side, leading him back to the residential wing of the estate. As they walked, Byakuya turned around and watched with tight lips as Miyako cried, the pain rendering her unable to get up from the ground.
Miyako never spoke to Byakuya again after that day. Not until the day that his parents died.
"Do you realize how foolish your actions were?"
His voice was stern and overpowering as his tea sat on the table forgotten. Miyako sat in front of Byakuya, her eyes staring intently at the tatami floor while Byakuya allowed his concern to masquerade as anger. The lack of an answer from Miyako was wearing Byakuya's patience thin. His fingers curled around the tea cup with a grip so tight that he might have broken the cup had it not been for his self control.
"Miyako-san, allow me to make something very clear," Byakuya said, "I consented to your lessons with the Ukitake-taichou and Unohana-taichou only because I am obligated to do so as the sixth division captain and because you possess your own reiatsu."
The housekeeper didn't know what to do with herself, gripping at the fabric of her kimono so that her fingers stopped fidgeting. She was so disappointed with her own lack of responsibility and foresight that she couldn't blame her employer at the very least for being irate with her. His porcelain face may have been left unmarred by his anger but his voice was another matter altogether and he spoke to her with a harsh tongue that lashed at her nerves like a whip.
"I believe that I was also very clear when I stipulated that, since you refused to enter the academy, I would only consent to your lessons if it did not interfere with any of your work here at the manor," Byakuya continued, "As far as anyone is concerned, fainting not only interfered with your work but it is also an indication that you are unfit to work at all. How am I supposed to trust that you can properly care for this household and those in it if you cannot even care for yourself?"
When she had woken from her sleep earlier that day, morning had passed into noon. Her fingers found a towel on her forehead. It was still cold and Miyako knew that it could only mean someone had recently rinsed or changed the towel. Assuming Rukia had taken care of her, Miyako immediately realized that this was the first time in several years that she had failed to prepare breakfast. She found Byakuya at the dining room when she exited her quarters, watching as he sorted through more of his never ending stack of paper work and remembering that Byakuya had been scheduled to take the day off.
It seemed that he had prepared his own meal, much to Miyako's chagrin, as a bowl of chilled soba rested on the table, untouched and ignored, while a tea cup sat half full, steam still lifting from the liquid inside it. The moment Miyako greeted Byakuya hello, he pushed his work to the side of the table and ordered her to sit down. Miyako complied, growing uneasy when she noticed that Byakuya's eyes were much darker than they normally were.
Byakuya slid the bowl of soba towards his housekeeper and forced her to eat. The moment he started scolding her, Miyako set her chopsticks down and lost any semblance to an appetite she had.
"Say something, Miyako," Byakuya bit out, "Or am I conversing with myself?"
Miyako met her master's gaze, "Gomenasai, Byakuya-sama."
For a moment, Byakuya wasn't sure what to do. The way that Miyako looked at him was unsettling. Though there was fear in her gaze, for some reason Byakuya knew that it wasn't just fear, it was hurt as well, and this was the first time, in all of the years that Byakuya had known Miyako, that she wore the hurt so blatantly on her features. Standing, Byakuya nodded once at his housekeeper before retreating to the drawing room.
Exhaling a shaky breath, Miyako wiped at her moistening eyes. She cleared the table of its contents while she took a mental inventory of all the lessons she's had with Ukitake Juushiro and Unohana Retsu, admitting that she hasn't made as much progress as she should have by now. Months had passed and she still couldn't hear her zanpakutou spirit's name.
"Is this all really worth it?" Miyako asked no one in particular.
'He was just worried, Miyako.'
"Iie," Miyako placed the bowl and chopsticks she was holding into the basin to soak, "I went against his rules. He had every right to be cross with me."
In the drawing room, Byakuya sat at his desk and tried to regain control of his emotions, his hands resting on his table in fists. His eyes wandered to the reports that Renji had obtained from Juushiro and brought earlier that day, nearly grunting in his frustration. It bothered Byakuya that Miyako spent her free time anywhere other than the Kuchiki manor. The housekeeper had spent her entire life on Kuchiki estate grounds, within Byakuya's reach at all times.
Shinigami lessons meant that Miyako was seriously considering actually joining the ranks of death gods, a thought that Byakuya was unwilling to completely entertain for reasons he himself didn't quite understand just yet. Byakuya picked up the report and spread it out over his table, quickly reading through the notes that Juushiro had thought important enough to share with the rokubantai taichou.
Miyako's lessons with Unohana Retsu have been progressing quite nicely. Unohana has informed me that Miyako's knowledge of medicinal herbs was already extensive when she started and her knowledge on healing has doubled in the few months that Miyako has been studying the art. Miyako could potentially surpass Kotetsu fukutaicho if she receives proper education and training in healing kidou.
Byakuya chuckled humourlessly at Juushiro's last line. He had been pushing for Byakuya to send Miyako to the Shinigami Academy for the better part of the month. Every time Juushiro suggested it, Byakuya would reply with the same answer: "She may do as she pleases."
'But she can't sleep through the morning and fail to make a breakfast that Byakuya-sama rarely ever eats anyway.'
Making it a point to ignore Senbonzakura and the zanpakutou's increasingly irritating comments, Byakuya read over the first few pages of the report which had been written by Unohana herself. As he read about Miyako's affinity with the fourth division specialty, he attributed most of his housekeeper's success to the knowledge that his mother had imparted on her.
Tokio had once served in the fourth division before she married into the Kuchiki clan. Even after her husband had forced her to retire from the Gotei Thirteen, Tokio was constantly making essences for Byakuya as well as his father and grandfather. She used to make so much that she often wound up handing them out to the servants just to make space in her closets. Miyako and her family in particular were regular recipients of Tokio's concoctions.
Stacking the report up and placing it at the corner of his desk, Byakuya recalled the way that Miyako looked when he caught her as she fainted. He could not help but recognize and admit that Miyako reminded him of Hisana in so many different ways. The two women looked nothing alike and their personalities were also far from identical but there was a certain kind of energy about Miyako that was parallel to the energy that Byakuya felt with Hisana. It was this similarity, Byakuya acknowledged, that made him so angry to see Miyako in such a state. It reminded him too much of the way Hisana was when she fell ill.
There was a pang of hunger in the depth of Byakuya's stomach and he realized that he still had not eaten breakfast. When he had ventured out to the main pavilion earlier that morning, he had not found anything there to his liking. He made himself the soba when he returned to his household but was distracted by Renji's arrival with office document. Then Miyako came out and he forgot about eating entirely out of his frustration with the woman.
There was another pang in his stomach, this time from guilt. He never expected that he would grow accustomed to eating breakfast again, a meal that he stopped partaking after Hisana died.
'Do you really think Hisana-sama would be offended that you've finally decided to properly nourish yourself in the mornings? One might think that she'd be thanking Miyako like she normally did every morning when she was still with us.'
Hisana never did learn how to cook. Partly because she didn't have the patience for it and partly because she knew it wouldn't matter to Byakuya. She would always say that no matter how hard she tried, Byakuya would always prefer the taste of Miyako's cooking because of the familiarity it brought. Hisana was one of the few people who knew that Miyako and Byakuya had grown up around each other. In the end, Hisana would always thank Miyako for preparing their meals religiously for them, claiming that Miyako knew Byakuya far better than she did.
"I can only hope to be as good for Byakuya-sama as you are, Miyako-san," Hisana would always say.
Miyako would then always respond, "Iie, Hisana-sama. Byakuya-sama has never chosen wrongly before. If he has chosen you, Hisana-sama, then you must be the best for him."
"Shitsurei shimasu, Byakuya-sama."
Byakuya looked up, his memories falling to the back of his mind when he saw Miyako standing hesitantly at the door with a tray of food. The papers that Byakuya left in the dining room were also on the tray. He nodded at her, granting her permission to enter the drawing room. Miyako realized earlier on that since Byakuya had forced her to eat the food he prepared for himself, Byakuya still hadn't eaten anything. She walked quietly to Byakuya's desk and poured him his tea first before setting a steaming bowl of chicken okayu in front of him and stacking the documents on the floor next to the table.
'Miyako-san, you seem to have read our Byakuya-sama's mind.'
The captain watched as his housekeeper stood and made her way to leave the room. Although she tried to look as unperturbed as she could, Byakuya could see the downcast shadow in her eyes when she was putting his food down in front of him. Byakuya knew that he shouldn't have cared and that she deserved the scolding she got, but he still called out for her.
"Miyako-san."
She stopped and turned slowly, "Hai, Byakuya-sama?"
"What do you have left to do?"
"I've to clean the things I used to make the okayu, Byakuya-sama."
"Leave it," Byakuya said, his eyes leaving Miyako's, "Sit down and help make up for the time you cost me earlier this afternoon."
Miyako obliged and settled down across from Byakuya, sorting through the stacks of paper depending on the instructions that Byakuya gave. The housekeeper exhaled deeply, as if she had been holding her breath since her scolding. Experience told Miyako that the moment Byakuya asked her to do something it typically meant that his anger was fading. To others it may seem like Byakuya was punishing her with more work or subjecting her to the awkwardness that silence could bring, but Miyako knew better. She had to know better.
The okayu warmed Byakuya in a way that he could not express. Chicken okayu was always one of Byakuya's personal preferences when it came to comfort food and it would seem that Miyako knew this very well since she only made it when she knew he was in a particularly foul mood.
"Byakuya-sama," Miyako half whispered, "I truly am sorry."
"Let it not happen again and all is forgiven," Byakuya returned.
"Was Rukia-sama able to eat anything before she left?"
"I was informed that Rukia left yesterday evening on an assignment in the living world with Kaien. She will not be returning until tomorrow."
Miyako's brows furrowed together and she flipped through the papers in her hands, "Did anyone come by today, Byakuya-sama? To help you?"
"Renji brought documents in the morning."
"Was-"
"Is there a particular reason for your sudden desire to ask me questions, Miyako-san?"
Falling silent, Miyako sighed. If Rukia had not been home at all since the conclusion of Miyako's lessons with Juushiro and no one else had been by the manor for a visit, then who had taken care of her when Byakuya brought her back home. Surely it was not –
Miyako looked to her employer who just finished his meal and was now sipping at his beverage of choice with half closed eyes. The thought of Byakuya coming by her room often enough to keep the towel on her forehead cold both embarrassed and touched the Kuchiki employee. When Byakuya set his bowl to the side, Miyako placed her unsorted papers back onto the floor.
"Arigatou, Byakuya-sama," Miyako breathed low enough that Byakuya wasn't sure she had said anything at all.
She reached out for the bowl so that she could take it away from the room when Byakuya's eyes found the scars that marred his housekeeper's fair and otherwise untouched skin. He felt his jaw lock, still uncomfortable with the fact that Miyako had chosen to keep them. Without thinking, Byakuya's hand shot out and caught Miyako's hand in his much larger one, pulling her forward. Miyako's knee bumped the table and her left hand slapped down onto the wooden surface to balance her. The bowl she was holding clattered down to the table and then the floor as Miyako gasped.
Byakuya turned his housekeeper's hand over so that he could see the disfigured skin on her palm. The scars ran over her wrist and halfway down her arm like unsightly veins. High jaw tightened even further when his thumb ran across the width of Miyako's wrist, feeling the uneven nature of the healed tissue. Miyako's breathing grew rapidly when she noticed that Byakuya's eyes were beginning to get clouded with something, an emotion, which she didn't recognize.
"Bya...Byakuya-sama?"
Like a trigger, Miyako's voice brought Byakuya back out of his thoughts, his eyes flicking up to hers and then back down to his tight grip on her hand. He dropped it instantly, as if he had been scalded by the touch. For the second time that day, Byakuya didn't know what to do except walk away from Miyako and the thoughts that she was constantly forcing him to think.
A/N: I know it's a little short but please bear with me. Just need to get some filler chapters out of the way for the sake of time so that I can throw some real action packed chapters into the mix of things. This chapter, like all my other chapters, most likely had some typos and errors. My apologies to those that get irritated with them! I promise that I'll go through all of my posted chapters soon and replace them with edited chapters.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter regardless of its icky-ness.
Sayonara for now.