Author's Disclaimer
I do not create/own Bleach (Anime) and/or this characters.
Though, I wished I did own the below;
Abarai Renji, Kuchiki Byakuya, Kurosaki Ichigo, Hisagi Shuhei, Sosuke Aizen (bad-boy looks), Kurotsuchi Mayuri (maskless of-course).
Chapter 28 – Decisions, Decisions.
Shuhei watched on as the teenage boy carried a burden too much for him to weigh on his young shoulders. He watched as his teenage sister held on to him for something, he himself had accused the boy of not providing – protection. Shuhei suddenly felt bad about blaming Renji for not protection his sister. My baby sister, he thought. His heart bled as he watched her cling on the edge of sanity. He decided to leave them alone, to give them some time to hearten each other.
Soon he settled himself on the sofa in the living room, sighing loudly as he let himself fall on the soft cushion. As he positioned his strong arms behind his head, he contemplated on telling their parents of her incident, but he knew that Amari would never forgive him. And right now, if they had their parents breathing down their necks, especially with Amari who is in a emotional trauma at the moment, would not be a good thing for her.
But what should he do? What can he do now to help her? He let out a bitter laugh as he remembered how mad he was at Renji for not being able to protect Amari – to help her. But now, even he couldn't do much help. He hated himself for that.
&&&
Rangiku had her hair tide up now and she wore a long black coat over her Halloween costume. She stood in the middle of the Chancellor's big yet empty office. Somehow standing in the middle of it all made her feel cold – too cold. Even with the windows closed, she felt it. She knew it wasn't cold from the weather but from the man who sat across her. Behind the big metal table, he sat with his face partially hid by the lack of proper lighting. He had his elbows on the table, his hands curled together to support his chin.
"Miss Matsumoto..." Chancellor Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai started.
Rangiku twitched at the mere mention of her name. His voice was firm and cold. For a moment the old man didn't continue and stared at the poor woman. He had his long white beard tied up and it was neatly tucked below. The Chancellor is well-known, throughout the whole academic society, for his mean demeanor. He believes that rules are very important and will go to extremes to punish the one who breaks them.
"Miss Matsumoto," Chancellor Shigekuni repeated again. "Are the rumors true?"
"What rumors sir?" Rangiku said, immediately regretting her choice of response.
"Don't play dumb," Chancellor Shigekuni replied – his voice a notch colder. "You know what I am talking about. But just in case you are, I'm talking about the one where a student of mine was attacked just a couple of hours earlier."
"I, uh..." Rangiku stammered. "Unfortunately sir, the rumors are true."
"Who's the girl and where did it happen?" Chancellor Shigekuni asked.
"Her name is Amari Tanabe sir, a girl from my cheer leading squad. And I believe it happened in the girls restroom on the second floor in the building next to the lecturer's center. I have it locked at the moment sir, so there wouldn't be anyone disturbing anything there."
"Where is the girl now?"
"I believed she went home sir,"
"How extent was the damage made?"
"Just a couple of cuts here and there sir,"
"Do we know who did it?"
"Unfortunately sir, the person was masked and he or she managed to get away,"
"How do you know all this?"
"I, uh, I helped her friends look for her."
"Why wasn't I told of this immediately?"
Rangiku stared straight ahead – straight above his head. She didn't know what to answer back. Why wasn't he told of this immediately, she didn't know. It just somehow slipped of her mind. But rumors spread faster than fire, so eventually it reached his ears faster that one could expect.
"I'm sorry sir, in the panic of it all, it slipped out of my mind," Rangiku braved herself to say.
Her words hung in mid air as Chancellor Shigekuni looked at her, deciding not to respond yet. Rangiku didn't know whether he was speechless because he was mad or he just didn't know what else to say. But know the Chancellor, there's less chance that he's speechless because of not knowing what to say.
"Do you think we need to be calling her parents?" Chancellor Shigekuni asked. The way he asked, It was as if he wanted to know how Rangiku would respond; how would she take action under the current circumstances.
"With all due respect sir, I think it would be best if we ... or you talked to her personally," Rangiku replied with more firmness this time. "After all they are not children sir and I'm sure they would appreciate it if they're thoughts will be heard out." Rangiku added.
"And since when does teenagers know what they want?" Chancellor Shigekuni replied sarcastically. "Since when do they know what's best for them?"
"Well, I believe we educate the most smartest students available sir," Rangiku responded, putting her foot down on the topic.
"I will have to call in the police to investigate this current matter," Chancellor Shigekuni said. "No one can hurt others within the compounds of this academy as long as I look over here."
"Yes sir,"
"Call in the other lecturers, we will be having an emergency meeting later this morning," Chancellor Shikeguni said with a tired sigh.
Rangiku nodded and excused herself.
"What a way to spend a nice Sunday morning..." He added silently as he watched Rangiku walked out of his room.
&&&
Neither Byakuya or her parents were home on that Sunday morning so she took the opportunity of asking one of their family chauffeurs to send her back to her place. Her sanctuary. To her only true place that she can really call home. Choosing a quite old but unused blue dress, she grabbed her back pack and walked silently out of her room. She can just bribe the chauffeur into sending her home without her brother's permission. It would be challenge, but with her clever wits, she knew she could easily persuade one of them.
She walked the long way to the workers' headquarters, helping herself to some bittersweet memories as she looked at the surrounding that passed by. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she stopped to look at a large family portrait displayed by the hall. She studied the younger her, the younger Byakuya and the younger parents. Her father and mother sat with Byakuya and herself stood next to them. In the picture, the younger Byakuya was positioned next to their father and Rukia stood by their mother. No one in the picture smiled except for herself. The three of them poised in their spot, looking very proud while Rukia bared a cute smile without a care in the world.
Rukia grew sad as she continued to examined it. Born into this family meant born into all these unnecessary rules and regulations. As much as they tried to shaped her when she was young, she just couldn't come about being one of them. Where the family status or status in general is very important and the rich don't mingle with the poor. Rukia liked being who she is and there's nothing wrong with being nice to everybody. That's what she thought until she was scolded for being too nice to the household workers. Until now, she never could understand what the fuss is all about, but she just played along. She learned from experience that it was much easier to play along and avoid any confrontation.
She shook her head, shaking away her sorrow along with it. Sadness... Sorrow... She raised her wrist to look at the time. It was eight in the morning. It was too early, she knew but she couldn't sleep and might as well, she made herself useful. She felt quite guilty leaving Amari alone with Renji and her brother. She was so sure, Amari would be needing someone who wouldn't be breathing down her neck.
She continued her walked until reached a rather big building where the scullery maids, gardeners, butlers, chefs and chauffeurs stayed. It was quite far away from the family mansion but then again, there was no way her parents would allow their quarters to be near their majestic place. The walk there was quiet but she liked it, she found eternal peace walking on the path, looking at the green trees and pretty flowers and acres and acres of lawn. There was no one about, well, none that she could see at the moment at least.
Well, she thought she found eternal peace, but on the contrary as the breeze into her pretty hair, her mind wandered again to one person – Ichigo. A boy she had grown to like and even love. It was even her first time she went out with a boy. My first kiss... She smiled as she recalled back the moment, in Amari's room.
"Miss Rukia Kuchiki?"
Rukia sucked in a breath as she jumped at the mere mention of her name. She turned around to see an aged woman wearing their standing uniform – a black dress and a white apron over it. Hair neatly tied up in a bun and her feet donned the identical flat white slip-on shoes.
"Uh, morning!" Rukia said, as cheerfully as she could be.
The woman lowered her head as she continued. "Forgive me for asking, Miss Kuchiki but what are you doing here? Please, Miss Kuchiki, if Mrs. Kuchiki saw you here, it would be us to blame."
"Oh..." Rukia said, suddenly feeling guilty. "Don't worry. Mother and father is out and so is Byakuya."
"Please, Miss Kuchiki, if anybody saw us talking..." the woman started again, fear laced her voice.
Rukia sighed. "Okay. Can you get one of the chauffeurs to get the car in front? I was going to do it myself but I'm sure you'd think it would be better if you told them yourself."
The woman nodded. "Are you leaving so soon, Miss Kuchiki? The cook has prepared breakfast for you and it's waiting for you in the dining room."
Rukia sighed again. "I'll have my breakfast as I wait for the car. Please tell them to be quick though."
The woman bowed her head lower and with another sigh, Rukia turned her back and walked back to the mansion.
&&&
"I'm sure all of you have heard of last night's incident," Chancellor Shigekuni said. He was surprisingly fresh and awake, seeing how late they got home last night. He was wearing the usual expensive gray suit that he usually wears. "About our student, Amari Tanabe, being attacked within out own grounds."
Rangiku on the other hand looked really weary. She didn't even do her hair like she normally does. Today, this morning, she had her pretty orange hair tied up. She didn't even bother much with her face, just slapping on some foundation and that's it.
Over the long oval table, Rangiku sat next to the Acedemy's medical examiner, Retsu Unohana and Gin. Gin had the usual grin on his face, he even had his usually smiley face on. Practically everyone who's important to the academy was there. Even Jushiro Ukitake was there too.
Chancellor Shigekuni got a lot of low murmurs and whispers as responses. "Now, what I would like to know is how did this happen?" He said it with a rise in the already booming voice.
Immediately, the murmurs and whispers shushed down.
"How did a student, and this is assuming the said culprit is a student here, managed to hurt another student?" Chancellor Shigekuni continued his questions. "This will not do this academy any good if it get out to the Board of Education."
"Should we conduct our own investigation then? Avoiding any local authorities?" Gin asked, talking evenly.
"But nobody died, so why the fuss?" another male voice chimed in.
"That would true Mr. Aizen," Chancellor Shigekuni replied. "These concerned parents could sue us if we did nothing about it. And I'd rather that did not happen."
Again, murmurs and whispered broke out from within the table.
"What do you think we should do, Miss Matsumoto?" Chancellor Shigekuni asked, as he watched her have a disoriented look on her face.
"Huh?" Rangiku looked up, apparently lost in her own thoughts.
"What do you think we should do?" he repeated his question.
"I ... I don't know sir," Rangiku said, shamefully.
"I think it would be best if this does not get out," Jushiro contributed. "See to it if we can solve the problem ourselves but if we couldn't then bring in outsiders is the second best to go. I'm sure right now, student will be talking with each other and telling the parents of what they heard. I think it's best if we get the co-operation of the said victim in this."
"There's no other way, is there?" Chancellor Shigekuni said with a weary sigh. "I would rather not tarnish the clean reputation of ours."
The rest who didn't contributed nodded and agreed.
"Miss Matsumoto," Chancellor Shigekuni said. "See to it that Miss Amari Tanabe get the message. I'd like to see her personally."
Rangiku nodded in reply.
"Oh and her friends too. I'd like to see them too..."
Author's Note
Argh! Alright! That's it! No more saving my work in my stupid iPod! This is probably the 10th time my iPod becomes corrupted for no apparent reason and I'd have to reformat it, if I want to use it. Reformatting, equals to, total annihilation of my work and music. So I had to redo this chapter again and to make things worse, I forgot what I wrote. I know it's my fault that I didn't do back-up. Nyeh. Why are my readers not reviewing any of my stories or updates? ..cries.. LOL!
