DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. They belong to their respective owners. This storyline, however, does belong to me.
The House of Kuchiki
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
"We really should go down for breakfast..."
"Just a bit longer?"
"But everyone will be wondering why we're taking so long..."
"Let them wonder..."
"They'll send Kanaye-san to come get us."
"I'll send him away." Byakuya kissed the top of Hisana's head gently, drawing her closer to him. "I want to stay here a little longer."
Hisana rest her head on her husband's shoulder, placing her hand on his chest as he absentmindedly ran his fingers up and down her arm. "Alright..."
She had to admit she liked being there next to him under the covers, and she certainly didn't mind staying there with him. But the clan's opinion of her wasn't a good one, she felt, and making their leader late to breakfast on the first day after their marriage wasn't a good way to start things off.
So she made up her mind that she would make sure they got out of bed bright and early, but that was before he had asked her if they could stay longer. What was it about him? Something made it impossible for her to say no ... was it the look in his eyes? The tone of his voice?
She smiled and moved her hand up to fiddle around with his hair. Soon, she decided, we'll get out of bed soon.
---
As expected, the clan members were becoming impatient and complained to Kanaye, who was the servant who dealt with Byakuya the most, that they refused to wait much longer. "Things were better back when he was in a fight with this girl," one of them had remarked, "at least then he would come down and let us eat."
Matsumoto and Arisu were chatting amongst themselves, both tossing around different reasons as to why the two of them hadn't come down for breakfast yet. Matsumoto was convinced the two of them had a hangover as bad as hers, and Arisu simply decided that her tightly knotted obi was the explanation to everything.
The clan member who had made the remark earlier stood up. "If you don't go get him, I will. I don't have any problems barging in on him and forcing him out of the room, with or without that silly commoner."
"Silly commoner?" Byakuya stepped into the room, Hisana next to him with a sad expression.
Arisu smirked. "Perfect timing, as always."
"Whether you like it or not," Byakuya began, walking towards his chair with Hisana, his eyes always on the clan member who had made the remark, "She has more power in this clan than you do." Pulling out her seat for her, he waited for Hisana to sit down before finally sitting down in his own seat.
Hisana looked down at her lap, disappointed in herself for thinking that things were going to be different once they were married. She felt Byakuya's hand on her cheek and looked up as he put a stray strand of her hair behind her ear, leaning in to give her a soft kiss on the lips. "I'm sorry."
The room, which had broken into a quiet chatter, went uncomfortably silent, everyone's eyes drawn towards their clan leader, who now had his forehead pressed against his wife's. They saw him respond to Kanaye's question about bringing out the food by nodding while remaining in that same position, and most of the clan members were visibly uncomfortable with what they were witnessing.
Once the food had been set on the table, the two of them decided to keep their eyes locked from a distance, at least until the food had been placed on their individual plates.
Arisu smiled. "It's your first meal as a married couple, you realize?"
Matsumoto sighed in annoyance. "The first meal isn't as important as the first night! How did you two sleep? Did you GET sleep?"
Hisana blushed and nodded slowly, looking away from Byakuya. "Yes, we got sleep."
Arisu raised an eyebrow. "Is that so? And how was the obi knot? Did that give you any trouble?"
Hisana shook her head. "Well, we did have a tiny... conflict regarding it. And then we..." She trailed off, turning bright red.
Matsumoto's jaw dropped as Arisu smirked. "Then you...?" Arisu began eating her food.
Byakuya rolled his eyes. "And then we went to sleep."
"Oh really now? Hisana-chan's blush tells me otherwise, dear cousin."
---
After breakfast, each of the clan members slowly began standing up to leave the table, eventually leaving Hisana, Byakuya, Arisu and Matsumoto alone.
Matsumoto looked at Byakuya suddenly. "Oh, Captain Kuchiki. Does this mean Hisana-chan's going to be in your division?"
Byakuya shook his head. "She's not joining a division."
Matsumoto's eyebrow raised. "And why not?"
Hisana sighed. "Because I have far less of a chance of dying here at the estate than I do if I was on a mission."
Matsumoto frowned. "Hisana-chan! You're lucky! I WISH I could get away from having to go on missions and do paperwork and whatnot..."
Arisu slowly lifted her cup of tea and went to take a sip. "Oh, that's right! We need to do the tea ceremony!"
"... tea ceremony?" Byakuya raised an eyebrow. "Not another one of your silly made-up ceremonies, is it?"
Arisu shook her head, frowning. "My ceremonies aren't silly! Anyways! This is how this works." She refilled Hisana and Byakuya's cups with new tea. "What you have to do... is drink the tea at the same time, and then go to put your glasses down at the same time."
"And what is this ritual of yours for?" Byakuya slowly took the cup of tea in his hand.
"Well, it's to make sure that the two of you grow old and die together. But let me finish. If one of you puts the cup down even a second late, it's said you'll be the first to die."
Hisana frowned as she took the cup into her own hands. "Wouldn't a ceremony like this jinx our chances of living a long life together?"
Byakuya shook his head. "Arisu's just making it up. Just play along with it and she'll leave you alone." He lifted the glass to his lips.
Hisana nodded slowly and went to drink the tea at the same time Byakuya did, lowering it and going to put it down.
"Quickly, Hisana-chan! He's going to beat you to... it..." Matsumoto frowned as Hisana's cup landed on the table less than a second after Byakuya's.
Arisu frowned. "You're supposed to put it down at the same time! Now I can't be all cheery saying you'll grow old and die together."
Matsumoto scrunched her nose. "Does this thing come true usually?"
Arisu shrugged. "My mother told me that when she did it for Bya-chan's parents, his father put the cup down last and he died in a mission years before his wife died."
Hisana looked at Byakuya with a trace of fear and sadness in her eyes.
"But that was probably just a strange coincidence. No need to worry, Hisana-chan." Arisu patted her on the back with a toothy grin. "Your fool of a husband will probably end up getting himself killed in a battle before you die anyways."
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Chapter 29 up within the next two days! D; For now, it's time for sleep.
