Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or it's Characters. Bleach (c) Kubo Tite
Chapter 28
He ran out of the room. I set the teapot down and chased after him. Byakuya followed aswell.
"What's this all about?" I yelled.
"The captain! He's really sick!" Taro replied out of breath.
Byakuya did not waste anytime and shunpoed to the captain's office. I did the same, but he was still faster than me. The doors of the captain's office were open, when I entered. I saw Captain Ukitake on the floor coughing up a lot of blood. Aramaki and Kisaragi were with him, along with Byakuya who was performing a healing kido on his chest.
"Get the strecher." Byakuya commanded.
Aramaki and Kisaragi both grabbed the strecher and knelt beside their captain. I ran over to the men, and helped them place Ukitake in the strecher.
"We need to get him to the 4th division, but we need to move carefully." Byakuya stated as the men began to walk with the strecher.
Byakuya kept one hand on the captain's chest while supplying the healing kido. I walked over to them.
"Is there anything I can do?" I asked.
"Could you, help clean up his office?" Byakuya asked me.
"Yes, of course." I said as I watched the three men leave.
I looked around the room. At the captain's desk, it looked like he had a coughing attack here. On his paperwork, no less. Also he fell out of his chair, and seemed to vomit some blood on the floor while coughing. A hankerchief isn't going to take care of this. I walked out of the office, and ran into Taro Shino again.
"What's happened to the captain?" Taro was still frantic.
"He's being taken to the 4th division for treatment. I was order to help clean up his office. You wouldn't mind assisting me, would you?" I asked him.
"I'd be glad to help." Taro said.
We left the office insearch of cleaning supplies.
The four men finally arrived at the entrance of the 4th division. The doors were opened quickly and a bed for the ill captain was promptly prepared.
"We need Captain Unohana." One of the 4th division members stated.
Byakuya still was applying his healing kido upon Ukitake. His captain's chest was stained with his blood. His mouth was completely covered in blood. Aramaki took notice of this and grabbed a cloth to clean his captain's mouth.
Ukitake was no longer awake. He had fallen asleep for selfperservation. Captain Unohana rushed into the first room of the 4th division where Ukitake was being cared for. She walked over to his bedside, and place one hand on his chest. She felt his heartbeat straining. Unohana let her life energy flow from her hand to Ukitake's frail body.
"I will take care of him from here." She told the three men from the 13th division. All three nodded, and slowly left their captain's side.
Byakuya went to go wash his hands again. Even though his face revealed a calm character, inside he was terrified of Captain Ukitake dying. Even though he's been at odds when Ukitake's overly friendly personality ever since he joined the 13th division 36 years ago, Byakuya admired his captain and held great respect for him. He even worked hard practicing healing kido so he could give medical care to help support Ukitake incase he became too excited or stressed.
Unohana knelt down beside Ukitake and healed him with both hands. She knew it would take hours before he would wake again. Just before the members of the 13th division left the 4th division, Unohana spoke.
"I will send someone to report on your captain's condition in a few hours." She informed them calmly.
The three men nodded and left.
--
Taro-kun and I finished cleaning up the captain's office and left. I went to wash my hands again. They were covered in Captain Ukitake's blood. I could not help but shed a few tears while I was in the washroom. I was so scared for Ukitake. He looked so weak and frail when I last saw him. I thought he was going to die right in front of me.
I left the washroom and returned to my office. I entered and closed the doors behind me. I decided the thing Ukitake needed me to do was to finish up my work and not be so worried over him. He'd scold me if he saw me crying. That fool. He can't be a captain when he's so ill. He could die at any moment. Well, we all could die at any moment, but he's got better chances.
I continued my paperwork quietly.
"He'll be alright." Rei said.
"I hope so." I started to tear up again.
"Don't worry, he's got Byakuya-kun healing him. And you know how experienced of a healer he is." Rei joked in a seductive tone.
"I can't believe my zanpakuto is perverted." I said outloud as Byakuya entered the room.
His eyes were wide as he tilted his head in shock.
"Welcome back, Byakuya senpai. If you were wondering what I was talking about. I was just talking to my zanpakuto."
"Your zanpakuto is perverted?"
"Pretty much, irrational and perverted. But she was really just trying to cheer me up. That's all." I gave my evil laugh.
"I never heard of a zanpakuto trying to cheer their owner up." Byakuya said while returning to his desk.
"Really? Maybe people just don't talk about what they do with their zanpakutos. But Rei and I are like good friends." I smiled. "Oh, how are things with you and your zanpakuto?"
"Good, although I am still many years away from achieving bankai."
"Oh! I wonder what your bankai will be like. Maybe it will be like a large sakura tree that runs around and smacks people?" I said excitedly.
"That's possible." Byakuya said, he looked a bit depressed.
"I wonder what my bankai would be like. Maybe it's a typhoon or a hurricane. A blizzard perhaps. Controlling a cloud would be good enough. I could make it rain ice shards on my enemies."
"That would be useful against the Quincy." Byakuya told me.
"What do you think Rei?"
"There are some more techniques you haven't learned with my shikai. You still have a long way to go, Hisana-chan." Rei told me.
"Oh, I haven't learned everything about my shikai." I sighed.
"My power amplifies your powers. You could probably perform your kido through me." Rei said out of no where.
"Really?!" I said while standing up suddenly.
"Is something, the matter?"
"Oh, um, I'm going to go out to the training grounds for a few minutes to test something out."
"You're still not off duty." Byakuya scolded me.
"Oh darn, it will have to wait Rei. Why did you have to talk about something so cool?"
"What did your zanpakuto say?" Byakuya asked.
"Secret." I shook my head and smiled.
We continued working for a few hours without talking. There was a knock on the door. Someone I haven't seen before came in.
"I'm here to report on Captain Ukitake Jushiro's current condition." The man said. "He is currently resting and will be released within a few days."
"Thank you for the report." Byakuya said as he nodded.
The man from the 4th division bowed and left us. It was about quiting time anyway and I gathered up my things and waved to Byakuya. I was on my way leaving the 13th division headquarters when Byakuya stopped me.
"Did you forget?" He asked me.
"Hmm?"
"Our training. You agreed you would train with me." He reminded me.
"Oh, I almost forgot with all that's happened today. Ok, where to?"
"If we used the training grounds here, there's a chance we might destory the whole area. We could use the training grounds on the Kuchiki residence." He suggested.
"That's fine with me. Oh, do you think I could go change? I don't want to get my uniform ruined."
"I think I have some clothes you could use at my home." He said.
"Ok, let's go." I said cheerfully.
We finally arrived at the frontgate of the Kuchiki home. I should have recognized it, it says "Kuchiki" on the gate. We entered his home where sevants greeted him. It seemed about the same as Yoruichi's home. Only his home had a lot of sakura trees around the property. They were so beautiful and still in bloom. Although half of the flowers have already fallen.
Byakuya stopped at a pair of doors. He had a key he unlocked them with and opened the doors. I followed him inside and realized that this was, his room. He had a large bed, a writing desk, a wall lined with bookshelves. And two more sliding doors that seemed as if they lead outside. He slided some other small doors which revealed to be a closet. He pulled out a small white yukata that would not fit him.
"I used to wear this, when I was younger." He stated while holding it up.
I walked over to him, and he placed the yukata in my arms. He then closed his closet and walked over to his drawers. He was searching for some hakama that would fit me.
"Why do you keep clothes that you can't wear anymore?" I asked him.
"They have sentemental value to me." He said while still searching.
He finally found what he was looking for. They were just dark gray hakama, but he brought them to my waist and it did not seem like they would be too long for me to wear. He gave me a confused look.
"Why aren't you changing clothes?" He asked me.
"Is there anywhere I could have a little privacy?" I said coyly.
He nodded and turned around and covered his eyes anyway. I undressed and wore Byakuya's old clothes. They felt soft and were made with better material than my shinigami uniform.
"I'm decent now." I said as I was folding my uniform.
"It's still a little large on you."
"I'll be fine. I can move ok in this. Thank you, senpai." I said as I picked up my zanpakuto.
We exited his room, and Byakuya locked his door. I followed him around his home as servants in his household looked on. His house seemed larger than Yoruichi's actually. Or maybe it was just poorly planned. We finally found our way to the training grounds.
The grounds were well kept and I was starting to feel guilty, because I could not avoid trashing the place. We walked out on the field and faced each other.
"How would you like to start?" He asked me.
"Well, let's try some hand to hand?" I said meekly.
"Hand to hand combat? If that's what you wish." He complied.
We took our battle stances and raised our fists. It was strange to see Byakuya raising his fists, but he's looks strange doing most things. I attacked first and attempted some kick attacks. He was able to dodge them all. He shunpoed away and I followed in pursuit. I threw a punch and broke the ground beneath him.
He started his attack now. He made a few jabs at me, but made sure not to hit me at all. I managed to kick him in the stomach and knocked the wind out of him.
"You're... a little too serious. We're warming up." He gasped.
"I thought we were just getting down to it. I didn't really think about a warm up. I'm sorry, Byakuya-kun." I said as I knelt down and applied a healing kido to his stomach area.
"I'll be fine, I just need to catch my breath." He said as he sat up.
"Well, what do we have here?" A voice of a man spoke.
"I don't believe it." Another voice that belonged to a woman spoke aswell.
I looked up and saw a handsomed dark haired man, with strange white things in his hair and a beautiful blue eyed woman with dark wavy hair. She looked kind of like Byakuya. Could she be his sister? They were both wearing shinigami uniforms, only the man was wearing a captain's haori. The both disappeared from view, and reappeared right before us.
"Good afternoon." I said.
"She's got nice manners." The man said while eyeing me.
"I haven't seen her around before." The woman said while inspecting me.
Byakuya and I both stood up at the same time.
"These are my parents." Byakuya revealed.
"Your parents? I thought they were your siblings." I almost fainted.
"She's got really nice manners." His mother smiled.
"Hi, I am Kuchiki Ryusuke. Captain of the 3rd division." He said with a kind smile. He was completely different from Byakuya.
"And I'm Kuchiki Azuna, the vice captain of the 3rd division. Pleased to meet you." Azuna said with a warm smile. She was different from Byakuya too!
"Hello, I am Kazehana Hisana, the 3rd seat of the 13th division." I smiled and bowed.
"Kazehana Hisana? That girl Yoruichi-san took in?" Ryusuke asked.
"Yes, that's me." I said weakly. I was tired of hearing myself being refered to as "that girl that Yoruichi took in." It was annoying. I was eyeing a, white hairpiece than Byakuya's dad was wearing. He was also wearing a scarf, on a warm day? It was obivious I was staring at it. I wasn't looking at anything else.
"Are you curious about what I'm wearing on my head?" Ryusuke asked while pointing at it.
"It looks like you're wearing a piece of washboard on your head." I frowned while crossing my arms.
"Kazehana-chan!" Byakuya said suddenly. "That headpiece is called the Kenseikan, symbolizing his noble rank as the head of the Kuchiki family."
"Doesn't get uncomfortable when you have to scratch a part of your head that's under the kensaiken?" I worried.
"Yeah, that's why I carry a chopstick around to poke around there when it does itch." The 3rd captain said while pulling out the chopstick of subject.
"I'm glad you're thinking ahead, Mr. Kuchiki." I praised him while giving up the thumbs up.
"You're being too informal with my father." Byakuya scolded me while giving a scary glare.
"She's fine, you don't need to get so defensive of honorifics or titles." Ryusuke told his son while yawning. "Feel free to call me, Ryusuke-kun." He winked.
"Don't worry about my son." Azuna said while padding me on the shoulder. "He's a little weird around people. I don't know why he gets so cold. He used to be so friendly when he was little. Making jokes and pulling pranks. Peeking at the ladies's bathhouse even-"
"Mother!" Byakuya shouted to stop her from saying anything more.
"He hasn't peeked at you has he?" Azuna questioned me.
"Not that I know of." I smiled really wide and laughed nervously with my hands on my hips.
"And he has a wonderful singing voice." She continued while giving me a wink and a smile.
"There's something Yoruichi-san never told me." I commented while studying Byakuya with a serious look on my face.
"We are in the process of training, there's not much time before the war with the Quincy." Byakuya told his parents in a commanding told.
"There's plently of time- Quincys aren't that tough anyway. I could unleash my Bankai and that would be the end of all of them." Ryusuke boasted to the group.
"That would be convient, if all the Quincys happen to be in a deep sleep and don't want to wake up for hours for your Bankai to kill them." Byakuya huffed at his father.
"Why are you so mean to me!?" Ryusuke cried as fell to the ground in tears. He started to roll around back and forth on the ground while moaning in emotional pain saying, "I don't like you anymore!" and "Why are you so cold?"
While watching Byakuya's opposite father cry, I was remembering something Yoruichi told me about Byakuya. She said, "Byakuya got to be good at shunpo while playing 'Flash tag' with me. He was never able to catch me, but no one has. Ahem, where was I? Oh, tag! You're it!" I walked over to Byakuya and stayed at arms length. I reached out my right hand and rested it on his arm. I gave him a sly smile as he held a look of small surprise on his face.
"Tag. You're it." I said quietly as I blasted off!
