I had my birthday party yesterday, well, actually, it was more like a get together, just a meal and a film with a few mates. I really could not be arsed to organise anything else, and there is no way I am having a house party. Why don't I just save myself some bother and set fire to my house myself? My actual birthday is on the 24th, but I'm away over that week so I had it yesterday. It was propa good. We went to this Hawaiian restaurant and the waitress was well cool. I ate way too much though, and then I had ice cream and a frap at the movie. My stomach has swollen to the size of a beach ball...

Chapter 35 : Morning peace

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Kya's hand reached out next to her as she awoke from her peaceful sleep. Slowly her eyes fluttered open only to be met by the plain white pillow on which her head was resting. Early morning sunlight flittered through the thin paper door and added a subtle yellow glow to her surroundings. It couldn't have been later than eight o'clock.

With a slight yawn Kya sat up and looked around the room. It was empty. It was always empty when Kya woke up. Byakuya had a thing about getting up early. Too early, in Kya's opinion. How he always managed to leave without waking her was something that constantly puzzled her. It wasn't as if she was a heavy sleeper, so surely the movement should have stirred her. But no, every time she rose she was greeted by the same plain room while she lay alone on the futon. Maybe she'd surprise him one day by getting up before him.

Standing up and walking towards the small wardrobe in the corner, she pondered if she would ever be able to do this. The only answer she came up with was probably not, she needed her sleep too much. After reaching the wardrobe she pulled out the plain black sleeping yukata and pulled it around her loosely.

She walked over to the other side of the room where there was a small table with a highly polished vanity mirror sitting upon it. Placed in the centre of the table was a small cup of tea. Kya felt the edge of the cup with her fingers. It was still hot.

Somehow, Byakuya always managed to tell when she was going to wake up and prepare tea for when she did. She would have to ask him about how he could tell the exact time for her waking. The only reason she could come up with was that he contained weird mutant magic powers. For some reason, that didn't seem completely likely.

She placed the cup to her lips and took a sip of the hot liquid. She caught a glance of her reflection in the mirror. Wow, she looked a mess. Her hair was chaotic after someone had decided to yank the hair band out of it last night. The top half was just a confusion of purple waves and the thin section at the bottom was now mucked up in a layer of dried sweat. She quickly reached for a hair band and started trying to make it look a tiny bit respectable. She stopped when she noticed something.

The strange purple-red mark on her neck was undeniable.

And Shunsui thought she was the possessive one. At least she didn't constantly feel the need to mark him like an animal would.

Maybe she would just leave her hair down for the next couple of days.

Abandoning the idea of tying her hair up, she picked the cup off the table and made her way towards the sliding door that led to the garden. She opened it and looked out at the green that shone before her eyes. The sun must have been up for a couple of hours now, but was still low enough in the sky to cast an orange sheen on everything. The fresh dew on the grass made everything shimmer in the light and the sound of birds singing added to the tranquil feeling.

It was so peaceful here.

In fact, it was so peaceful that if Kya had not been in the serene mood she was, it may have unnerved her slightly. Stillness like this was usually a sign of coming danger to her. It never lasted long and when it was over all hell would take hold. However, at this point in time, with everything seeming so perfect, none of that mattered. Kya couldn't help but feel that maybe for once in her life, everything would turn out all right.

She leaned against the frame of the doorway as she took a silent sip from her tea.

"Morning" she said quietly to the other person there.

"You're up earlier than usual" Byakuya replied.

Kya looked over to where he was sitting on the bench of the veranda. His attention was firmly pasted to the thick book which resided in his hands and he didn't look up while speaking. He couldn't have been up long. He had yet to put on his captains' coat or the ancient family scarf that was so precious to him. His hair was still free of the kenseiken and fell loosely around his face. Those bloody kenseiken, always pulling back that perfect hair.

Kya knew she didn't need to answer that; it hadn't been a question, just a statement. Byakuya was so busy reading he may not even be able to hear any words she spoke.

Instead, Kya just continued to gaze at where he sat. He seemed so relaxed, as if he didn't need to pretend to be anything when he was here. She knew she was the only person he was like this around. His usually impenetrable shield of aloofness shattered when they were alone and he could just be his calm self. Kya loved it when he was like this. It let her know in that subtle way that he was free from anxiety and perfectly at ease around her.

"What are you reading?" she asked after five minutes of silence.

He held it up so she could see the cover while still looking at the contents. It was something about some Shinigami from centuries earlier. Not exactly Kya's idea of the pinnacle of excitement, but who was she to judge?

"Looks interesting"

Byakuya glanced up at her in response to the sarcasm. He didn't say anything but just redirected his attention back to the book. Kya stood up from her position against the doorframe and walked over to where he was. She sat down beside him on the bench and looked out at the garden. The tea cup was still cradled by both of her hands and she took in the warmth that it exuded.

She watched with interest as a lone sparrow hopped over the grass before her, occasionally pecking the ground in an attempt to find the food it craved. Her attention then shifted to the squirrel that was currently trying to reach a precariously placed branch in the tree to the right of the garden. It almost reached the limb, then slipped and tumbled down the four feet until it hit the ground. It was a moment later when it popped its head up from underneath its tail and looked around wildly as if wondering what had happened.

Kya chuckled quietly at the sight as the squirrel started scrambling back up the tree.

Byakuya looked at her and raised an eyebrow. Kya caught this in the edge of her vision and turned to him.

"Squirrel" she said as if it explained everything.

"Ok?" Byakuya replied while staring at Kya in an incredulous way. She just smiled before turning back to the garden.

"What are you doing today?" she asked instead of explaining any more about this squirrel.

"There have been reports of some disturbances in one of the middle districts of Rukongai. I am supposed to go and make sure they are nothing serious"

"What kind of disturbances?" Sending a captain to check out a couple of fights wouldn't be something Yamamoto would do. It would be a waste of resources. There had to be something else to the story.

"Two people with reasonably high spirit energy have been fighting in the streets. I am meant to go and see if they could enter the Shinigami Academy, which in turn would stop the fights." He answered absent-mindedly while peering at the book once again.

"Doesn't sound to me as if they'd make very good Shinigami if they keep on fighting without regards to anyone else"

"Maybe the Shinigami Academy could change that aspect of them"

"Maybe..." Kya frowned slightly as she spoke. In her experience, people like that didn't change so easily. Sure, there might be a few years of them quieting down, but sooner or later that side of them would awaken again and they would start fighting again. Only this time they would have been trained in fighting and could cause much more damage. Maybe there was a good reason for the fighting however; something that could be cleared up and they would turn out to be perfectly nice people.

"Can I go too?" Kya asked

Byakuya closed the book and looked at her closely.

"Why?" he said, clearly confused at Kya willingness to come along to such a trivial thing.

"Because it might be interesting, there may be some deep secret behind the fights that could help with a future mission of mine"

Byakuya's gaze remained its inspecting feeling.

"You know as well as I do how unlikely that is" he spoke after a minute of trying to judge what Kya was doing.

"I'm just... curious, you know?" Kya said slightly airily.

"Ok then" Byakuya said still wary in case Kya was planning something to satisfy her more devious side. That devious side could be pretty darn tricky.

Kya sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder. She closed her eyes and took in the scent of everything around her. The smell of flowers mixed with the earthy early morning air, all of which was overpowered by the subtle fragrance coming from Byakuya's robes. She felt his hand start running through her already messed up hair, but didn't care. It was all just so comfortable here with him.

His lips gently brushed against her forehead and she became aware of the gentle weight of his hand resting on her waist.

"Mmm..." she mumbled softly under her breath with her eyes still closed.

Right there, in Byakuya's arms, she felt as secure as if she was being protected by the entire world. Nothing could disturb this peace.

She wouldn't let it.

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Fluff again, whoopee!

Rhea's present rocks! It's a Bleach 2008 calendar, with months dedicated to Urahara, Byakuya and Gin! So now it is currently March 2008, next week it will be April, the week after that will be July, and the week after that will be March again. It's such a distraction though; I will never be able to do any homework in my room ever again because of its buff manly charms.

At the restaurant last night my friend Heta asked the waitress for a blowjob. It was a cocktail, ok? Not anything else diiirrrty... But apparently my stupid mother told them we were under 18 and they wouldn't serve us any alcohol.

My dad also told me today that he was scared of looking in my room in case he found anything he wouldn't like... thank you for your overwhelming trust in my morals, father...