Chapter 36: Snow Kept Secrets
*I went to a specialist who did some tests for my vertigo and now she thinks it's not a problem with my ears but something neurological. Now I have to go see a neurologist. :I
Please review.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, just a lot of OCs.*
"Snow provokes responses that reach right back to childhood." ~Andy Goldsworthy
"This is truly a surprise. I didn't think you were serious when you said you wanted to visit me. What do you want?" Katsutoshi said bluntly.
He was laid up in bed again but he allowed Naomi to visit him anyway. The pair was sharing cups of tea and each other's company. Naomi wasn't wearing her Soul Reaper uniform but instead a plain colored kimono and a matching heavy haori coat. Katsutoshi was getting warm just looking at her but he knew of his cousin's distaste for the cold.
"Who says I want anything?" Naomi chuckled. "I just felt like visiting you. I thought you might be feeling lonely since you're always sick in bed."
The red haired and red eyed young lord snorted at his cousin's answer. She was visiting him because she thought he was feeling lonely? That was the most ridiculous and childish notion he had ever heard.
Even if there was a tiny grain of truth to it.
Make no mistake Katsutoshi valued silence and isolation. It allowed him to rest, think, or work in peace without any distractions. Friends and family meant little to him because he meant little to them. There were times, rare and fleeting, that he would see parents lovingly tending to their children or friends laughing together and he would feel… jealous.
He had accepted long ago that his father would never be proud of him or even smile at him. His mother would never tend to him when he is ill. Katsutoshi had no friends but in the world he lived in that might be for the better, friends could be more deadly then enemies.
"How kind of you," he said dryly.
His cousin rolled her green eyes and smiled, "How have you been?"
"I've been better but I've also been worse so I suppose I can't complain. And yourself?"
"Fine, things are settling down in Seireitei," she took a sip of warm tea.
"No new attacks?" He asked while leaning back against his plush pillows.
Naomi shook her head, "No. Everyone for the most part has calmed down but they're warily optimistic. No one has yet to figure out who was behind those attacks."
"I suppose that's both good and bad news. But what about you personally? How was your trip to the Living World?"
She sighed and rested her head in her hand, "So you know about that too?"
Katsutoshi looked over the rim of his cup, "If it's any consolation I knew before your father did."
It wasn't. "Did you know he is planning to marry me to Byakuya Kuchiki again?"
Naomi caught a hint of mirth in his red eyes and his voice held some of that mirth too. "He might be planning but it's nothing more than for show. He's just trying to scare you."
"How do you know that?" She muttered miserably.
Her cousin gave her a dry, annoyed look, "I may be weak of body but I am not weak of mind. That and I have sleek shadows just about everywhere listening and reporting to me. No offense but the Kuchikis want nothing to do with you since you jilted their head last time you two were paired. You have nothing to worry about."
"Minds can be changed if the eyes see enough gold," Naomi murmured.
A crimson eyebrow rose, "When did you become so poetic? While that is true the Kuchikis are wealthier then our family. For Takehiko to make any monetary deal the least bit interesting to them he'd have to empty out his treasury and then some. I'll say it again; you have nothing to worry about."
Naomi said nothing but looked down at her tea and slowly swirled it around. Maybe he was right. Maybe Takehiko was bluffing and she had nothing to fear. She couldn't really picture the Kuchikis taking her even if she was the only viable candidate for their precious head.
"I never got a chance to ask you this but why did you want me to become the Head of the White Chrysanthemum Branch?"
"I don't believe I ever told that I wanted that," he replied primly.
Naomi looked at him skeptically, "You expect me to believe that? I caught your little hint when we spoke at the party a few weeks ago. I knew what you meant, what you were hinting at."
At the mention of the word party Naomi remembered Yumichika inviting her to one this coming Saturday. I should get something nice for Ikkaku. He's done a lot for me recently…
"I think your interpretation and deduction were misguided," that twinkle of mirth was back in his eyes.
The blond smiled and sighed, "Don't screw with me Katsu. I don't care if you screw with other people just don't do it with me. Now answer my question, why?"
Katsutoshi regarded his cousin with a contemplative placid look. She looked the same age as him and the term of years they roughly were the same age. She was youthful, strong, loyal, caring, merciful, and courageous. Save for a certain few, no one in the Yamamoto family bore those qualities anymore, himself included.
"Because this family needs someone like you. The only person bringing this family an ounce of honor and pride is our grandfather but he won't live forever. Could you honestly want to see your father or mine or uncle Yoshirou ascend as the next Head of the Yamamoto Clan? Because honestly a thought like that is enough to give me nightmares."
"So you're grooming me to possibly become the head of our clan?" She asked uncertainly. It sounded like a bullshit answer but she did find herself agreeing with him. The idea that any of those men coming into that kind of power was frightening.
"That's part of it. The other part is that I think you are capable of doing great things for yourself and others."
She scoffed into her tea, "Now I know that's bullshit."
Katsutoshi eyed her sadly and shook his head, "You give yourself too little credit Naomi."
The Eleventh Division was normally loud and thunderous on any given day or night but tonight was different. Their excuse being it was a party and thus had the right to be boisterous. There was food and drink aplenty and friends from every Division coming to visit.
Well almost everyone. Ikkaku kept sneaking glances at the doors or windows waiting for a certain someone to pop in. Yumichika noticed and smiled softly.
"She will show up you know. So stop worrying," he said quietly.
Ikkaku scoffed, "I know she will and I'm not worried."
Just then the two men heard the light tap of feet landing on the floor. They looked to see Naomi having appeared using shunpo and carrying her brother Ryouji.
"Sorry we're late. I got caught up working and well…" Naomi explained sheepishly.
She set Ryouji down who then tackled Ikkaku's legs. He looked up with a big grin, "Happy birthday!"
The older man chuckled and ruffled the boy's hair, "Thanks kid. Why don't you go find Yachiru? She's around here somewhere."
The three watched the boy scuttle off. Naomi cleared her throat and handed Ikkaku a snow white ceramic bottle. "I'm sure you've gotten plenty from others but I still hope you like it. I'm pretty sure no one's given you this brand yet."
"Thank you," he took the bottle and then noticed the symbol in red stamped on the front. It was a cloud with a sun and crescent moon in the center of the cloud. The eyes of the two men widened. It was a mihashiranokami brand sake, the most expensive brand of sake there was. This was stuff that only people from clans like the Kuchiki or Shihoin could afford!
"Naomi how… how did you get this? !" The Third Seat stuttered.
She blinked at him, "Well my maternal grandparents, my mom's parents, own and run the brewery that makes it. And since I'm their only granddaughter all I had to do was ask nicely for a bottle. Why? Don't you like it?"
The two men gaped at her before Ikkaku recovered, "I like it really I do. It's just that this stuff is so expensive…"
The lieutenant smiled, "I think you deserve it. After all that you've done for me lately..."
Yumichika looked between the two of them. Both were noticeably blushing and looking away from each other. This was too good if only Naoko was here to see this.
"I should probably go check on the kids," the young lady scurried off with a furious blush still painted on her cheeks.
Yumichika smiled and chuckled, oh yeah, this was too good.
Snow.
It was now the middle of November and there was snow, at least an inch of the accursed white stuff. Seireitei didn't normally get a lot snow, a few inches but that was it and it didn't snow until mid- to late December. Some people were muttering that this was Captain Hitsugaya's doing since he loved the cold and his Shikai can control the weather. But the young captain swore with annoyed vehemence that this was not his doing.
An inch or a foot it didn't matter to Naomi. She hated it all the same and wished she was like a bear and could hibernate through it all. The cold air made her skin and lips chapped, her limbs shook, and her back seemed to ache constantly. Getting out of her warm bed every morning was an absolute chore and the many heavy layers she dressed in Naomi seemed to never feel warm.
She sat at her desk wrapped in a thick blanket cocoon trying to finish her daily dose of paperwork when the door opened. Naomi didn't look up but instead shivered at the feel of the cold gust of wind and tightly pulled the blanket closer around her.
"Madarame, what brings you here?" Sakura said pleasantly.
"Captain Ishida, have you see the Lieutenant around? I saw her head this way. The captain wanted me to find her and make sure she's wearing enough so she doesn't risk getting sick or anything," he explained.
The Quincy tapped her chin with her pen, "I think I might've seen a pink blur pass by the window. She might be at the Fourth visiting Unohana or heading to the Third to see Ayasegawa. What do you think Naomi?"
The lieutenant had reluctantly stood up from her warm casing. The papers she finished filling out needed to be filed and the filing was sadly done in another room. Her captain addressing her caught Naomi off guard. She yelped in shock and dropped all her papers.
"Naomi?"
The young blond jumped again, "W-What?"
"Do you think Lieutenant Kusajishi was heading for the Fourth or Third Divisions?"
"M-Maybe I'm… I'm not sure. Excuse me," The two watched Naomi gather her papers off the floor and quickly scurry away.
"You know, she's been acting strange and twitchy like that this past week. Ever since it started snowing I think," Sakura mused. "Do you think you could talk to her for me? I've tried but she's being pretty tightlipped and evasive."
"Yeah, sure thing," Ikkaku mumbled as he trailed after Naomi.
It wasn't hard to catch up and he spotted her just as she stepped outside, "Naomi, wait up!"
Surprisingly the lieutenant did stop and she was standing outside… in the cold. She turned, "What?"
"What's up with you? Your captain says you've been acting twitchy and jumpy."
Naomi waved him off, "It's nothing alright."
She tried to walk away because she was really starting to feel the cold. Despite wearing extra layers that were made of heavier fabric the cold still found a way to seep into her body. But Ikkaku wasn't going to let her get away that easily. Something was clearly wrong.
He gently seized her arm, "Now hold on and don't give me that crap. Something's up with you."
"And what makes you think you could do anything about it?" Naomi hissed, struggling to break away.
"Because I'm your friend and you could at least try and talk to me. Maybe I could help," he reasoned.
She stopped struggling and looked to the ground. Seconds ticked by and Naomi sighed just when Ikkaku released her arm.
Naomi didn't look up as she explained, "It's the weather alright? I don't like it. It's not so much the snow that I don't like is that it's cold. It dries out my skin and my back aches—"
"Because of your scars?"
Naomi's head shot up and her eyes clearly screamed, how do you know about those? !
"It was back when we went out to kill those Hollows together and we were staying at that inn. I may have caught a glimpse of you when you were undressing but I only saw your back I swear!" He said quickly when he noticed Naomi's eyes start to narrow. "I saw those three scars and… and that's all I saw."
She sighed, hung her head down, and leaned back against the railing. Her back throbbed duly but she didn't pay it any mind.
"Naomi," Ikkaku said softly. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you get those scars?"
She looked up at him and Ikkaku wondered briefly if he had crossed a line. But her green eyes weren't filled with anger or hurt. They were filled with despondence and a dull, old pain. There was something fractured in her gaze from long ago. Sadness, pain, shame, fear, and anger all congealed together to create a look of something that Ikkaku couldn't name.
"If I tell you this will you promise to listen to the whole story and not run off and do something rash?" She crossed her arms loosely over her chest.
If Naomi was asking that of him then that was not a good sign. But he nodded anyway, his curiosity piqued.
The lieutenant took a deep breath, "When I was a little girl my fa—Takehiko had a tendency to… punish me for any slight or wrongdoing I committed whether I actually did it or not. He has raised a hand against me but that's not the worst thing he's done."
Ikkaku felt both sick and angry at hearing that. The Third Seat never really liked the man but now he found contempt slithering around in his heart. Raising a hand against a child? A little girl even? ! What kind of sick man did that? And what could be worse? He felt a little sicker at the possible thought of what she might be meaning.
Naomi continued, "He was a Soul Reaper a long time ago and he still had his zanpakutou." The scars on her back were beginning to burn but pressed on, "Sometimes he would use his sword's special abilities on me, not enough to do any real harm but enough to hurt me. That sword was very, very cold."
She smiled but it was bitter one, "You know, I can't even remember what I did wrong that night. But it must've been something real bad because he brought me into an empty room and he had his sword. He unsheathed it and…"
This is where it all became a little fuzzy. Naomi could clearly remember the pain, the cold, and the smell of her own blood. But the pain had caused her to slip in and out of consciousness that she couldn't tell what had been real and what she had dreamed up. Her scars were really burning now. She bit her lip and wrapped her arms tighter around herself.
"And he cut you," Ikkaku finished, his eyes wide with horror. "Your father actually cut you with his own zanpakutou."
It was almost inconceivable that a man would use a part of his soul to hurt his own flesh and blood. It was a revolting and horrid idea.
A sudden flare of white-hot pain shot through her back and Naomi doubled over. She teetered forward but Ikkaku gently caught her before she could hit the floor. She tightened her arms around herself as she started to shiver. He carefully wrapped his own arms around her and her shiver slowly died away as did the pain in her back.
"How… how long ago did that happen?" He asked quietly.
Naomi shifted her head so she could rest it on his shoulder, "One hundred and ten or twenty years ago I think. After I had been hurt I was sent to live in Seireitei with my grandfather. That was actually the last time I was ever in that house or saw any of my family."
She was quiet for a moment and then spoke again, "Do you know the really bad part though? I'm not the only person's he's hurt like that. Ryouji told me he's been punished by Takehiko's sword too. It wasn't as serious but there was some damage. I had Orihime heal it when we we're in the Living World."
Ikkaku stiffened when he heard that. No he understood why Naomi had him promise not to do anything rash. Because right now the only thing that could satisfy the roiling anger was using Hozukimaru to inflict as much pain as possible on Takehiko before actually killing him.
But instead he suggested quietly, "You know, I think it might be nice if we paid a visit to your mom and brother tomorrow."
She nodded, "You're right. I think that'd be nice."
*Anybody else want to kill Takehiko? I liked the banter between Naomi and Katsutoshi and the scene between Naomi and Ikkaku is one I've been waiting to write for a while.
Mihashiranokami means "the three main Shinto gods: Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, and Susano-o". The sun represents Amaterasu since she's the goddess of the sun. The crescent moon is Tsukuyomi since he's the god of the moon. The cloud is Susano-o since he's the god of storms.
A sake brewer is called a tōji and their job is actually highly respected.
Please review and I'll be posting again August 8th.*