Chapter Thirty-Seven
Early the next morning Yasu walked to the Squad Six barracks, determined.
Byakuya walked from his home to his barracks, accidentally stepping up behind Yasu. "What are you doing over here again? Haven't I deterred you from visiting me?"
Yasu turned slightly and stopped walking. "Oh… Sixth Captain, I'm not here to see you this time."
"So you admit it, you have been seeking me out."
Yasu shook her head. "I'll never admit it." She flashed him a sad smile. "Now if you'll remove yourself from my presence, I have important matters to attend to."
"…Are you mocking me?" Byakuya accused.
"Good bye Sixth Captain." Yasu took a deep breath and continued walking.
"… What are you going to do?" Byakuya called after her.
"Repay my debt." Yasu walked inside the barracks and knocked on Renji's door.
Renji opened his bedroom door with a large smile. "Oh, Yasu…" his smile faltered a bit, he'd been expecting Saiko. "hey, what's up?"
Yasu smiled at him sadly. "Can I… come in? I …" She closed her mouth.
"Yeah, yeah of course." He took a step back so Yasu could slip in past him.
Yasu stood in the center of Renji's bedroom, looking awkwardly at her fingers.
"Did you want to sit down or…?"
Yasu shook her head and looked up at him. "I… I'm ready to talk to you."
"Yeah? Good, you've been killing me lately with all this… you know." Renji laughed.
Yasu nodded. "Renji… I… Renji."
"What?" Renji sobered up quickly.
"Renji, I…" A tear rolled down Yasu's pale cheek.
"Wh-what?... Yasu—"
Yasu shook her head. "I don't know if you have or have ever had any feelings for me, and I don't want to. I know you and Saiko… I'm giving you to her completely, it's the only way I can think to repay my debt to her. You're really important to me Renji… and I'm going to give that up."
"Yasu… Wh-what are you talking about? You can't…"
"That's all." Yasu smiled and nodded before slipping out quickly. She hurried outside trying her best to keep it all together and convince herself she was happy with her decision.
Byakuya stood at the bottom of the barrack steps, waiting for her. "Yasu." He spoke her name softly.
"Not now Sixth Captain." Yasu tried to rush past him so he couldn't see the tears dripping from her eye holes.
Byakuya whooshed over to her, wrapping her with the long sleeves of his robes in a comforting embrace.
"Sixth Captain…" Yasu whispered into the folds of his robes.
"Do not dare say that I am not a compassionate person."
Yasu let her tears flow freely, "Sixth Captain, I don't want to be here anymore."
"I understand." Byakuya said simply, whooshing her away.
Matsumoto eyed Saiko cautiously. "You're too happy."
"What?" Saiko asked, sitting down at Matsumoto's table, a large smile plastered on her face.
"I mean, I'm glad you're happy, but you're too happy. Something happened."
"We had a passionate night last night, what can I say? I do good work." Ikkaku informed her.
"Please, if that was the case, she'd be depressed in a corner for having sunk so low." Matusmoto scrunched her face.
"You know, you think you're joking when you say that, but words hurt."
"I'm sorry, Ikkaku." Saiko patted his shoulder gingerly.
"Okay. Enough of this. What happened?" Matsumoto persisted.
Saiko laughed softly. "Honestly? I don't know… But I'm pretty sure it was good."
Renji came into the room and sat down next to Saiko slowly. "Did you say something to Yasu?"
"I've said many things to her. Anything specific you're talking about?" Saiko turned her smile on hm.
"She just…" Renji frowned at Matsumoto and Ikkaku. "Never mind. Now's not a good time."
"Okay now I'm really confused. Someone tell me what's going on! Why are you two talking again?" Matsumoto wailed.
Saiko reached under the table and took Renji's hand lightly. "Because he was sick of having no friends."
"Tch, I have other friends besides you." Renji grumbled, he thought back to the conversation he'd just had with Yasu and looked slightly unsure.
"No worries, Renji, if you need a friend just come talk to me." Ikkaku jabbed his chest with his thumb. "I'll fill you in mine and Saiko's wild adventures in the bedroom."
"In your dreams." Saiko dismissed.
"There too." Ikkaku added.
Renji kicked Ikkaku from under the table.
"Oww, Saiko!"
"Sorry?" Saiko frowned at Renji.
Renji shrugged.
Matsumoto looked between Renji and Saiko before standing up quickly and grabbing Ikkaku by the shirt. "Come on. Let's go." She dragged him away.
"Weird…" Saiko shook her head before turning her attention back to Renji. "So… what about Yasu?"
"She just…" Renji thought about what was safe to tell Saiko. "I think she doesn't want to be friends with me anymore."
"And who wouldn't want to be friends with you?" Saiko asked, sarcastic.
"Exactly," Renji nodded, completely missing her sarcasm. "Just… Come with me and help me find her? She feels like she owes me to you…"
"What? Why?"
"I don't know! She just left!" Renji shouted, becoming desperate.
Saiko nodded. "We can go look for her."
Yasu sat down on Byakuya's fancy gilded couch as one of his underlings brought her a cup of tea.
Byakuya sat down across from her on his important lazy boy recliner.
"…why are you doing this?" Yasu whispered to her steaming cup.
Byakuya held out a crested handkerchief to Yasu. She took it and wiped away her tears.
"You've done a foolish thing, Yasu." Byakuya told her.
Yasu shook her head. "No, I did the right thing."
"It worries me that you believe that so strongly, yet here you are in obvious pain."
Yasu reverted her gaze to her hands that were nervously ringing out the kerchief.
"I do not understand why I feel so compelled to make sure you are alright…"
Byakuya leaned back in his chair.
"I don't know either." Yasu dabbed at her eyes some more.
"You… may be the most annoying person I have met in a long time."
Yasu looked sad, knowing she was a burden to everyone around her.
"You keep constantly bothering me, everywhere I look there's you! …smiling at me, holding out a muffin to someone you hold a grudge against." Byakuya's harsh tone softened slightly.
"I'm sorry."
"I… cannot help but empathize with you." Byakuya admitted hesitantly.
Yasu blinked up at him.
"Please don't be sad over someone like Abarai."
"I-I can't help it… I…"
"He is not the only one that cares for you, you understand?"
"Captain Kuchiki…"
Byakuya in a moment of quick deliberation whooshed over to his couch and wrapped Yasu in an embrace once again.
Renji walked out of the Squad Four barracks. "She's not there…"
"Is she on duty anywhere? Did you ask her Captain?" Saiko questioned.
Renji shook his head. "She requested the day off…"
"Well… Where would she go?"
Renji rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know… She's usually at her barracks if she's not with me…"
Saiko took hold of his arm. "It's okay, we'll find her. Promise."
Late the next morning, Yasu opened her eyes, finding herself surrounded by a million fluffy pillows and silk sheets wrapped around her body. She was in Byakuya's bed, one of his many guest beds to be specific.
"Maybe no one will ever be able to find me if I burry myself deep enough under these ten million thread count sheets." Yasu whispered to herself, hugging a phoenix down blanket close to her body.
Renji stood in Byakuya's entry room, looking annoyed. "Come on, Captain."
"No. There's no reason." Byakuya stood before him, stopping Renji from entering his home.
"She hates Squad Two. You haven't filled her seat yet, just… let her come back." Renji persisted.
"I can't just let her. There's an unbelievable amount of tedious paper work that goes with it. She made her choice, she can stay there."
"I'll help with the paper work… I can forge your signature well enough."
Byakuya looked slightly annoyed.
"Do you have the paper work in your home office? Let's get it done now, the sooner the better. I don't think Saiko will be able to last another day." Renji pushed passed his Captain.
"She is not of my Squad, I don't care." Byakuya followed him.
Renji began to open doors at random, not sure where Byakuya's office could be located in this maze.
"Leave my home, now, quit poking around. You were not invited." Byakuya called after him, not sure how much he should intervene.
Yasu, from small fort of pillows, heard the sound of doors opening and closing becoming closer and closer from down the hall. "I wonder what's going on out there…"
Renji threw open the door to the guest bedroom and shut it again. "I need more sleep…" He slowly opened the door again. "Yasu?"
"…don't you knock?" Yasu blushed and tried to pull the blankets over her head.
"Abarai, get out of my home, you have no business here." Byakuya stepped into the door way behind him.
Renji ignored him and stepped further into the room, pulling at Yasu's covers.
Yasu held onto the sheets, hoping Renji would go away if she was resistant enough.
"Abarai, can't you see she doesn't wish to speak to you." Byakuya sighed.
"What is going on here? Why won't you talk to me?" Renji demanded, giving the sheets a hard tug.
Saiko stuck her head in the room. "Captain Kuchiki I was looking for… Oh Renji, there you are."
"I host one party and suddenly people come flooding into my home without invitation. I knew this would happen." Byakuya shook his head.
Renji came away with the blankets in his hands and threw them to the floor.
Yasu wrapped her arms around herself and sat up. "Did I not make myself clear yesterday, Renji? I don't want to see you again, please leave me alone."
"Whoa, Captain!" Saiko exclaimed at the site before her.
Byakuya glared at her.
"You're stuck with me, Yasu, I'm not yours to give away to people." Renji looked down at the girl.
"I don't want you anymore." Yasu stared back at Renji.
"Don't lie to me."
Yasu nodded. "I'm not, it's true."
Byakuya snapped his fingers and an underling came around. "Bring us some tea and… muffins."
Saiko looked around Byakuya's house. "Damn… I picked the wrong superior..."
Renji turned and narrowed his eyes at her for a second.
"It was a joke." Saiko smiled at him before turning back to admire the room. "Sort of…"
Renji sat down on the side of the guest bed and picked up Yasu's idle hand.
"Go away." Yasu buried her face between her knees that were pulled up to her chest. "I can't take you back now, I have to repay my debt so Saiko can free me from her life."
Saiko raised an eyebrow at Renji.
Renji slowly let go of Yasu's hand but didn't stand up.
"What debt are you talking about, Yasu? You don't owe me anything."
Yasu's eyes flicked to Saiko. "You saved my life… you sacrificed your eye… didn't you ever wonder why someone as small and worthless as me would join the academy and find a place in the court guard? I had to stay close to you… so I could sacrifice something for you."
"Meh, my eye was just weighing me down anyway." Saiko waved her hand dismissively. "I told you a long time ago it wasn't that big of a deal."
"Is my life not worth that much to you?" Yasu looked sad. "So much that it can be waved off as nothing… just another charity. I tried to repay you, I gave up my most precious possession, my friendship, and you push it away as nothing." Yasu shook her head. "I'm sorry I'm not worth your time."
"You can't just give up a friend!" Renji shouted.
"Stay out of this, Renji." Saiko turned to Yasu. "That's not what I'm saying at all. I've always had a nasty habit of jumping in front of people about to get hurt. Don't burden yourself with worrying if it affected me or not. And don't give up a friendship just because I lost an eye. If you're so thankful that I saved your life, then live it, don't hide under a bunch of blankets."
"Yasu… you heard her, stop doing this to yourself… if not for you, do it for me? You're breaking my heart too." Renji spoke softly, for once not raising his voice.
"That's what Saiko's for." Yasu smiled at Renji sadly. "I'm sorry Saiko, I'm not strong enough to live the kind of life you expect of me."
"Live up to my expectations? I have no expectations of you. Do what you want, but if you're really so thankful for your life, you'd do something other than make people feel sorry for you."
"Saiko! That's too harsh!" Renji yelled at her.
"Well, I don't see your tactic of babying her working so well."
Yasu looked down embarrassed.
"That is enough, leave her be for now." Byakuya demanded, still occupying the doorway.
"Captain? Why are you…?" Renji turned on him.
"This is my house, is it not? Leave."
Saiko's stomach growled loudly. "I should get back to training anyway." She waved to everyone in the room as she walked out.
"I refuse to leave, I'm sorry to disobey you Captain, but I'm not going to leave it like this." Renji looked pointedly at Yasu.
"This is no time to be stubborn Renji." Yasu spoke harshly.
Saiko leaned against the doorway. "Come on, Renji, she doesn't want to talk to you anymore, at least you can be a good friend and respect her wishes."
"Go on Saiko, I'll meet up with you later." Renji waved her away.
Byakuya sighed. "Come help me fill out paper work, Saiko." He spoke as though it pained him deeply to give in to another squad transfer.
"Paper work for what?" Saiko questioned.
"Abarai come here to pester me about relocating you to my squad."
"Really?" Saiko raised an eyebrow at Renji. "Missed me that much, huh?" she grinned at him teasingly.
"Let them talk in peace." Byakuya pulled Saiko out of the room and shut the door.