So, I realized I didn't make it clear where at in the Bleach story line this fic takes place. This fic takes place just after Aizens defeat, like fresh after. Haha, hence why Toshiro was still working on filing reports from Karakura town.
Also, just in case it wasn't clear and you were a little lost in the first chapter, anything in single apostrophes like ' ' is Yua's thoughts/her responses to her Zanpakuto, and thing that is italicized and in quotes is her Zanpakuto talking.
I know it sounds similar to Rukia's situation when it comes to the Noble lifestyle, and her father restricting her promotions due to safety, but I am trying to input enough differences to set them apart. Yua was born into the clan as an heir, therefore she if viewed differently by her clan than Rukia is viewed by the Kuchiki clan. Also, Byuakuya and Akia are very different! Outwardly, Akia may seem like Byuakuya, but really Akia is very outgoing and loving towards Yua. Also, Akia is a Shinigami but he hates fighting and technically not part of the Gotei 13. We'll be able to see more subtle differences once between Yua and Rukia once I introduce Rukia in the fic and you see their friendship! They bond quite well over their similar circumstances.
Quick side note: Rukia and Renji are in a serious relationship in this fic, sorry Ichigo fans, it's really not personal, it's just convenient for the story setting to have her dating Renji, haha.
I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.
"Yua-sama… Yua-sama, you need to wake up."
I started slurring in my sleep. Something is trying to wake me up.
"YUA-SAMA! Get the hell up, you're going to be late!"
"WHAT?!"
I bolted up so fast all the blood rushed to my head, great, now I have a headache coming on.
'What the hell was that about, Homura-chan?!'
"I think what you meant to say, Yua-sama, was "thank you for waking me up seeing how its 6:45 and I am meant to report in front of Captain Hitsugaya in 15 minutes", but we'll work on that."
Oh my god. I must have fallen asleep while reading the orientation book last night!
No. No, no, no, no, no! I cannot be late! I started rushing around my barrack frantically trying to get into a clean uniform, brush my teeth and hair, and wash my face all at the same time.
THUD
"Owwww." My foot got caught in my hakama as I was getting changed, I fell and hit my cheek on my desk. I put my hand to my cheek to smooth out the pain. 'Why is my cheek wet?'
I pulled my hand away and saw a few drops of blood. 'Oh great, I cut my cheek on my desk. ARGHHH, I'm going to be so late.'
I rushed out the door, grabbing Homura and the orientation book on my way out. I don't know if I have ever flash stepped so fast in my life. I reach the 10th Division quarters, looking at the clock frantically I see its 6:58 am.
I flash step a few more times until I reach the Captains office, and as soon as the clock strikes 7, I knock.
"Come in."
I peer behind the door, only to see Captain Hitsugaya seated at this desk with a mountain of paperwork on his left. I scan the room, looking for Rangiku, I don't see her anywhere. 'Oh yeah, figures. There's no way she's up this early.'
"Akiyama, what happened? Your cheek is bleeding."
'Shit. I forgot to cover that up with a bandage before I left.' I brought my hand up to my cheek and surely enough, it was still bleeding.
"Um. I-" I stopped, how do I explain this without sounding like an idiot? "I got my foot caught in my hakama this morning, I was a little rushed, and I fell over and hit my face on the corner of my desk…" Honesty is the best policy..
Captain Hitsugaya looked at me, his face looked completely unamused, and he looked like he was already exhausted for the day. He let out a heavy sigh as he stood from his desk. I watched him intently as he walked over to a cabinet in his office, he pulled out a white cloth and a small bandage. He walked over to me and reached his hand out, giving me the cloth and the bandage.
My reaction was delayed, I stared at this hand like it was a snake for a few seconds before I finally shook my head frantically to snap out of my trance and took the items from his hand. My fingertips gently grazing his flattened palm as I retrieved the items, upon the contact our eyes met. We held the gaze for a few seconds before I quietly murmured, "Thank you, sir."
"Don't mention it. Would you like some tea? I started a pot a few moments ago. It should be ready shortly." He turned away from me and headed towards the direction of the tea pot and cups.
'Speak, Yua, speak! Stop being so weird around him.'
"Oh, um, yes, please, sir."
"Yua-sama, take a deep breath. You're acting like you've never interacted with another person before. Get ahold of yourself! You earned this promotion, let your justified confidence show!"
'Heh, thanks for the pep-talk, Homura-chan.' I exhaled, trying to compose myself. I looked around for a mirror, once I found it, I walked over and started cleaning up my cheek.
"Did you have any questions about the orientation book?"
"No, sir, everything I needed to know was explained in great detail. I found the answers to all my questions in that book." I replied, my voice was steady. Leave it to Homura to ground me back to reality and help me not be such an embarrassment. I swear, I wouldn't last a day without her.
"Good," he said as he grabbed two cups and set them on the table, reaching for the kettle next, "It took forever to write that manual, I am glad it was thorough, and no questions were left unanswered."
I remained silent as I watched him pour two cups of tea, his back turned to me.
"How do you take your tea, Akiyama?"
"Just milk, sir, no sugar."
He added the milk and brought the two cups to the coffee table, setting them down he sat down on the couch and motioned for me to join him. I walked over and sat on the couch opposite of him. I reminded myself to keep my posture tall, I am always forgetting to portray noble etiquette when I am nervous. I thanked him again before grabbing my cup, bringing it to my lips, and inhaling the warm, mint scent. 'Mmm, mint tea is my favorite.'
"Akiyama, I want you to know that I have wanted to promote you for a very long time. However, your Noble status made it very difficult. I see you as a very talented Shinigami, and I want to see you exercise your skills on the battlefield more often. I believe with your new title; you will be able to do such thing."
My face flushed at the unexpected compliment. To be called a very talented Shinigami is a great compliment, but to come from Toshiro Hitsugaya, the child prodigy himself, it brings it to a whole other level. I swallowed hard, thinking about how I should respond.
"Thank you, Captain. I appreciate the efforts that you went to in order to get Oto-sama's approval. He was very happy that you took the time to reach out to him personally, he found that very respectful."
He stared at me for a bit, his eyes scanning my face, before taking a sip of his tea. "Yes, your father. He sent me quite the threat regarding your safety, I don't think I have ever seen a father so protective."
My blush darkened, 'Damn it, I knew Oto-sama threatened him last night when he told me that he made sure Captain Hitsugaya knew how important I was to him'.
"Yes, as public record reveals, my mother passed while having me, leaving me as his last memory of her. He and I have.. A very.. Well, I can't even describe our relationship, Captain. Oto-sama is my rock in every sense of the word."
The corners of his mouth twitched up ever so slightly, "I admire that, family is of utmost importance."
I smiled lightly at him before drinking some more of my tea.
"So, your agenda for today, Matsumoto is meant to arrive at 8, which means she will probably get her around 9:30" he rolled his eyes and sighed before continuing, "she will train you for the day in some of the upper level officer duties. You read everything last night, but today will be away for you to see it happening in person."
I nodded.
"In the meantime, I will quickly brief you on some of the standard paperwork you will be doing, and you can work on that at Matsumoto's desk until she arrives, that way I will be in the room if you come across anything that raises any question. I would rather you ask me so that you can be sure, as opposed to guessing on your own."
I nodded again and finished off my tea. Leaning forward to set my cup on the table, he grabbed the cup from my hand before I could even release it. He swiftly stood up holding both our cups and carried them back to the table that had the kettle.
"Would you like some more?"
"Oh, no thank you, Captain."
He poured himself another serving before walking over to Matsumoto's desk, hinting for me to follow. We both stood over her desk as he briefly talked me through some of the basics. I was leaned over much more than him, but I could feel his presence looming over me, as he had one hand on the desk, only partially leaning, leaving him taller than me.
"Any questions?"
I looked up to find him hovering over me slightly, his face much closer to mine than I anticipated. Much closer than he anticipated too, because once I moved my face to look at him and he realized how close he was, he was very quick to put some distance between us. I let out a breath that I didn't realize I was holding and shook my head. He gave me a look I couldn't quite distinguish before walking to his desk and resuming the document he was on when I arrived. I huffed and sat down in Rangiku's chair and began scanning the documents.
Neither of us spoke a word for an hour and a half, occasionally I would steal a glance in his direction. I would always find him looking at the documents with narrowed eyes, as if they had offended him, and rubbing his temples with exasperation.
'I can only imagine what is going on in his head. Rangiku did mention he has been close to his limit in stress and responsibilities.' I pondered on the white male in front of me for a few moments.
"Captain." Shit. I said that out loud. I spoke without thinking.
"Yes, Akiyama?" He said as he rubbed his temples with his fingers, his brush laying on his desk.
"Uh, I am under the impression that you are under a lot of stress and responsibilities right now. Is there anything specific I can strive to do this week that will help alleviate that? Even if it's just a little bit."
Wow. That was bold of me. I basically just called him out for being overwhelmed.
His fingers froze, he slowly lowered them from his head and turned to me, his gaze capturing mine. He continued to stare at me for what seemed like an eternity.
"Captainnnnn!~"
Rangiku burst through the door with a big smile on her face.
"Matsumoto! You were told to be here at 8, its 9:45!"
Her smile fell, "Oh, Captain, you're no fun. Live a little why don't ya?"
His eyebrow visibly twitched. "Shut up, Matsumoto. I briefed Akiyama on paperwork basics, will you go show her some of the field work she will be expected to do?"
"Yes, sir!" Rangiku saluted him in a joking manner before turning to me and smiling.
"Good morning, Yua-chan! I hope Captain hasn't bored you too much this morning," Hitsugaya scoffed in the background, "we will have lots of fun today!"
"Good morning, Rangiku-san. I am looking forward to today." I purposely ignored the comment regarding our Captain being boring.
"Also, Matsumoto, try and learn a thing or two from Akiyama. Her manners and etiquette are pristine." Toshiro said before resuming his paperwork.
Two compliments? Wow, what's up with him? My cheeks colored again at the compliment.
"Huh? But Captain, she's a Noble heir. She's supposed to be high-mannered; you can't hold everyone to those kinds of standards!" Rangiku whined.
Toshiro ignored her, she pouted and turned to me. "Ready, Yua-chan?"
"Yes, ma'am!" I stood up from her desk and eagerly followed her out of the Captains office. She had barged in before he could answer my question.
'I am kind of grateful for that, do you think I overstepped by addressing his obvious stress, Homura-chan' I inwardly sought her advice as Rangiku walked out of the building in temporary silence.
Homura purred in response, "He's pretty hard to read, Yua-sama. But from what I can gather, he probably doesn't have a lot of people around him that are actively trying to make his life easier. Everyone in the Seireitei is still very riled up after Aizen's showdown, they are all focused on getting themselves back on their feet, it's rare that someone displays selflessness in these times. He was probably very surprised, which is why he stared at you like you had 3 eyeballs before Rangiku-san came in."
"Thankfully, you've been a seated officer in our squad for years now so we can skip all the boring introductions!"
Rangiku's voice brought me back to reality, I looked up at the taller blonde but didn't respond.
Several hours passed as Rangiku walked me through "Third Seat: 101" as she called it. I was now well into lunch time and we both ventured to the dining hall to fill our stomachs. After we grabbed our food we sat together at an empty table.
The table didn't stay empty long as it quickly filled up with our friends, Rukia and Renji appeared, hand in hand, Ikkaku, and Yumichika.
"Yua-san, congratulations on the promotion!" Rukia chirped as she sat beside me.
"Yeah, that's awesome news, Yua-san!" Renji chimed in as he took his place beside Rukia.
"We knew it was only a matter of time, we just didn't think it would take 8 years." Ikkaku said, Yumichika nodded in agreement.
My face lit up and I gave them a cheeky grin, "Thank you guys! It really means a lot to me."
"I'm relieved, Captain Hitsugaya has been bitching to Captain Kuchiki about how much he hates how they need Clan head approval before they can promote a Noble, he's been itching to promote you for a while now." Renji grumbled as he remembered times where his Captain was heated after hearing Hitsugaya rant.
"Really? For someone who has wanted this for so long, he sure didn't make much of an effort confronting Oto-sama, or even developing any kind of professional relationship with me, either of those things could have helped him receive the blessing sooner. I feel like before today I could count all of our interactions on one hand."
"Captain has a habit of being very reserved like that. It is very hard to gather what he is thinking or what his intentions are until he purposely makes them known." Rangiku chirped.
'Great, an impossible to read Captain who has admired my Shinigami skills from a far for who knows how long. Why can't people just wear their hearts on their sleeves, what good comes from hiding your feelings and emotions?' I thought as I took a bite of my rice.
"Not everyone enjoys being as transparent as you do, Yua-chan." Homura chimed in.
"I just feel like so much time gets wasted when you beat around the bush, ya know? Like just be upfront and honest, that's how I was raised." I stated, somewhat bitterly.
"I am picking up some bitter feelings in that comment, Yua-san." Yumichika murmured.
"Yeah, I am a little bitter about it. Think of all those years I wasted being a 10th seat when the only thing that needed to be done was for Captain Hitsugaya to show some damn initiative."
"I understand, Yua-san. There are very few things that revolve around Nobility that aren't unfair and infuriating." Rukia said tenderly as she put an arm on my shoulder. I looked over at her and offered her a smile.
Rukia and I had a unique friendship, we both have very similar life circumstances, but they are different in a lot of aspects too. She relates really well with me when I have a hiccup with the Clan Elders, like they disapprove of my outgoing personality because it can conflict with etiquette or they try to shove the idea of a husband and heir down my throat.
We all finished our lunches while catching each other up on the weeks' gossip and enjoying each other's company and laughter.
The rest of the day training with Rangiku flew by, which I was very grateful for seeing as how I only had maybe one hour of sleep last night.
We reported back to Captain Hitsugaya at the end of the day, upon arriving to his office I glanced at the clock. 'Eight o'clock, geez, I am exhausted.'
"Akiyama, what do you think? Do you have any questions from today?"
I looked over and my ruby eyes were captured by his turquoise orbs.
'Shit, why does just making eye contact with him paralyze me. I was heated at lunch for his lack of initiative that cost me valuable years of an unjustified position, but looking at him now, I feel so inferior and insecure.'
"Um, I learned a lot today, sir. It was very helpful to see what I read about in the orientation book last night in person. I do not have any questions for you today, Captain."
"Liar. I have a couple: How long did he have his eye on your talent and kept it quiet? If Matsumoto wouldn't have sought you out for this job, would you ever have gotten it?"
'Homura-chan, not now, please.'
His eyes scrutinized my face, he knew I was holding something back, but rather than pushing it he sighed and said "Good, go get some rest, don't cut your face tomorrow morning, and be here at 7 am sharp."
"Yes, sir." Ignoring the smartass comment about my face, I bowed before turning and waving a farewell to Matsumoto and flash stepping to my barrack.
"Yua-sama.."
'I know, something feels off..'
I stopped at the door leading to my room, someone had visited my room today while I was gone. There was nothing on my door or around the mat outside, they didn't leave a not or anything? But in order for their reiatsu to be lingering, they either just left or were here for a long time.
"Be catious, Yua-sama"
I slowly grabbed the handle and slid the door open, at first glance nothing looked out of place. However, the feeling of reiatsu was stronger once I walked inside. My stomach started to turn, 'Homura, this is giving me a bad feeling..'
I looked to my bed and my heart skipped a beat. There was a note, folded neatly with a bright red ribbon sitting on my bed.
I walked over to my bed and picked up the piece of paper. I slowly untied the ribbon and set it on my desk. My eyes widened in horror as I read what was written neatly on the paper:
Your days are numbered, Yua. Start counting.
-L
Ta-dah!
Chapter 2 complete!
I wanted to get the storyline going a little bit, so you'd know this fic isn't about Toshiro and Yua doing paperwork together until they fall in love, haha.
Please leave a review with any tips or ideas y'all have! I will need the motivation, haha.
Xoxo,
Sh3lby