Here is another chapter!
I was finally able to get myself back into writing this T^T
I hope you enjoy this!
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach nor its characters. All credits go to Tite Kubo.
Summer break was half way done, and Ukitake, Kyoraku, and Haruna had met almost every day, either for training or for an examination. Haruna had come up with several different medications that would help Ukitake with his symptoms, and thanks to that, he was able to keep up with the training they were doing. However, she still couldn't find the cure for it.
"Thank you, Haruna," Ukitake said after one of the examinations.
"Hm?" Haruna said, looking up from the notes she had taken. "Why are you thanking me?"
"Well, you've helped me so much with my illness," Ukitake said. "It almost feels like I'm not even sick."
"All I've been doing is making the symptoms go away," she said, looking back at her notes. "I still don't understand anything about your disease, so all I can do is make the pain go away."
"And I appreciate you for working so hard for me," Ukitake said while smiling.
"It's… nothing really," she said. "I'm just doing my job."
"Are you done with the examination?" Kyoraku asked as he stood by the door.
"Yeah," Haruna said, still looking at her notes. "I'll go and organize this. We'll train once I'm done.
"Sure," Ukitake and Kyoraku said as they left the examination room.
As Ukitake and Kyoraku were walking towards the garden, they ran into Hayato, who was walking towards them with a servant behind him.
"Oh, are you done with the examination, Ukitake?" Hayato asked.
"Yes, Kurayami-sensei," Ukitake said.
"Haruna-chan is organizing her notes. She said she'll join us as soon as she's done," Kyoraku said.
"Well then," Hayato said smiling, "you guys should join me for tea."
"Is it okay?" Ukitake asked, surprised.
"Don't you have work to do?" Kyoraku asked.
"My father came to the hospital wing and told me I should take the day off," Hayato explained.
"Oh," Ukitake said. "Well, then… if you're okay with it, we'd love to join you for tea."
"My pleasure," Hayato said. "Let's go to the garden." Then he turned to the servant. "Kenjirou-kun, could you bring us tea to the garden?"
"Yes, Hayato-san," the servant replied as he left.
Hayato, Kyoraku, and Ukitake arrived at the garden and sat on the table that was already set up in the hallway between the rooms and the garden.
Almost as soon as they sat down, a female servant came with three cups of tea.
"Here is your tea, Hayato-sama," she said as she placed one of the cups in front of Hayato.
"Where's Kenjirou-kun?" Hayato asked in surprised.
"Kenjisou-san was called by Ichirou-sama, so he asked me to bring this tea to you," she replied as she placed another cup in front of Kyoraku.
"Oh, I see," Hayato said as he took the cup of tea in his hands.
"Thank you," Kyoraku said. "Hey, when you're done here, would you mind going on a date with me?" He grinned playfully.
"Wha-" the servant exclaimed in surprise, and she dropped the third cup of tea in front of Ukitake. The tea spilled and got on Ukitake's clothes.
"Please, forgive me, Ukitake-sama," the servant said nervously while trying to wipe his clothes with a piece of cloth.
"Ahh, don't worry about it," Ukitake said while smiling kindly. "I'll clean it," he said as he took the cloth from her and wiped himself.
The servant looked at Hayato, who was nodding, telling her it was okay. Then she turned to Ukitake and said, "Thank you," while blushing and becoming shy. "If you do not need anything else, I will excuse myself."
"Yes," Hayato said.
"Geez, Kyoraku," Ukitake said half smiling, "you have to stop teasing all of the girls."
"Does he do this all the time?" Hayato asked.
"Sort of," Ukitake said, still wiping his clothes.
"Don't tell me he does that with my sister, too?" Hayato said, a little overprotective about his sister.
"Don't worry, Onii-chan," Haruna said as she walked towards them. "I punch him every time he does." She looked at Ukitake wiping his clothes. "What happened?"
"Kyoraku flirted with the girl that brought us tea," Ukitake said while still wiping, "and she was flustered and spilled the tea."
"Seriously, Shunsui," she said as she hit Kyoraku's head. "I'll bring you some spare clothes, Juushiro," she said as she started walking away.
"Haruna?" the male servant that was with Hayato a while ago came back. "Where are you going?"
"Ah, Kenjirou-san," she looked at him and smiled. "I'm going to get spare clothes for Juushiro." She walked away.
"Hayato-san," Kenjirou sat behind Hayato, "what happened?"
"This kid here," said Hayato while pushing his hand against Kyoraku's head, "was messing around, and Kiyo spilled the tea."
"Ehh," Kyoraku said, "So her name is Kiyo-chan…"
"Kyoraku," Ukitake said, kind of reprimanding him, "you're going to be in trouble if you keep flirting with all these girls. What if they come to you all at once?"
"Although I think they'll go to Ukitake more than you, right, Kyoraku?" Hayato whispered.
"Definitely, Hayato-san," Kyoraku whispered back, and the two started laughing.
"What's so funny, Onii-chan? Kyoraku?" Haruna asked. She was standing right behind the two.
"Uhh," Hayato stuttered. "Nothing really…"
"Heh," Kyoraku laughed nervously.
"Seriously, can't you two be more mature?" she said. Then she moved towards Ukitake and handed him folded clothes. "Here. Change into these."
"Yeah," he said as he took the clothes and smiled. "Thank you."
"I-it's nothing," Haruna said as she looked away.
Ukitake got up and went into the closest room to change.
"I'll bring you tea, Haruna," Kenjirou said as he stood up.
"Ahh, no," Haruna said. "It's okay, Kenjirou-san. I'm not drinking any tea. I actually have to go again."
"Huh?" Hayato said, "where to?"
"I still haven't finished with the notes from today," she replied.
Then, the doors opened and Ukitake came out, with his dirty clothes in his hands. "Thank you for the clothes," he said as he stood next to Haruna.
"N-no problem," she said, looking away. "Give me your clothes. I'll have them washed." She took the clothes and left after saying, "Take time with your tea."
"Don't take too long, Haruna," Hayato said. "You don't want to keep your friends waiting for you for too long."
"Yeah, yeah," she replied as she turned the corner.
"Oh yeah," Hayato said, as if he was excited by something. "You guys don't know this guy, do you?" he asked while putting his arm around the shoulder of the servant behind him.
"I've seen him a few times, mostly with you, Hayato-sensei," Uktiake replied.
"Me too," Kyoraku said.
"Well, well," Hayato said, smiling. He turned to the servant and said, "Come on! Introduce yourself!"
"Y-yes…" the servant said. "My name is Midokawa Kenjirou. It's an honor to officially meet you two."
"You don't have to be so formal, Midokawa-san," Ukitake said while smiling. "I am Ukitake Juushiro. Pleased to meet you."
"And I am Kyoraku Shunsui," Kyoraku said, also smiling. "Nice to meet you."
"See?" Hayato said. "I told you these two kids were nice."
"Hayato-sensei?" Ukitake called his name, wondering what he had meant by that.
"Kenjirou here doesn't really have friends other than me and Haruna," he said, teasing the servant.
"Ha-Hayato-san!" Kenjirou said, a little flustered.
Hayato just laughed. "And since you two come here often, he saw how you got along so well with my little sister, and he wanted to meet you."
"B-because…" Kenjirou started talking, his face slightly red on the cheeks, "Haruna never really smiled nor laughed around anyone other than Hayato-san and me… and she used to not open up to anyone else either…"
"So," Hayato said with a teasing voice, "did you get jealous?"
"Hayato-san!" Kenjirou yelled in embarrassment, and his face was as red as a tomato.
"I'm just joking," Hayato said right before bursting out in laughter. "You should see your face, Kenjirou!" Hayato could barely speak from the laughter.
"Hayato-san! Please, stop!" Kenjirou kept yelling in embarrassment.
"Hayato-sensei," Ukitake spoke in a serious tone, which made Hayato stop laughing., "can I ask you something?"
"Yeah, sure," Hayato replied while wiping the tears that had come out from laughing too much,
"I was just wondering… about what Midokawa-san just said," he said, a little hesitant. "And there's something I'd like to know."
"What is it?" Hayato asked.
"Well, most people from noble families always have servants following them most of the time. The same goes with you and your father, so I was wondering why no one follows Haruna," he said.
"Oh," Hayato said. "She can't have just anyone following behind her, and there's no one else among the servants whom she trusts enough…"
"Why is that…?" Kyoraku asked.
"It's… rather complicated…" Hayato hesitated. He didn't know if it was okay for him to tell them.
"Ah, you don't have to force yourself to tell us, Hayato-san," Kyoraku said.
"Thank you, Kyoraku," Hayato replied. "It's a little bit painful even for me to talk about."
"I see…" Ukitake said, and Kyoraku nodded along.
"I'm sure you heard about what happened with our mother a year ago," Hayato started speaking. He looked at the two younger ones, who nodded in agreement. "She has a trauma from that… That man followed her, yelling, as if he was possessed, and carrying a katana dripping with our mother's blood…" Hayato had to stop talking for a little bit. He was frowning from the pain. "I can't imagine how scared she must have been then…"
For a moment, the four men sat in silence.
"After that," Hayato continued, "she feels uneasy when people follow behind her. There are only very few people who can walk behind her without getting her nervous, other than our father and me. That's why we don't have any of our servants serving her directly all the time."
"Oh…" Ukitake and Kyoraku didn't know what to say. Haruna had never really shown any signs of feeling nervous when they were walking behind her. They wondered if she trusted them enough or if she was just really good at hiding her true feelings. They hoped for the first.
"It does seem like she trusts you two a lot though," Hayato said.
Kyoraku and Ukitake looked at each other and smiled in relief.
"And we're glad she does," Ukitake said.
And that's it for this chapter!
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