Hello everyone!
This chapter was so long, I had to cut it into two parts so this first part may be a little slow, haha, but I hope you enjoy it.
Have a wonderful day!
Akane, whose hatred for Hajime grew fiercer, couldn't even look at Hajime without wanting to punish her. Instead of banishing her from the Manor like Rukia thought she would, Akane kept Hajime right by her side. It's as they say, keep your friends close but your enemies closer. While Akane had no control over Hajime's schedule at the Academy, she made sure Hajime was busy with trivial matters at the Manor. From the moment Hajime would return from class, she had Hajime working until after midnight organizing her closets, buffing her shoes, hemming her kimonos; anything and everything to keep Hajime up late and away from Byakuya. It also didn't help that Akihiko abhorred Hajime as well and got physical with her multiple times.
For the past two months, to torment Hajime, Akane became more boldly affectionate towards Byakuya, at least in Hajime's presence. She would force him into a kiss, caress his body, and whisper seductively in his ear. Byakuya only entertained her for so long, as he was getting irritated by her sudden assertive advances. Hajime simply watched as everything unfolded. Trying to get rid of her feelings for Byakuya, she pushed them deep within her heart as Akane claimed what was hers.
To Akane's surprise, when she was gathering intel about Hajime at the Academy, she learned that Hajime's classmates were also distrustful of her and so Akane took advantage and had one of her maidservants spread malicious rumors about Hajime. Luckily, the rumors spread like wildfire.
"Hey, isn't that her?" someone whispered, "The one who's trying to seduce Kuchiki Taichou?"
"No way! That's her? You think she's pretending to be poor so she can steal him away from his wife?"
Another student giggled, "How pathetic!"
As Hajime was making her way to her Kido 4 class, she felt the familiar glares following her. Thinking that the rumors of her died down, she picked up a conversation her classmates were having. "She really has some nerve." One student whispered.
"I heard she was a clout-chaser, but I didn't think she was a home-wrecker, too." Noticing Hajime beside them, they quickly walked away, "I have to keep my boyfriend away from her!"
It seems the rumors have developed further, Hajime thought to herself as she took her seat next to Kisume and sighed heavily.
"What's wrong, Hajime?" Kisume asked worriedly.
"Just the usual," Hajime spoke with a defeated smile.
"All right class," Professor Yuno interrupted, "It's almost the end of the school year, so it's time for us to decide what our class wants to do for the Year-End Festival."
Every year before the start of summer internships, each class at the Academy gets to partake in the school festival and host an event or program with their class. Not only were the members of the Gotei 13 invited, but so were the people of Rukongai. It's a very large and popular annual event. All the students were excited and offered suggestions such as a haunted house, maid cafe, and a play. As Yuno was taking the class votes, the maid café was the clear winner. Bored with such a clichéd choice, Tomiko wanted to host a different event herself. Thinking of something else their class could do, Tomiko suggested a blind raffle. It's small enough to run in succession with the maid café and should be a good incentive to raise money as guests will be encouraged to buy multiple raffle tickets and test their luck with mystery prizes.
"Let's do both!" Yuno suggested, "Tomiko, I'll leave you in charge of the raffle prize list. Make sure you get that to me by the end of the week. And everyone else, I leave the café in your capable hands! Why don't you all start planning? We only have two weeks until the big day!"
The students all huddled into different groups to try and figure out what roles everyone was going to have for the café. While the other students were all preoccupied, Tomiko made her way over to Hajime.
"You want me to do what?' Hajime asked, making sure she heard her correctly.
"You heard me," Tomiko retorted, "I want you to ask Kuchiki Taichou if he would agree to be a prize in the mystery raffle; the winner would get to go on a date with him." Blushing at the end of her statement, Tomiko couldn't look Hajime in the eyes. Overhearing Tomiko's suggestion, the other girls in the class immediately ran over and surrounded them, urging Hajime to say yes. Overwhelmed, Hajime agreed to ask, but she couldn't guarantee he'd say yes.
With many of the roles filling quickly, mainly because most of the class didn't want to be a maid, there was only one maid spot left to fill. "Hajime here said she'll happily do it!" Tomiko called out with a sly smile as she walked away.
"N-No, I didn't!" It was too late; they immediately wrote Hajime's name down and submitted it to the professor. Sighing, she sunk into her chair and rubbed her temples. "Ah, this is the worst."
"Well, look on the bright side," Kisume spoke. "At least you'll look cute in that uniform." He gave her a smug smile. Hitting him out of annoyance. She didn't want to listen to his nonsense anymore.
When Hajime returned to the Manor, she bumped into Renji and Byakuya, who were returning to their Barracks.
"Yo, Hajime!" Renji greeted. "How was class today?"
"It was good…" Well, except for those rumors spreading around… "Our class was cut short today since we're near the end of the term. The professor wanted us to go over what we wanted to do for the Year-End Festival."
"Oh right, the Year-End Festival!" Renji exclaimed. "I almost forgot about that! What's your class going to do?"
Blushing, Hajime mumbled, "Maid Café…"
"Huh?" Renji questioned as he motioned his ear over to hear Hajime more clearly.
"M-Maid Café!" she exclaimed, embarrassed.
"Wait," Renji spoke, holding in his laughter. "Are you going to be one of the maids?"
Hajime only nodded in shame, playfully hitting Renji to keep quiet. Byakuya smiled at the two, happy to see Hajime's laughing face.
"Well," Renji spoke as he couldn't stop laughing, "Our squad goes to the Year-End Festival every year. We'll make sure to visit!"
As the two were leaving, Tomiko's words echoed in her head. Having already agreed to Tomiko's request, Hajime figured this would be the perfect time to ask Byakuya if he'd be willing to participate in the raffle, especially since Akane wasn't nearby. Embarrassed, she quickly turned over to Byakuya, her cheeks flushed pink," U-Um, Kuchiki-Sama, our class also has a request of you, if that's ok…"
He was caught off guard. He's never seen her look so shy before. How cute, he thought to himself. Renji, who noticed the slight blush forming on Byakuya's cheek, gently nudged him. Clearing his throat, he asked, "Of course, what is it, Kisumoto-San?"
She told them about the mystery raffle their class was doing and wanted to know if Byakuya would volunteer his time and offer a date with the winner as a prize. Not even allowing Byakuya to think about it, Renji agreed for him. Byakuya looked at him with a straight expression.
"Come on Taichou, it'll be fun! Akane will be gone during that week anyway and… it will help raise more money for the Academy and aspiring Shinigami~" Renji added in that last bit to appease Byakuya.
"Please don't feel pressured to agree…" Hajime softly spoke while picking at her fingers, her nervous habit reemerging.
After a moment of silence, Byakuya finally asked, "Under what conditions am I to agree?"
"There are no conditions," Hajime spoke gently, "Since it's a mystery raffle, no one knows what they'll be bidding for. My classmates thought this was a good idea to help raise extra money for our next term. As for the date… It's entirely up to you."
Thinking about the offer, Byakuya closed his eyes in contemplation. Since Byakuya mostly attends the Festival to watch over his squad members, it shouldn't be a problem for him to participate. It's for the success of the Academy, after all. Byakuya agreed and Renji had an even bigger reason to attend the Festival this year.
Saying their goodbyes, Hajime made her way to Akane's room and rushing in right behind her, pushing her to the ground, was Akihiko.
"Akane, look at what I found today!" She spoke excitedly. "I found an herbalist near the mountains that sells uniquely crafted elixirs for different purposes." Taking out a circular vial, Akihiko explained that the elixir she purchased was supposed to help with fertility. Simply add two drops to your cup of tea daily and it should work like a charm. Excited, Akane ordered Hajime to prepare her tea right away.
Returning with the tea, Akihiko quickly dropped in two drops of the elixir and both women looked over at Hajime.
"Drink it," Akane ordered.
"What?" Hajime asked, confused.
"Well, we can't very well trust that this isn't poison," Akihiko explained.
"And I have to be the one to test for it? Don't you have designated people here to do so?"
"Enough!" Akane was tired of Hajime arguing back and not following orders. "Your job is to follow my command, or did you forget? Now drink!"
In anger, Hajime took the cup and gulped down the tea. After waiting a couple of minutes, they saw no side effects. Happy with the results, Akane ordered Hajime to brew another pot of tea with a more "pleasing" flavor. After drinking her elixir-infused tea, Akane immediately had Hajime start their acupuncture routine and like every night, it was going to be a long one.
. . .
The Next Day
As the term was ending, the students had to submit their papers for summer internships. During the internships, they will assign students to one of the twelve squads of the Gotei 13 to train directly under its Captain and/or Vice-Captain. The students were encouraged to put down their preferred squad and the earlier they get their forms in, the higher the chance they have of securing their preferred squads. Hajime had no preference for which squad she trained under, so she left hers as 'fill.'
Since her Hakuda classes started in the spring semester, Hajime dreaded going to this class as hand-to-hand combat was never something she had to learn in the World of the Living. On her first day, the professor noted that even if the students had no plans to join the Onmitsukido, where Hakuda is an essential fighting skill, it's still a very important skill to learn should they not have a weapon nearby. Even though there were two weeks left until the end of the term, today was the first day where the students would spar against one another.
Hajime's sparring partner was a boy named Tadashi and his goal was to join the Onmitsukido upon graduation. Having trained every day outside of class, it was obviously an unfair match-up, but Hajime vowed to try her best. Luckily, Hajime was in shunpo 2, so she had the advantage when it came to speed, but Tadashi's power was overwhelming for Hajime.
As Tadashi shunpo-ed to kick Hajime, Hajime tried blocking with both of her arms, getting pushed back with the force of his power. The two went back and forth for the rest of class, with Hajime only blocking most of the time. At one point, Tadashi kicked Hajime so hard, he sent her flying against the training room wall.
"Ah, Kisumoto!" Tadashi yelled out as he went over to help. "I'm sorry! I just get caught up with Hakuda. I forget to dial it back sometimes."
"It's ok," Hajime said with a smile, "You sure are strong Tadashi."
The bell rang for the next class and Tadashi apologized again to Hajime before running off. Making her way to her Kido 4 class, her classmates were trying to plan out how to set up the room for their café. Shino, Hajime's classmate and one of the maids, gathered the other maids to get their measurements so that her family can hand-make their maid outfits for them. For the rest of the class, the students were prepping for the Festival.
. . .
Returning to the Manor, Hajime was happy to learn that Akane and her mother went out for the day, and she had the whole day to herself. Hoping to get some Zanjutsu training in, Hajime went to look if Byakuya was in his Chambers. Surprisingly, he was home early today.
"Kisumoto-San? Is there something I can help you with?" Byakuya asked as he was finishing up his paperwork.
"Ah, I was wondering if you were free anytime soon. Akane is out today, and I'd love to do some Zanjutsu training with you…"
Closing his books, Byakuya told Hajime to meet him in the outside field in fifteen minutes. The two clashed swords for about two hours before Byakuya had to get back to his work.
"You've gotten much stronger, Kisumoto-San," Byakuya praised as he sheathed his Zanpakuto.
"It's all thanks to the three of you," Hajime said between breaths. "Thank you… for taking the time to train with me today!"
"I made a promise to you, didn't I?"
Hajime smiled softly, "Right… thank you."
"Have you connected with your Zanpakuto's spirit yet?" Byakuya asked before heading back in.
"Not yet," Hajime sighed, "I've been meditating every chance I get but I have yet to open a connection."
"The more you use your Asauchi, the stronger the bond you will form."
"It's a requirement to unleash your shikai upon graduating, correct?"
"That's correct. If you fail to release your shikai by the end of the graduation year, you will be forbidden to graduate until you are able to do so."
"Ne," Hajime said as she looked at Byakuya, "Of my time here, I've been able to see Rukia's and Renji's shikai but… I don't think I've ever seen yours. Would I be able to see it?" Her eyes sparkled with curiosity.
Holding his Zanpakuto vertically in front of him, Byakuya released his shikai, "Scatter, Senbonzakura," and his blade materialized into thousands of cherry blossom petals. Hajime was in awe; his Zanpakuto was as beautiful as he was. As the cherry blossoms swirled around, Hajime lifted her hand to touch one, which ended up cutting her.
"Ah," she yelped in surprise.
Byakuya walked over to her and gently lifted her hand. "Be careful," he said as he used healing Kido on the finger she cut. "each petal is as sharp as a blade."
The warmth of his touch caused Hajime's heart to skip a beat. "I should get going," she said as she released her hand from his. "Thank you for showing me your beautiful Zanpakuto."
As Hajime walked away, Byakuya sighed as he called back his Senbonzakura. You've come far, Hajime, he thought to himself. I'm proud of you.