HALCYON DAYS
Volume Four: Thirteen Blades

Chapter Two

Ōmaeda was at his captain induction ceremony, accepting his well-deserved promotion while all nine of his new brides watched with adulation. That's nice, he thought. This is nice.

Then he awoke with a jolt, a throbbing pain in his head. He was on a stretcher being carried away.

Oh... I lost.

"Hold it!" Suí-Fēng ordered from afar, prompting the medics to halt. The Second Division Captain strode over at an unhurried pace until she was looming over her subordinate.

"Who coulda known, huh, Captain?" Ōmaeda offered with a dazed look. "There was no way of accounting for such pow – ow, ow, ow!"

Suí-Fēng hooked her fingers deep into his nose, holding him hostage by the nostrils.

"If you had paid any modicum of attention to Soul Society history, you would've known you were outclassed from the jump," she hissed. "The Soul King granted the Yayahara Clan the power of beasts, making them among the most fearsome hand-to-hand combatants in the Seireitei."

"How was I – ow, ow, ouch! – supposed to know that?" Ōmaeda pleaded.

"Because the only other family with that power are our beneficiaries, the Shihōin!" Suí-Fēng snarled. "You squared up against a Shinigami who possessed the power of Yōkai and assumed she was a helpless mouse. You feckless dolt."

She unplugged her fingers from his nose and wiped the snot onto a medic's robes. "Get him out of my sight."


Ichigo rubbed his eyes to make sure they weren't deceiving him. After a moment of processing, he realized for sure he wasn't imagining things. Rukia really was sitting cross-legged at the foot of his bed, clad in a Shihakushō.

"Rukia?!"

"Do you sleep in this late whenever I'm not around? You know Hollows don't skip morning shifts, Ichigo."

"It's the friggin' weekend, alright?" he snapped back, his exasperation unable to tamp down his jubilant smile. "You know you coulda called first!"

"I'm on a classified assignment," Rukia said ruefully before returning the smile. "Captain Ukitake gave me a mission, and I'm going to need your help."

Ichigo's eyes shimmered: he thought he might not ever see Rukia again, and yet here she was proposing they work together.

"Wait, I thought you lost your Shinigami powers?" he said, pointing at the Zanpakutō slung around her waist. "What gives?"

"Well, I couldn't regain them when I was stuck in Urahara's Gigai," she explained, visibly angered by the memory. "After I discarded it and took a few strolls through the Reishi-rich environment of the Seireitei, my Reiryoku naturally replenished itself."

Ichigo laughed. "I thought I'd never see you with a Zanpakutō again. Come to think of it, I only knew you as a true blue Shinigami for a couple of minutes."

Rukia pondered the observation for a moment before cheekily extending her hand.

"Well then let me reintroduce myself," she greeted. "I'm Kuchiki Rukia, a Shinigami."

Ichigo found the gesture a bit dopey but accepted her hand for a firm shake.

"Kurosaki Ichigo, Shinigami Deputy. Now scram, I gotta change."

She huffed and marched into his closet, shutting it closed behind her. Blushing and grumbling, he slunk out of his bed and picked out a nondescript white t-shirt from the dresser.

"I'm surprised Soul Society has you working again already," he remarked while sliding the shirt over his shoulders. "Don't you deserve a vacation or something?"

"There were some motivating circumstances," Rukia replied from inside the closet. "I think Captain Ukitake is trying to spare my feelings because I can't compete in the tournament."

Ichigo threw open the closet door and squinted at her inquisitively.

"What tournament?"


"You wanted to see me?" Nanao said softly, kneeling beside her aunt's throne.

"You will never receive anything from me again, is that clear?" Kōbucha seethed, not even deigning to look at her. "Did it feel good, rejecting everything I've done for you?"

"No, it didn't," Nanao shook her head. "But you left me no choice."

"You are an Ise!" Kōbucha shot back. "You had limitless choices. But now you'll be nothing more than a lackey to that oaf, a footnote in the Gotei 13's history. You certainly won't be mentioned in our family's records. I'll see to that. You will keep your name for appearances' sake, but you are no longer my niece. Understand?"

"Understood," Nanao nodded, chancing a glance up at her aunt. "You forced me to choose between being an Ise and my duty to the Gotei 13. I chose duty."

"Then be off," Kōbucha said with a wave of her hand. "We will never speak again."

Nanao rose back up, shared a look with Unohana and Ukitake, and departed the loge.

"Rurisa," Kōbucha commanded. On cue, Nisaki Rurisa unfurled a massive uchiwa with the wingspan of a crane and began to fan the Tenrai-chō.

"Now I have to suffer through this pointless trifle," Kōbucha grumbled, shooting an irate glare towards the direction of Tokinada's box seating.

This was all your idea, after all.


"That was so fun!" Yūshirō squealed, punching the arms of his throne with excitement. "Have you ever fought Yuyu before, Captain Hitsugaya?"

"I haven't, Your Highness," Hitsugaya murmured in reply. He wished they could keep the chitchat to a minimum.

"How about you, Captain Zaraki?"

"Nope," Kenpachi grumbled. "She doesn't look worth my time. Knocking out Ōmaeda ain't that big a feat."

"You mean those two are some of the weaker fighters?" Yūshirō said with awe, his eyes widening into starry saucers. "Oh man, this is gonna be so cool!"

Hinashi Yokio leaned forward and placed a hand on Yūshirō's shoulder.

"Pardon me, Your Highness," the Shikōtai Guard said in a soft, reedy voice. "I have to relieve myself."

"Okay, Hinashi!" Yūshirō beamed back. "Seeya soon!"

"Wait!" Hitsugaya did a double take when the guardsman began to exit the loge. "Where're you going?"

"I have to hit the head," Yokio replied, cocking his helm back at Hitsugaya and Kenpachi sardonically. "I trust you two fine Captains of the Gotei 13 can handle watching a teenager for a couple minutes?"

"Better not be taking a shit," Kenpachi muttered.

"Well now I might just have to force one out," Yokio chuckled before disappearing through the silk curtain.

"You hear that?" Kenpachi frowned to Hitsugaya. "These Shikōtai bugs think they're better than us, don't they?"

"Please stop talking to me," Hitsugaya blushed, fixing a stare on Yūshirō. If anything happens to this brat, it'll be our hides.

"Captain Zaraki, isn't your third seat fighting in the next match?" Yūshirō broached, leaning up from his throne to get closer to Kenpachi's face. "Shouldn't you go down there to see him off?"

"Captains only do that for the opening match," Kenpachi growled back, wishing the kid would bottle his enthusiasm. "Ikkaku doesn't need me to drop him off at the dance."


"Let's see how bad the damage is," Yasochika Iemura sighed while assessing Ōmaeda in the coliseum's medical bay. "Seems like we have three broken ribs, bruising of the sternum, and… tearing of the nasal cavity?"

"The nose is Captain Sui-Fēng's doing," Ōmaeda answered with a groan. "Iemura, give it to me straight. Am I ever gonna walk again?"

"Yes, within minutes," the medic replied curtly. "In the history of the Jūsankentaikai, your wounds are among the most unremarkable."

"Oh…"

"Lieutenant Ōmaeda, someone is here to see you," a medic announced from the entrance.

One of my new brides?he hoped. "Send them in!"

To his surprise, the visitor was not one of his buxom fans but his little sister, Mareyo.

"We all saw your fight, nii-chan," she chirped, auburn hair and bright green eyes betraying that she took after their mother more. "You fought… honorably!"

"Who let you down here?" Ōmaeda grumbled, averting her gaze. "Did you come here to mock me?!"

Mareyo became crestfallen, her eyes shimmering with tears.

"I just wanted to cheer you up, nii-chan."

Ōmaeda shifted in his stretcher turning his back on her. "Go back to Marejirōsabu. I don't wanna talk to any of you right now."

He felt a pang of remorse while listening to her shuffle away.


"What a flamboyant young woman," Chōjirō Sasakibe remarked to Yamamoto while watching the triumphant Yuyu finally exit the arena field. "She is undeniably talented, though. It's rare to see the Kumakokoro technique wielded so casually."

熊心 Kumakokoro (Bear Heart)

"Her promotion is still questionable," Yamamoto said derisively. "Even Kyōraku's staffing decisions are mischievous."

"What's so mischievous about them?"

Shunsui emerged from behind the alcove's curtain, wearing a sly smile. "I don't mind if somebody wears a bit of nail polish so long as they can fight."

"What are you doing in my loge?" Yamamoto harrumphed, shooting him an annoyed glare. "Shouldn't you be helping fortify the Shisonka's security?"

"Well, my assignee doesn't want me anywhere near her," Shunsui admitted sheepishly. "The Ise Tenrai-chō isn't my biggest fan, it seems. So I figured I could watch the tournament here with you?"

Yamamoto studied him. Always such a mischievous boy.

"You won't be provided a chair."

"That's fine." Shunsui strutted over to the balcony rail and leaned against it to survey the arena below. "So… now we know the reason why the Shisonka insisted on holding this tournament."

"Aizen Sōsuke presented them a gift by slaughtering Central 46," Yamamoto concurred. "Kōbucha refilled the chamber with a fresh crop of sycophants, and now they want to install a Gotei captain who will be in their debt."

"At least that seems to have been Kōbucha's motive," Shunsui said. "The Shihōin boy just wants a show. I still believe Ginrei gave his consent in exchange for letting his family's business on Sōkyoku Hill be forgotten. But Tokinada? I still can't figure out what he wants from all this."

"To make us hop on one leg," Yamamoto answered. "For Tsunayashiro Tokinada, this has all been a show of control," Yamamoto elaborated. "He has forced us to comply with his petty whim; his motivations are no more complicated than that."

"I see," Shunsui said softly, casting a look over at the Tsunayashiro balcony. "I don't know what's a greater danger to Soul Society: traitorous captains or bored royals."