Chapter 23
Akihiko paced in his office. Papers were strewn about. Books lying open and pages dog eared. Tea cups and ink wells lying empty on the desk. Sighing, he ran his fingers through his already tousled hair. He was worried, frustrated and exhausted.
It's been two weeks since the clan meeting. The very disastrous meeting.
Kameko is constantly upset, and Ran. Poor Ran. She has tried comforting Kameko, but nothing she's done has really worked. Both Kameko and Ran have lost so much sleep. Ran's sick with worry about Kameko. Kirinji checked her out, but he found nothing that was wrong with her.
No one has seen Ichigo. Sora is tight lipped and refuses to speak on the matter. And there is a constant guard posted at his door refusing anyone entry. His absence has left the entire estate frazzled and worried.
Tadashi seemed to have taken Ichigo's absence as his fault. Now he just remains in his room waiting. Waiting for Ichigo to call on him. The first few days, Tadashi had demanded that Sora let Tadashi into Ichigo's room, but Sora refused every time. Sora ordered Tadashi to rest until he was called back to his duties. Akihiko knew that was a low blow, but he knew that it would be the best for Tadashi at the moment.
Yuko's taken comfort in her friends, who have supported her through everything. They don't know about what happened to make Yuko feel this way, but they try to keep her distracted as much as possible. It seems to have helped her come to terms with things. Nowadays Akihiko could find Yuko in the kitchens helping her friends.
Then there was Shin. He's almost completely vanished. Akihiko would catch glimpses of him leaving the house early every morning. He had guards try and follow him, but Shin always seemed to know they were there and lost them in the woods surrounding the estate. And Grandmother told Akihiko to just let Shin be and that he will come back on his own. The worst part of all is that Shin's birthday is coming up very soon. A few days in fact. How could they celebrate Shin's birthday without him present?
Akihiko sighed and slouched down in his cushioned seat. Reports taunting him at how much there was to read. The headache that had nearly vanished came back tenfold. Akihiko banged his head on his desk, knocking over an empty tea cup.
Could this day get any worse?
Sora was so frustrated, that he almost could not describe it. Everything was going wrong. Staff were messing up left and right. The incident in the kitchen made him wince every time he thought about it.
That morning, with the sun barely cresting the horizon, Sora had an unexpected visitor in his kitchen. There panting and about to dash through the throng of chefs was Shin. His black hair mused, sandals on his feet, a navy haori hanging on his shoulders and his blue eyes bright and wide awake despite the time. Not even taking three steps into the kitchen, Sora snatched him by the back of his haori and yukata. Making the boy pout at his prevention of escaping through the kitchen.
"Shin what are you doing?" The boy looked at him sheepishly, an embarrassed blush on his face.
"Nothing." Sora raised a skeptical eyebrow, not believing him one bit.
"Oh really? Then let me ask you this. Why have you been leaving the house so early in the morning and returning late in the evening for the past two weeks? What have you been up to?" Shin huffed at the questions, crossing his arms and turning away from him. A frown in place, full of hurt, as he mumbled something that Sora barely caught.
"You should know." Blinking, Sora kneeled and turned the boy to face him. He placed his hands on Shin's shoulders holding him in place.
"What is it that I should know Shin?" Sora searched Shin's face for any clues about what this could be about. All he got was a look of dislike, before Shin looked away again, not willing to look at him. Sora sighed. He was tired. He has had hardly any sleep these last few weeks. He can't remember the last time he slept a propers night rest. Sora couldn't handle a child's mood swings right now.
Standing up with his hands still on Shin's shoulders, Sora looked around to make sure everyone was still on task.
"Alright, lets take you to your father so he can deal with you." A look of horror crossed Shin's face before he violently pulled away, smacking Sora's hands off his shoulders. Shin's horror turned to anger, his mouth twisting into an angry snarl.
"No! Father can't know about Ichigo." The whole room seemed to freeze. All attention was focused on Shin, silently demanding him to tell them more. Shin paled at realizing his mistake. Sora nearly moved to shake Shin into telling him about Ichigo. Ichigo who had gone missing after he sent Sora away. Sora was supposed to be the only one that knew that Ichigo was not actually at the estate. How did Shin find out? Where is Ichigo now? Sora needed to know.
Looking at Shin, he took a deep breath. This was no time to be irrational. His emotions were getting the best of him. Ichigo will be fine. No, he is fine. He had to be patient and wait for Ichigo to return. This was not the time to push.
But if he knew where Ichigo was then he could make sure he could be left in peace. Kami-sama knows that Ichigo needed it right now. Turning his attention back to Shin, he looked straight into the boy's sky blue eyes.
"Shin, I need to know." Sora took a step towards him, and Shin flew into action. Spinning on his heel, he dashed through the cooks determined to get outside and away. Some cooks tried to grab the boy. Their own desperation to know about Ichigo to ease their worries. Sora remained in place watching the boy fling open the door and dash into woodland. Becoming a shadow among the brush.
"Damn it." He muttered. This is going to bite him in the ass later. A yelp and large crash pulled him from his silent suffering. There sitting on the floor facing each other was the twins. And scattered around them was this mornings meal for the staff on the floor. Sora pinched the bridge of his nose to stem the oncoming headache. It's starting already.
Moving over to the twins, both of them watched him warily. Their hazel eyes looking almost bronze in the kitchen light. He motioned for both of them to stand up. Both of them scrambling to do so on the miso covered floor.
"Get cleaned up and go back to work." Sora turned to address the rest of the staff. "As for the rest of you, I don't want to hear a word of what happened. You are to not tell Akihiko about this. We don't need to stress him out even more." Many of the staff nodded and resumed their work.
The day just progressively got worse from there. So much worse that Sora hardly wanted to think about it. Gossip about Ichigo spread among the staff. Fortunately none of the staff talked about the event that happened in the kitchen. However the elegance at how they handled the gossip was terrible. It was like working with children.
Sora was walking on the outdoors walkway around the house. He watched as a pair of guards walked across the grounds whispering furiously with each other. Stopping, he watched them cross the yard, moving closer and closer towards one of the koi ponds. He had a feeling that this was not going to end well. Sora stepped off the walkway just as the younger guard fell into the pond. He came up sputtering and his eyes wide open in surprise. Making his way over to the both of them, he stopped just before them. Sora watched with crossed arms as the older guard helped the younger one out of the pond. Water dripping from his hair and armor. Neither of them had noticed him yet. This was not how a guard was supposed to act.
"What interested you so much that you were not even paying attention to your surroundings?" Both of them jumped and twirled around to face him. Their eyes were blown wide in surprise and fear. Standing at attention, neither of them would look at him in the eye. Too ashamed that he had seen their blunder. The older guard to the lead in answering his question.
"Sorry Sir! We were discussing Ichigo-sama." Sora sighed and gestured for him to continue. He had an idea about what this was about. "We had heard from the kitchen staff that Ichigo-sama was not doing well and that is why no one except for Shin-sama and yourself has seen him."
It totally was about Ichigo. Why wouldn't it be about Ichigo?
Staring at the two guards he could tell that both of them were ashamed that they had been caught. But there was also guilt and repentance. They knew what they had done wrong. Sora could not punish them for that. Giving another sigh, Sora dismissed them.
"Get dried off. Don't let this gossip distract you from your jobs. You were trained to guard this estate and the people within it. That means I have the highest expectations for you. I don't want to see you acting like this again while you are working understood?"
Both of them stood straighter and gave determined yes sirs. They then shortly left afterwards.
Sora continued on his way. Throughly watching every single staff member that he passed. So far many seemed to have dismissed the gossip and performed their duties adequately. Sora was proud that at least some of the members acted professionally. There was some hope for the Shiba's left.
Sora was approaching a corner. He heard female voices approach. What they were speaking of caught his attention.
"I'm concerned for Ichigo-sama."
"Me too. We haven't seen him since the gathering."
"Yeah, and there is Tadashi-san. Sora-san put him on leave. Does this mean Ichigo-sama did not want Tadashi-san as his assistant?"
"Do you think he did something wrong?"
"I heard that Tadashi was there during the clan meeting and he did something to make Ichigo-sama distrust him?"
"Is that true!? Is that why Tadashi has been removed from his duties by Sora-san?"
"Yes, but that is not the only reason. I've heard that the reason why no one has seen Ichigo-sama is because he is somehow sick and that it was Tadashi that made him sick. He poisoned Ichigo-san." The other girls gasped in surprise.
"Tadashi would never do that would he? Why would he do that? Especially to Ichigo-sama."
"It's because it's Ichigo-sama. He's not a blood relation to Akihiko-san and Tadashi believes that Ichigo-sama should not live here on the estate. I think Tadashi was going to kill Ichigo-sama, but Sora-san stopped him in time. Tadashi should just be kil..."
Sora moved around the corner. He needed to put a stop to this nonsense. Both of the girls jumped and screamed at his sudden appearance. One of them was carry a tea tray. She dropped it and the ceramics shattered on impact. Covering her mouth in horror at the mess she made.
"Sora-san, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean too." The young woman began to pick up the shards of ceramic. Her shoulders visibly tense and quivering in fear. Sora sighed and pulled her up before she could cut herself. His anger was bubbling beneath his calm facade.
"It's okay. What's not okay was what you were discussing." Both of the women blinked at him in confusion. "Gossiping about the other staff members is improper. I believe I trained you better than that." Both of them blushed heavily in embarrassment at being caught. But Sora continued. "Do I needed to reassign jobs to make sure that those who will properly do their jobs actually do so? Perhaps I should remove any ill will gossipers from the estate. Would both of you like to be the first?"
Sora was getting tired of all of this. If the staff were not going to listen to reason and the many warning he has given them, then he would need to take action. The females visibly paled at his obvious anger. The older one gulped and found her voice to answer Sora.
"Of course not Sora-san. We will properly perform our duties and not speak of gossip again." Sora nodded and continued on his way.
"See that you do."
Many of the staff had heard of Sora's anger at the gossip and smartly ignored the rumors and diligently continued their jobs. Jobs they spent years and worked hard to earn. However there still was some staff members that continued and that lead to disasters on the estate. The fireworks that were being made for Shin's birthday were knocked over and destroyed. Horses had gotten loose and destroyed one of the gardens that was designed by Akihiko's wife.
Sora sighed and leaned against one of the hallway walls. His body ached and a deep rooted weariness had settled on his person. He was exhausted from dealing with the aftermath and the staff responsible for the disasters, along with doing his everyday duties. He had no energy to do anything else. But… there was work to be done. He could not afford to put it off and rest.
Mustering what little strength he had left, Sora pulled himself from the wall, wobbling slightly. Light footsteps and familiar reiatsu alerted him of the person's presence. Sora smirked as the person came up beside him. Looking at Akihiko through drooping eyelids, he tried to make himself look professional and awake.
"Akihiko-san. What can I do for you?" Sora was pretty sure that a few of his words had slurred, but he was too tired to care. Akihiko chuckled and grabbed Sora's right elbow.
"You can rest." Akihiko said, beginning to lead Sora to his room. Sora pulled himself to a stop, forcing Akihiko to do so also.
"I can't Akihiko-san. There is too much work to do." Sora protested weakly. He knew if he stopped now, then he won't be getting back up for a while. Akihiko's grip tightened and forcibly pulled Sora closer and looked him straight in the eye. His blue eyes sharp and focused.
"No. Don't do this to yourself Sora. You don't need to push yourself so hard. That means you are going to rest for the whole day tomorrow. I will handle things for the day. It's time for you to rest Sora."
Sora sighed and let Akihiko continue leading him. He was to tired to argue or fight anymore.
"Yes, Akihiko-san."
A shout out to:
Callmecrazylol: Don't worry they will return to normal, but it will take some time.
Scarease: Well you don't have to wait any longer.
Frozen in Idaho: Your very welcome. Here is the next update for you. Yes the 'friendly' fight is over. For now.
innocent94: We are glad that you are happy to see us. We hope you enjoy this chapter also.
Ongaku: YES WE ARE BACK! And glad to be back. It's great hearing from you. Yuko did eventually had to find out, but the real question is how will she react around Ichigo when he comes back. Ichigo will has a hard path ahead of him, but he will get through it. He always does. We hope to hear from you soon.
Rellav: Sorry. But isn't that what a story is supposed to do?
Pikachukite: Thank you for the wonderful compliment.
Norigamiworrior: No worries, take all the time you need to ask as many questions as you want. We will be happy to answer them. Be warned though that we may not answer every second for the sake of the story and its plot. We are happy to hear that you are at a loss for words after reading the previous chapter. That is what we strive for every time. The crew hopes that you enjoy this chapter as well.
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Fate Fan Fang: Yes there is many feels in the last chapters and there will be many more to come.
Reverent wolf: It has been a long time hasn't it? Well no matter because we are back now right? If it would ease your worries a little, we solely swear (that we are up to no good) to never abandon this story. We might not update quite as often as others, but we will update more than just once a year. That would be too cruel for all of you and to us. Writing is in our blood and nor can we stop it. As for not replying in chapter 22 and 23, we just didn't have any reviews for them because they were put out so quickly one after the other. We posted chapter 23 a half an hour after chapter 22. We apologize for missing your birthday, however you mentioning yours inspired us for chapter 25. There will be a surprise in that chapter just for you. We hope that you will catch it.
varda: Tasting huh? Is the story electrifying for your tastebuds? And when you say analyzing, we hope you mean in a good way. Yes Ichigo is waking up. The next chapter will be entirely focused on Ichigo and no one else. Well maybe Shin. The answers will come do not worry a few more chapter before things start to unravel and the true plot twist begins. No he is not the heir of all of the clans, those brandings have a darker connotation to them. Yes, Soutaicho is an ass. We always saw him as one.
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