Guardian Angel
Chapter 3: What Was, What Is
Hisagi Shuhei sat in the Ninth Division's courtyard, enjoying a moment of peace and quiet in the sun between his on-duty shifts. Kazeshini rested across his lap, thankfully just as quiet as he was. Guilt tugged at the back of his mind for a moment as he thought about the zanjutsu and kidou exercises he should have been doing, but Hisagi pushed it away just this once. It was too nice a day not to enjoy it at least a little, and he needed a break. Lieutenants had busier lives than even he'd thought possible—fortunately for Hisagi, Captain Tousen was a reliable and logistically focused Division leader, but there was still no shortage of support work for his Lieutenant to tackle any given day of the week.
As if on cue, a black butterfly fluttered into the courtyard and landed on Hisagi's shoulder. Biting back a curse, he held out his hand and let the messenger drop down onto the tip of his outstretched finger.
"Please report to the Weekly Lieutenant's Meeting in the Fourth Division's calligraphy room," Kotetsu Isane's calm, measured voice spoke through the butterfly. "As of right now, the meeting will begin in… ten minutes."
The message ended and the butterfly flew off, leaving Hisagi to sigh loudly in a rare display of annoyance.
"Damn it," he said, getting slowly to his feet.
Hopefully Renji had some funny stories to share, or this was going to be a very long couple of hours.
As it turned out, Renji did have quite a few stories, most of them more awkward than hilarious.
"Abarai," Kira Izuru said, exasperated, while Omaeda just kept on laughing, "Why do you always practice your kidou in private? How many times do I have to tell you I'd be more than happy to help before you actually get the message?"
"If I don't figure it out myself, on my own, it won't stick," Renji said stubbornly, frowning. "Besides, a few burns are nothing I can't handle."
"You treat them yourself?" Isane broke in, dismayed. "Please just come here instead, Renji. Contrary to what you men might think, burn scars don't make you more attractive."
Renji's scowl deepened, but he said nothing.
"Yeah, you got that right, Kotetsu," Omaeda joined in, displaying his many golden rings to the assembled Lieutenants. "What women want most are money and class. Take it from me, I'd know."
"As someone who's been surrounded by suitors lately who have the first and think they have the second," a new, wry voice joined the conversation, "you couldn't be more wrong, Omaeda."
The assembled Lieutenants turned to look at the newcomer as she walked through the door: Kuchiki Rukia, entering alongside Matsumoto Rangiku and Ise Nanao.
"Rukia?" Renji exclaimed, surprised. "When did you get promoted?"
"When Captain Ukitake decided I was ready for it," Rukia said simply, taking her seat at the table. She picked the position across from Hisagi, with no one around either of them suspecting a thing. Their eyes met, and Hisagi flashed Rukia a small congratulatory smile. She mouthed him a furtive 'thank you', and Hisagi gave her a small shrug.
"Congratulations, Rukia-chan!" Kusajishi Yachiru piped up, grinning. "About the promotion, not all the guys. The first sounds great. The second sounds annoying!"
"That's a very accurate summary, Yachiru," Rukia replied, smiling at her friend.
"Want me to kill some of them for you?" Yachiru asked, never losing her cheerful tone.
"What? No! No, I'll be fine," Rukia stammered, shocked, while the veteran Lieutenants just chuckled. "No one needs to die. I'll think of something. But thank you," she finished, recovering with a warm smile. "I appreciate the thought."
"How is life with Captain Kuchiki?" Omaeda asked, blunt as ever. "I hear he can be… cold."
"Nice save, Omaeda," Matsumoto said, almost rolling her eyes. "Lucky for you, he wasn't here to hear that."
"Captain Kuchiki has shown me nothing but kindness since I joined his family," Rukia said smoothly, cutting off any further discussion before it got even more embarrassing. "He's taught me a lot, and I'm very grateful for everything he's given me."
"Look at you, sounding like a noble already," Renji said, a teasing grin softening his words. "How long you think it'll be before she's too cool to hang out with the rest of us Lieutenants, Shuhei?"
"I'm sure Rukia is perfectly capable of separating her responsibilities to her family from her professional duties, Renji," Hisagi answered calmly. "Captain Ukitake wouldn't have promoted her if she was going to let her responsibilities to the Kuchiki clan overshadow her duty to the Seireitei."
"I'm sitting right here, you know," Rukia said, sounding more amused than exasperated.
"Well, now that we're all here," Nanao spoke up, her calm, controlled voice calling the meeting to order, "we should begin. Kira, you mentioned last week that Captain Ichimaru would be supporting a measure among the rest of the Captains to expand our recruitment authority. Any news on that?"
The Third Division Lieutenant said something in reply, but Hisagi couldn't hear him. Or, more accurately, he wasn't paying attention. His eyes kept coming back to Rukia again and again, and Hisagi was painfully reminded just how long it'd been since the last time they'd even so much as spoken to each other. Becoming part of the Kuchiki clan had changed her in some ways, but not in others. Her posture was more naturally regal now, but her laughter and smiles came just as easily as they always had. And judging by the sharpness of one elbow she gave Omaeda for being particularly annoying, her temper hadn't gone anywhere, either.
These weekly meetings were going to be torture from now on, Hisagi knew that much... and there was nothing he could do about it. Any conversation with Captain Kuchiki that began 'So, I'd like to ask if I could start seeing your sister…' was not a conversation Hisagi was eager to have, as he quite enjoyed all of his limbs being attached to his body.
Rukia glanced his way just once the whole meeting, but the look in her eyes then made his melancholy even deeper. Maybe he was projecting, just seeing what he wanted to see, but Hisagi liked to think he was one of the few people who knew Rukia better than that.
After the meeting ended, the assembled Lieutenants filed out of the room and headed back to their respective headquarters, leaving Hisagi leaning against a railing and admiring the arrangement of the Fourth Division's garden of rare healing herbs and other plants.
"Hey."
He didn't turn to look over at Rukia as she stood next to him, leaning against the railing.
"Hey, kid."
Rukia chuckled.
"Haven't been called that in a while. Didn't think I'd miss it."
"Do you?"
Rukia paused, biting back a sigh.
"Yeah," she said at last.
"I'm happy for you," Hisagi said, still looking out at the garden. "Lieutenant's no joke. Congratulations."
"There's no way I'd have gotten it without your help," Rukia said, shaking her head. "My zanjutsu was below second-rate before I met you. I owe you one, Shuhei."
Hisagi smiled, the expression more happy than sad.
"You don't owe me anything, Rukia," he said, finally turning his head to look at her. It hurt as much as he'd expected. "I'm just glad I could help."
Rukia smiled in kind, her violet eyes bright in the sun.
"I miss you," she said, "but I guess you know that."
"Yeah," Hisagi said, "the feeling's mutual."
They both returned their gazes to the garden, lingering in companionable silence for several moments before Rukia spoke again.
"You know," she said, the slightest hint of wry humor in her voice, "I learned something interesting the other day, going through the Kuchiki family archives."
"Oh? What?"
"It looks like, at a few points in the Kuchiki clan's history, its members have married outside of the nobility, for one reason or another," Rukia explained. "Which means you might have a chance after all, Shuhei. As long as you can survive telling my brother you're one of my suitors, I guess."
Hisagi had barely processed the implications of what Rukia had said when she leaned up and kissed him on the cheek, before turning around and walking away, humming a tune under her breath.
A few heartbeats later, Hisagi smiled wide.
Maybe the fact that they were both Lieutenants now wouldn't be so bad, after all.
The End
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A/N: Happy holidays! I bet y'all didn't expect to see this updated, huh? Neither did I, honestly, five (5!) years on down the road, but here we are. I felt bad letting it linger like that, so I figured I'd give everyone who might still be waiting for this some closure.
Your continued patience and faith is far more than I deserved, and I just hope this was at least not disappointing.
Thanks for reading!
-JP