I've been watching you closely
Every move that you make
And all the things you've showed to me
Are getting harder to take
I wish we could begin from the start
Dinner.
When it came to the Taira name, Rukia found the word wasn't quite so appetizing. She wasn't looking forward to it in the least.
In fact, she was dreading it. Last time her reputation had been on the line, mostly because of the tea incident that just so happened to be with the one person she would be forced to sit across from that very evening. She wasn't sure how she managed to stay under the radar, but unless that stupid advisor had miraculously gone senile, some awkward conversation about rebellious upstart adoptees was sure to worm itself back into the conversation again.
At least her bathroom was functional now, Rukia noted with some relief. She would never have to go through any more embarrassing bath incidents again.
Although if it had to happen, better Nii-sama than anyone else. At least she could trust him to be respectful about it. Other guys might stare and have embarrassing reactions, but Nii-sama was too noble to do any such thing. (In theory. She did have some sort of memory of him roving his eyes over her before quickly looking away…but that was probably inevitable. He'd unsuspectingly walked into his own bath, after all.)
Then Rukia stopped dead. Nii-sama? Better than anyone else? There wasn't any good in him walking in on her at all!
Huffing, she flung a towel over her shoulder and slammed the door behind her.
A hot shower and a short soak later, she emerged from the bathroom to find Yuu in her room, being swallowed beneath an ocean of fine fabric. "Wow, Yuu," she said, a wry smile on her lips. "You didn't need to yank out the entire wardrobe."
"But there are so many pretty choices!"
Rukia wasn't choosy; she picked a pastel floral one to match the early spring. It took fifteen minutes for Yuu and the old dressing lady to get her finished—fantastically speedy in the way of the kimono. When Rukia looked at herself, she was startled by her reflection. She wore a pale apricot kimono complete with a white obi and rose-colored cord knotted delicately at the front. It was impossible to tell she'd just been out back having a sweaty workout session with Nii-sama.
Unfortunately it seemed that the times she would look the most beautiful would be the times that only nasty old men would be watching her. Such a shame…
When Rukia reached the front hall, Nii-sama was already there. He wore a pale blue kimono and a darker colored coat, with his hair in the kenseikan and the windflower scarf draped around his shoulders. He looked dashing as always, but that was to be expected. Like her, there was not a single indication that he'd just been working out.
"We will head out in a moment," he said, surveying her briefly. "Fudo will be with us as well."
He turned abruptly toward the window. Wondering if something was happening outside to steal his attention like that, Rukia took a step closer.
Byakuya moved away, then pulled a slip of paper from the breast of his kimono and started reading.
Wow. Shunned. He'd been fine and social and damn well staring at her during their practice, but now he was busying himself in a way that was entirely too purposeful. She wasn't sure what changed in forty-five minutes, but if he was deliberately distracting himself to avoid her, he probably didn't want to be around her. Maybe he really was disappointed, despite their brief exchange.
For one, he never answered that night she'd fallen asleep on the porch. She asked if he was angry. He never bothered to respond.
Then there was that first dinner when he acted like she didn't exist. Things turned sour after the bath, but that was days ago. He shouldn't still be acting weird…right?
Either he was still disappointed, or he was still bothered.
Rukia bit her lip.
"Nii-sama," she began. But before she could continue, Fudo appeared.
"I hope I have not kept you waiting," Fudo said. "Shall we?"
Rukia bit back her words and followed them without a word.
She took her place beside Nii-sama, forcing herself to move faster to match his longer strides. Then, after a long moment where she suspected he was trying to outpace her, she drifted back and let Fudo take the spot beside him.
She stared, trying to pick up on any signals in his behavior. She knew this was one surefire way to drive herself insane, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was off between them. He was walking too fast, for one thing—not the way one attended a friendly dinner invite, even if they weren't all that friendly. His stride was driven, but unfocused—it was as if he was physically walking but mentally on another plane. He looked stiff, and while it was often claimed that Kuchiki Byakuya walked with a stick up his ass—something Rukia always shot down—he just seemed like…well, he had a stick up his ass.
Except that now she had the perfect view for observing his broad shoulders and trim waist and aforementioned assets, just as she'd done yesterday.
What was wrong with her? She'd never made it a habit to ogle or do anything else her treacherous eyeballs were aching to do. She tried to focus on dinner, but that wasn't helping anything at all.
Bothered, Rukia stared at Fudo's scalp. It wasn't a particularly noteworthy sight, but at this point she was willing to look at anything to get her eyes and mind off him. But if she couldn't even look at Nii-sama, how in the hell was she going to sneak photos of him and win her precious Chappy?
No…she'd find a way.
It took far too long, in Rukia's opinion, to reach their destination. She really must've been doing her best to avoid looking at Nii-sama, because when he stopped, Rukia didn't notice. She plowed right into him, and caught unexpected, she threw her hands out to prevent herself from falling.
She ended up falling anyway. The only thing she managed to do was accidentally grope him in the process.
Evidently this was punishment for staring at Nii-sama's backside the whole way there.
Nii-sama turned and Rukia cringed hard. That got him looking—maybe she should have goosed him sooner? But in all seriousness her face flamed, and she found herself embarrassed once more as she groveled in the dirt before him. She didn't need to be reminded like a five-year-old child to watch where she was going.
"Are you alright?"
"Sorry, I was not paying attention," she muttered, clutching her nose.
"That is not what I asked."
"Sorry, I…what?"
Rukia looked up. To her surprise, he didn't look annoyed. He probably wondered what was causing her so many slip-ups, because today she was stealing Hanatarou's title as number one most embarrassing shinigami klutz. She clambered to her feet, dusting off her kimono to avoid eye contact.
"Yes, I'm alright."
Not really. Not really at all.
His gaze lasted a moment longer. Then he faced forward again.
"We are here," Fudo said.
Rukia sighed as they were let in through the gate. Oh, how she would rather be at Ichigo's sucking on juice boxes and poring over last year's magazines…
Then the man himself was there, greeting them from his doorway. He wore a striking kimono of gold and orange and a grey coat that didn't do much for his belly; compared with Nii-sama, he looked like a sorry imitation of a bumblebee. Then she saw Denbei, whose face resembled shriveled up umeboshi the moment he laid eyes on her. Maybe that was just his face.
She'd been hoping that somehow over the past two days he'd gone senile. But apparently that was too much to ask.
Rukia opted for a prayer instead.
Please oh please let Aizen's gang of zombie miscreants kidnap me and take me to another dimension like they did with Inoue.
Unfortunately she no longer had the Hougyoku, and since there wasn't any reason for Aizen to kidnap her that didn't involve some fantasy that was either creepy or just plain disturbing, she abandoned the idea as a moot one.
Condemning herself to another lovely evening in the dumps, Rukia sidled in behind Nii-sama, hoping to ghost behind him as long as possible. She trailed after them until they reached the dining room where the wafting scent smelled altogether too tempting. Rukia didn't believe her nose.
Then she saw the food.
Okay…maybe dinner would be appetizing after all.
Not to be outdone, Taira decided to throw a party for an army. The table was sprawling with beef steaks and chilled wasabi, soft-shelled crab wrapped in hijiki, mussels served with coriander and all the sides she could dream of. Despite her size, Rukia could eat a horse. Naturally she didn't spend every hour of the day snacking on rice crackers, but after especially vigorous workouts her appetite could be enough to swallow Oomaeda-fukutaichou whole.
And she'd just come out of a spar! Perfect excuse to eat like a pig! (With class, of course.)
There was a bit of talk beforehand, but Rukia spent most of this time drooling at the table. She hoped the food tasted as good as it looked because right now Rukia was starving. If these people didn't drop the chitchat soon, she might have started gnawing on the closest thing to her, which would've been unfortunate for Nii-sama.
Finally everyone took their places, the staff hands bowed, and at last Rukia's fantasy dinner commenced.
By some stroke of luck, she ended up sitting across from Nii-sama. It was better this way, so long as she wasn't shocked with a mouthful of tea…
Just as the thought crossed her mind, Denbei turned. "Care for some tea, Kuchiki Rukia?"
It sounded like an innocent question, and had it been anyone else Rukia would've gladly accepted. But the leer on the man's face told her otherwise. He was never going to let her live it down, and by the way he so snidely popped the question, he clearly had every intention of reminding her.
"No, thank you," she muttered, snatching up a crab platter to occupy her attention. Before she could react, Denbei snatched her cup.
"Oh, but I insist."
Rukia watched haplessly as he served the tea. He poured with excruciating care, commanding her attention for far too long as the steaming liquid dribbled into her cup. After what felt like an entire minute, he eased up and set the teapot down.
"There you go," he drawled, pushing the porcelain toward her just as deliberately.
Rukia stared at the cup as if it had been filled with snakes.
This man…
"Are you not going to thank me?"
Nii-sama glanced at their surreptitious interaction. Rukia's gaze flicked up to blankly stare at the man.
"You should mind your manners, Kuchiki Rukia."
…reminds me of Gin.
Then he joined the conversation like nothing happened. Rukia stared at him, unnerved by the sheer audacity of his behavior. After that entire display, he was talking to the others like they never interacted. At least that meant he would leave her alone. He couldn't make his point clearer than that. But before she could mind her own business, their eyes locked.
"How is the tea, dear?"
Damn him.
Rukia fought the urge to hide. Here she'd wanted to make the best of an evening she didn't want to endure, but this asshole was going out of his way to make her uncomfortable. The worst part was that they both knew she couldn't retaliate. Judging by his smug expression, this pleased him greatly.
Avoiding any further attention, Rukia glanced at Nii-sama. She wondered if sitting face-to-face would make him unable to avoid her, but as expected, he didn't see her at all. He paid her no mind, slurping soba and enjoying some red dish she wasn't sure she should try. He collected a piece of this spicy food and brought it to his mouth, and she wondered that he didn't need any water.
Then his eyes met hers.
Rukia quickly looked away and accidentally caught Taira's gaze instead. He looked her over appreciatively before saying, "I should have mentioned this the moment I laid eyes on you, but you look lovely, my dear."
A stick of julienned ginger twitched between her chopsticks. Nii-sama might've twitched. And she was pretty certain that Denbei and even Fudo twitched, for god knew why.
Boy, Rukia had to love the dynamics of this company.
The table was cleared and replaced with hot sake and snacks. The advisors drifted off somewhere into their own private conversation and Rukia was left with Nii-sama and Taira and a whole lot of boredom. She would have started her sixth plate if the dishes had been left, but instead she opted for taste testing each of the snacks. She was lucky she had such a high metabolism…
"You are very quiet," Taira said.
"Mmgh," she garbled around a mouthful of sweet omelette. Did he have to start talking to her now? She was really enjoying this tamagoyaki…
"It seems this is your first time here," he continued. "What do you make of it?"
Rukia swallowed. "It's lovely," she lied. It wasn't quite a lie…but it wasn't the truth either. The only thing worth noting about the Taira manor was the décor which she found a little too gaudy compared with the Kuchiki's classy but modest tastes.
"How are your duties at the Gotei 13?"
"They are well," Rukia answered. Surely her soul reaping duties would be of little interest to a man who had long retired from shinigami-dom.
"I remember those days," Taira said wistfully, patronizing almost. "Tedious missions to the real world, purifying hollows, wrecking havoc in the training compounds and burning through paperwork by the bushel. You are in Ukitake's division, are you not?"
"I am."
"Good man, Ukitake. He achieves a lot through the help of his loyal subordinates. Which seat would you be?"
Rukia paused.
She shouldn't have felt embarrassed. Nii-sama had taken precautions for her safety, and most nobles were afforded seats because of status. Still, she wasn't sure whether to be flattered or annoyed. If she had to choose between getting a free seat and working her way there, she'd work her heart out any day.
Instead of lowering her gaze to the table, she lifted her chin to face him. "I am unseated, actually."
She felt Nii-sama look at her.
"I see," Taira said. "And as an unseated, does this allow you to devote more time to personal issues?"
"I suppose," she said. Why all the questions? It wasn't like she could compare the two…
Taira looked at her then, his demeanor markedly casual. "Have you thought about your plans for the future? Like, say, settling down?"
"I would like to continue to patrol, and to remain stationed near Karakura, if possible," she answered.
He gave her a pitying look. "I meant plans such as marriage."
Rukia suddenly felt wary. This was not a topic she was at all comfortable with. She didn't like discussing boys with her own best friend, much less marriage with a strange old man.
"No, I have not," she said quietly.
"A beautiful young woman such as yourself has not considered marriage?" Taira asked, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Well, times have changed, no doubt."
Nii-sama looked tense. It wasn't anything that Taira or even Fudo would've picked up on, but Rukia was certain she knew him well enough to pick up on the little signs in his body language that something wasn't right. When he was angry, his spiritual pressure became even more still, whereas most shinigami became fiery and unstable. His reiatsu was deadly calm, so much so that had Rukia not been acutely paying attention to him, she might not have noticed. But if anything gave him away, it was his hand. His hand was clenching his teacup, and it was white.
"There must be plenty of suitors vying for the attentions of a lovely lady such as yourself," Taira plunged on, blithely ignorant of any hard feelings at the table. "But that's all well. I am sure few, if any, of these suitors are truly worth your attention, Miss Rukia."
Byakuya banged his cup against the table. "It seems we are out of tea."
"Why indeed, it seems we are," Taira agreed, noting the empty kettle Byakuya was holding. He called for more tea, taking a sip of his sake as a woman came by with a fresh pot.
Rukia took this opportunity to change the subject. "So…which division were you in?"
Taira looked pleased at her interest. "I spent a great deal of time working in the 5th Division," he replied.
"Oh."
"But I guess you could say I ended up holding the most responsibility in the 3rd."
"Oh."
"That was long before that Ichimaru Gin came along," he said, frowning. "Of course, thanks to those traitors, there are captain vacancies all over again. It is unfortunate that Aizen would choose such selfish ambitions over loyalty to Soul Society…but then, that is the choice he makes."
Rukia stared at the butterfly crest on Taira's coat. He talked about Aizen's choice as if it were nothing more than cream or sugar. Then again, it was natural for her to harbor greater ill will. Getting almost executed for nothing tended to have that effect…
"Thank you, you too," Fudo called as he reentered the room.
Nii-sama rose and Rukia followed, glad to escape mostly unscathed. She'd have to thank Fudo for dragging the nasty man elsewhere for most of the evening.
"Thank you for having us," Fudo said as they left the premise.
"Not at all," Taira replied. "It was a great pleasure."
Finally they were heading home with only one disturbing memory of dripping tea to trifle her. She walked beside Nii-sama, noting that the awkward walk she'd endured earlier was absent. Happy that he seemed to be in a better mood, she sighed. "I'm glad that's over."
Nii-sama said nothing.
"I hope we'll not have to see them for a long time," she said, casting a sidelong glance at him.
He still said nothing.
He was probably just not feeling talkative today. Although even his talkative days were not that…talkative.
Belatedly she realized that Taira never brought up the tomes. He'd jovially discussed the news, the weather, marriage even—everything but what Rukia thought he'd talk about. It seemed he did lose interest after all. Really, Nii-sama could scare off the devil if he wanted to. (Now if only he'd turn that power on Ichimaru Gin.)
They reached home and Nii-sama left without saying good night for the third night in a row, not that Rukia was counting. She brushed off the feeling of being dismissed and headed off for bed. Tomorrow would be a new day, and hopefully she would never have to see the reviling faces of Taira or Cobra Face ever again.
The food, though…that was a different story…
