Title: Sound of the Tide
Chapter: 5/?
Rating: M. Ish.
Warnings: Adult themes, and cursing, like usualy. Nothing explicit (yet).
Pairings: Byakuya x OC, Renji x OC
Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo. In Japan, this would be considered as a great tribute to his sucess and genius. In America, not so much. :(
A/N: After an incredibly long-lived absence, I hath returned! My first year at my new college kicked my booty, and I loved it. Except for the broken bones parts. But eh!
Wearing the clothes of House Kuchiki's servants, Shione had snuck out. She knew she wasn't supposed to—Lady Misha was very particular about keeping her geisha in training hidden and tucked away from the public eye. Something about adding a mysterious allure or some such. Shione didn't particularly agree, being of the camp of thought that being out in the public would only help her gain popularity before her second debut. But it was Lady Misha's house, so it was Lady Misha's rules.
Shione made sure no one saw her slip out in the wee hours of the morning. She walked quickly and briskly through the streets, and made sure that she didn't float over the cobblestones like Lady Misha had trained her to. Her face was void of make up, and her pitch black hair pulled up in an orderly bun.
No one bothered her as she rushed towards Sereitei, and the Kuchiki House.
It wasn't as if Lady Misha were abusive or anything. Shione found that she actually quite enjoyed the old woman's company, once she had stopped calling Shione a whole slew of crude nick names. A veritable well spring of knowledge, Lady Misha never steered Shione wrong. She had learned so much…
But the women's boarding house held no love for her. Her fellow geisha in training avoided her and talked about her behind her back, being that she was Lord Kuchiki's newest bauble to flaunt off to the nobility. And Lady Kuchiki's patronage was no help, also. The girls thought that Lady Misha was playing favorites where Shione was concerned.
Favorites. Hah! If anything, Lady Misha was tougher on Shione than anyone. But that didn't keep the vipers from hissing in the bushes.
The servants pandered to her as if she were nobility—yet another way to induce the ire of the other geisha. No one wanted to step on her toes or get in her way. Trying to garner favor, to get their foot in the door of the Kuchiki house…?
Shione didn't know, and she didn't care. All she was concerned about was that it left her not a single soul in the boarding house to befriend. Not even the women who worked in the local factories—they left early before the sun rose and worked until it set. Shione only ever saw them at night, when they slept in preparation for the next day.
She was lonely. She didn't want to spend any more time at the boarding house with only Lady Misha's company. If she could get to Lady Kuchiki, maybe some other arrangements could be made…? Preferably, with the Kuchiki House remaining anonymous as her patrons? At least until her second debut?
Merchants were bustling about in the early morning traffic, hurrying to make their early morning deliveries to the local businesses surrounding Lady Misha's boarding house. Factory workers were pouring out onto the streets, chattering jovially to each other despite the long day of labor that was in store.
Shione kept her head down and moved as quickly as possible, without directing attention to herself.
Once at the gates to Sereitei, the gate guards simply gave her a quick look over and let her through. She didn't think that it would be so easy to enter the hub of Soul Society, with or without her servant's clothes. Apparently, though, being a member of House Kuchiki granted her many more rights than she had first anticipated.
Shinigami were everywhere as she rushed down one street after the next. A blush staining her cheeks, she kept her eyes down and ignored the various cat calls that went up as she passed a particularly rambunctious group. She didn't know what squad they belonged to, nor did she particularly care. What mattered was getting the hell away before one of them got some idea into their head.
Did Shinigami do things like that? She wondered as she ducked down a random street that turned away from the laughing men. Growing up in Rukongai, she had always been aware of the…depravities that some men could relish in. She had never been a victim herself, of course, but some of the girls at the geisha house she initially trained at…
Certainly no one would bother her since she sported Kuchiki's colors, though. That was just invoking the wrath of the gods, wasn't it?
"What's this little duckling doin' so far from home?" a deep voice drawled, snapping Shione's head up and away from the pavers under her feet.
She gulped audibly as she craned her neck backwards to regard the humongous man that she had nearly collided in to. He was massive, standing with his chest at eye level to her. Broad shoulders filled out a shihakusho with impressive width, his bare chest straining at his uniform as he tilted his head to the side to consider her. A vicious scar split his face vertically through one eye. The other was hidden with an eye patch.
Shione shrank to try and make herself look as small as possible.
The behemoth in front of her was wearing a captain's haori.
"You talk, little duckling?" the captain demanded roughly, one corner of his thin, cruel lips drawing up in a sneer. He wasn't reacting to her display of submissiveness very well, it seemed.
"S-sorry, Captain, sir," she stammered and decided to switch tactics. How would he like a rather terrified little servant trying to act tough? She stood tall, squared her shoulders, and met him directly in the eye.
She tried not to stare at the eye patch, but she kept on staring anyway. Her knees kept shaking, too.
H
If it were even possibly, the behemoth captain turned even scarier as he scowled at her. "A Kuchiki duckling so far away from the nest is never a good thing. Whatcha doin' in my area, kid?"
Quick, brain, think fast! "I got lost on my way back from the markets, sir," she lifted her chin stubbornly and hoped she looked indignant enough that he'd let it off at that.
He quirked an eyebrow and did his curious vicious dog head tilt the other direction. "Don't look like you had much business in the markets. Where's your shit if you went shoppin'?"
Aw, crap. She hadn't thought of that.
"And what the hell you doin' so far off course, hm?" he took a step closer to her and took his sweet ass time putting a big paw on the hilt of the zanpakutou he wore at his hip.
There was no hiding the terrified look in her eyes as she stared purposefully at his sword. She didn't know much about the captains, or Sereitei, or even Shinigami. But she knew enough that she did not want that brute drawing his sword. "I was running a message!" she squeaked.
That seemed to be the tidbit he was looking for. The captain grinned, a huge, slow grin that made him look like a hungry wolf. "Is that so? Any idea what that message was?"
"N-no!"
"Who was it from? Kuchiki? Who he running messages to in the markets, hm?" the behemoth advanced on her excitedly, the epitome of a wolf on the trail of a particularly tasty scent.
"I-I don't—" she took a couple steps back, wondering if she were fast enough to turn tail and run. But that pack of mangy-looking Shinigami was waiting if she headed back the way she came!
"Or were you just spyin' for that prick, huh?" the captain barely moved as his thumb unlocked his zanpakutou from its sheathe. His other hand moved to grab the hilt.
Shione nearly collapsed where she was. Oh gods, how would it be her luck that this would happen the one time she broke Lady Misha's rules?
"Leave the poor girl alone, Kenpachi," a woman's voice sighed half heartedly from somewhere behind the mammoth captain.
The captain's face fell as if someone had taken his juicy bone away. With a huge sigh, he rolled his one visible eye and let his blade slide home. "For fuck's sake, woman. You suck the fun out of life."
"I'm sure I do," a tall, lithe woman gently pushed the fuming captain to the side. The way the man acted, it seemed as if he had simply put himself between Shione and the woman to guard her. From who? Surely not Shione.
She was just a geisha disguised as a servant, for the love of the gods!
The woman smiled, gray eyes gentle in an elfin face. Auburn curls fell over her shoulder as she reached a friendly hand out to Shione. "Ignore him. He has all the manners of a gutter rat when he sees a Kuchiki House servant."
The captain muttered something under his breath, but the woman ignored him as Shione reluctantly took her hand. "Thank you," she squeaked as the Shinigami hauled her to her feet.
"I ain't done with the runt yet, Katsue," the captain barked irritably.
"And I told you to leave her alone," Katsue turned to give him a coy look that had Shione blushing. "You have better things to do than harass a messenger."
The captain growled angrily, but he had seen the same look that Shione had. His beady black eye raked over the gray-eyed woman appreciatively, before darting back to consider Shione. At least he wasn't scowling at her anymore. "Like?" he grunted.
"I think you know," the woman replied suggestively, before giving Shione one last knowing grin. She stepped around Shione, heading towards the ravenous pack of Shinigami that would undoubtedly scrape and bow to the captain that followed reluctantly.
The captain gave Shione a resigned look as he passed her, before his eyes latched onto Katsue's swaying hips. The Kuchiki messenger no longer existed to him, so long as that sauntering Shinigami was in front of him.
Shione ran without looking back, terror lending her speed as she simply flew past any more Shinigami or white-robed captains. Complaints would get back to Captain Kuchiki, but she didn't care anymore. She just didn't want to get stopped by any more scary Soul Reapers with some vendetta against the nobles that paid her bills.
She didn't stop running until she bolted through the tall arches to the Kuchiki House, buried in the middle of the Sixth District. Servants and guards watched her curiously, but paid her no other mind as she rushed to Lady Seiraryu's particular group of buildings. Panting to catch her breath, Shione finally stopped running once she was leaning against the door jamb to the lady's home.
She didn't realize she wasn't alone until a soft tinkle of china against china announced someone else's presence. She practically jumped out of her hide, hand flying to heart, as she stared wide-eyed at the slouching figure at the low tea table in the center of Seiraryu's communal room.
Kuchiki Byakuya regarded her with faintly veiled alarm, before he was back to being a cold stone of a man. Slowly, he took a sip from the cup he had set down. One elegant eyebrow arched at her in a silent, curious question. But she read the unspoken words in his eyes. "What the hell are you doing here?" they seemed to say.
Still panting, Shione blushed furiously as she tried to smooth her kimono over her hips and ignore the fact that she was sweating. Lord Kuchiki knew who she was, and knew that she wasn't just a simple servant running errands. He knew she was a geisha, and geisha were not supposed to sweat.
But when she answered with silence of her own, Lord Kuchiki decided to simply ignore her and went back to drinking whatever was in his cup.
"I am sorry to barge in so suddenly, Bya—Lord Kuchiki," she had been about to call him Bya-Bya-kun, like Seiraryu does. Not a wise decision. "I was hoping to see Lady Kuchiki."
Byakuya made a sound in the back of his throat, as if he were huffing in mild amusement. But his face remained blank as he nursed his drink. "She is not yet awake," he replied quietly.
Something was off in his voice, but Shione didn't know what. Settling for second best to Seiraryu's company, Shione rushed to take a seat opposite from Byakuya. He seemed as if he were still sleepy as he held his cup in both hands while she refilled it with the tea pot that sat in front of him. The tea wasn't steaming.
She frowned and looked for the nearest servant, only to find none. Well, other than herself, but that didn't count.
"She probably will not rise until noon," Byakuya offered up without her prompting, accompanied with a little sound that resembled a chuckle.
Today was one of Shione's rare free days. She could wait that long without Lady Misha becoming suspicious. As long as she was back by the evening meal, the old bat would just assume Shione was busy avoiding her. She had done it before. "Would you mind if I kept you company until then?"
Byakuya didn't seem to hear her. He downed his newly poured tea in one rather un-lordly gulp, before sticking his cup back out to her to refill. She obliged with a sidelong glance. "The elders want me to marry her off, you know," he volunteered another bit of random information. "As if I ever controlled what she will do or has done. Seiraryu will marry whenever she is damn well ready to, and not to any man I pick for her."
"Is that so, Lord Kuchiki?" she asked politely and refilled his cup yet again. As long as he didn't seem to mind that his tea was cold…
"They just want the blasted succession secured," he hissed angrily under his breath as he stared into his cup. "Since I am apparently incapable of producing a heir upon a dead wife!"
Shione's face turned scarlet as she opted to remain silent. She had not been imagining it. Captain Kuchiki was acting very strange indeed. Certainly he wasn't the kind of man to be talkative in the morning, only to degenerate to monotonous comments later in the day? She stared at his tea cup, wondering quietly to herself.
"And I do not plan to remarry. We have no other blood brothers or sisters. If we want the clan to stay with direct descendants, Seiraryu is our only bet," he made a definite half-assed chuckle, this time. "Never a good idea to lay all your cards on her."
"I think Lady Kuchiki would be a grand matriarch," Shione offered absently as she pulled the tea pot closer to herself. She opened it and stared inside at the crystal clear contents, noting that it lacked any sort of tea bags or leaves.
"She would, but she takes none of it seriously," Byakuya grunted grumpily. His mood kept going down hill as he sipped at his tea. "She would rather play Shinigami and generally disobey my wishes. And Rukia…she is too young to even think of settling down and popping out babies."
Shione listened with one ear as she sniffed the contents of the tea pot. Sure enough, it stunk of alcohol. It seemed her noble patron was imbibing sake during the early hours of the morning. Not a good sign. "How long have you been drinking, Byakuya?" she interrupted his most recent tirade against his sisters.
He stared at her dumbly for a minute, before shrugging. "It does not concern you."
"It is eight in the morning, Byakuya." He didn't seem to notice that she was referring to him so informally. "How much, if not how long?"
Another shrug.
Sighing, she refilled his cup before standing. No point in stopping him now, she thought as she went to the closest door way to search for a servant. The damage was done, and the captain was royally drunk. He had to have been in the drink for quite a while, if his usual cool demeanor was left in the dark.
She had difficulty finding a servant, and Byakuya was getting louder behind her. Frowning to herself, she continued down the hallway towards Lady Kuchiki's bedchambers. If there were no normal servants about, there would be hand maids waiting there, at the very least.
But the large antechamber was barren, the posts of Seiraryu's maid servants left abandoned. Maybe they knew that their mistress would not want to be woken early, and had decided to sleep in themselves?
Byakuya called out for her drunkenly from the communal area, hoping to have his cup refilled again. He could do that himself, she huffed.
Well then, Seiraryu could deal with her drunken brother, Shione decided succinctly as she stomped loudly through the antechamber. With luck, maybe Seiraryu would hear her and awaken on her own. If not…
"Your brother is drunk at eight in the morning!" she declared as she tore open the rice paper doors to Seiraryu's room.
She hadn't expected to find herself staring at Vice Captain Abarai's naked backside wedged firmly between Seiraryu's creamy thighs. Both just stared at her in unabashed surprise, completely and utterly dumb struck.
They recovered at pretty much the same time. Shione yelped an apology as she hurried to hide her face in her hands, while Abarai and Seiraryu rushed to untangle themselves from each other's limbs and their bed sheets. Both were cursing vehemently, with more colorful vocabulary coming from Seiraryu than could be expected of a lady.
"Close the gods forsaken door, Fukada!" the lady yelled as her red-headed lover yanked black hakama over his tan legs. The Vice Captain looked absolutely terrified as he hurried to grab his clothes and get decent.
Shione didn't know that his terror was inspired by the looming figure behind her, until she felt an odd tickling sensation on her neck. Slowly, eyes wide as she peaked between her fingers, Shione turned to stare at Byakuya.
For all intents and purposes, he simply looked like a blank drunkard swaying where he stood behind her. But he had one hand braced on the doorway, long fingers white from his tight grip on the poor wood. His other hand shook on the hilt of his zanpakutou.
The tickling ran right down Shione's spine. Byakuya's hand shifted on his sword before he drew it in one elegant sweep of his arm.
"Now wait a second, Captain!" Abarai squawked in panic as he shoved muscular arms through his layered kimono, his hands hurrying to find the hilt of his own zanpakutou. The thing was leaning against a corner of Seiraryu's room, out of reach. "Don't do anything rash!"
Shione busied herself by plastering her already diminutive body against the wall at her back, trying desperately to melt into the wood work.
Seiraryu was pulling a thin kimono closed around her as she finally stood from her bed roll, blue eyes cold and commanding as she regarded her brother silently. She took her sweet time tying the obi tight before she spoke. "Sheathe Sebonzakura, Byakuya-kun."
Her brother snarled silently, his beautifully elegant face distorted by his rage.
"Sheathe it!" Seiraryu barked angrily.
A long tense moment passed, where Shione prayed to any gods that watched over her to spare her from this conflict. She did not want to get caught up in any type of violence, particularly between Shinigami, and most definitely between the Kuchiki siblings.
But Byakuya obeyed reluctantly, his sword arm trembling as he slid his blade home. "Leave us, Abarai," he growled quietly, threateningly.
Abarai Renji obeyed without question, taking an extra moment to snatch his zanpakutou and the rest of his clothes up before he hurried to squeeze himself past Byakuya in the door way. Shione watched him flee desperately, wishing that the red-headed vice captain had taken a moment to free her from this situation, too.
"Why would you do this to me?" Byakuya spoke as his second in command disappeared.
Seiraryu lifted her chin stubbornly. "You are the head of the Kuchiki household—"
"And your children are to be next! But how am I to marry you to a noble of renown when you are no longer a virgin!" he roared.
"And have not been since we were in the Shinigami Academy," she snapped in response, "Not that it is a matter that concerns you nor any other. So do not dare think of taking anything out on Renji—"
"That idiot? I could hardly blame him for falling victim to one of your ploys!"
Seiraryu crossed the distance between her and her brother and smacked him squarely in the jaw. "How dare you!"
"Leave us," Byakuya snarled. It took a Shione a moment to realize that he was talking to her. "I said, leave!" he repeated with a roar.
Shione didn't hang around to hear it a third time. She stumbled over her own feet as she fled the scene with utmost haste, eyes still wide in terror.
Never again, she repeated to herself, was she going to break another of Lady Misha's rules.
I have a lighter class load 'til spring. I hope to finish this story and Blessed Victory, as well as put up Seiraryu's origin story thingy. That story is done, and will go up pretty quickly once I finish Sound of the Tide. :D
I love you all, by the way. Especially you lot that kept sharing my story with whatever rings you're in, and kept me sane through out this incredibly long school year. Your comments kept me alive! D: Much luff.