A/N: Hello, readers. It's been a while, so if you're reading this, I'm glad you still haven't forgotten this little series. This installment is short in comparison to the previous one, and it's probably a little weird since I've totally been failing at writing romance lately. Thank you for all thoughts and supports for all previous chapters, by the way. As always, all kinds of comments are appreciated.

5: Battle, Butterfly and Biscuits

If anyone were to ask him what the strangest thing he had seen in his time as a Substitute Shinigami was, Ichigo would probably say it was Byakuya being hit by a police car. It was strange because if he had not witnessed the incident with his own eyes, he would have never imagined Byakuya in the same scene as a police car, let alone being hit by one. It was just weird. Too weird.

It happened in one autumn day when Ichigo traveled with his school's football club to have a match with some school in Kagamino City. They were getting ready to get to the field when an alarm went off from his Substitute Shinigami badge, so Ichigo just popped a Soul Candy into his mouth, leaving Kon to play in his place, and then headed out to find where Hollows were attacking.

It didn't take any skill for Ichigo to track down the Hollows. After all, it was difficult to miss them when there were dozens of Hollows flocking down from the sky near a shopping district. It had been a long time since Ichigo saw that many Hollows out on the loose anywhere outside of Hueco Mundo. The Substitute Shinigami wasn't sure if those Hollows were baited in by someone, but it wasn't his duty to investigate the reason. He only needed to slay them all before they could hurt more people and damage more properties than they already had.

When Ichigo arrived, people were running and screaming as they probably thought that those big holes in the street were caused by explosions of some sort.

Ichigo had expected his presence would be unwelcome by the local Shinigami since whoever the Shinigami was, he probably never heard of a Substitute Shinigami's existence. Therefore, the Substitute Shinigami had to be surprised when he reached to the scene and sensed a familiar spiritual presence of one dark-haired, slate-eyed Shinigami captain, Kuchiki Byakuya.

Although he knew that Byakuya was there, he didn't actually saw the captain until a few minutes later because Ichigo himself was too occupied by Hollows that were coming at him from all directions to even bother to think about looking for the Shinigami. It wasn't as if he needed to be worried about Byakuya's well being anyhow, since Byakuya was more than capable of taking care of himself and would probably take it as a personal insult if Ichigo thought even for a second that he needed to worry about him.

Ichigo dashed around the area to slay as many Hollows as possible without using Getsuga Tenshō, fearing that if he did, the energy wave might accidentally hit some innocent bystanders or the nearby properties. Those Hollows had already brought about enough damages and destruction by themselves, so Ichigo needed to do his best not to cause any more casualties.

Having cleared out a few Hollows that were on the ground, Ichigo jumped up to kill the ones that just came out of Hueco Mundo. It was then that he spotted Byakuya killing one Hollow at a corner of the road before he flashed across the street, hoping to rescue one human that was grabbed from the ground and was about to be thrown into a Hollow's mouth.

Then there was a loud thud, and Ichigo had to wince when he saw a police car hitting Byakuya at full speed, since there was no way that the driver could have seen Byakuya running across the street there and stopped before smashing into him.

The picture of the car being dented right after it hit Byakuya and sent the nobleman flying over the roof to land behind the car would have been comical if there wasn't a person in need of a rescue nearby, and Byakuya had yet to get up from that small crater that was caused by Byakuya's landing on the road.

Ichigo flash-stepped toward the Hollow that was trying to eat the person and cut it in half, making its victim fall haphazardly to the ground. Then the Substitute Shinigami bolted to where Byakuya was without sparing a second glance to the victim or the policeman who had unwittingly crashed into Byakuya.

Ichigo had expected that by the time he reached to Byakuya, the Shinigami would have already got back on his feet to give him an annoyed look while brushing some dust off himself. However, Byakuya remained there, unmoved.

Ichigo offered his left hand to Byakuya to help pull him back to his feet even though he had a feeling that Byakuya wouldn't swallow his pride and accept the gesture despite the way he was practically stuck in that small crater. Much to Ichigo's surprise, Byakuya reached up and grabbed on to Ichigo's forearm, but to Ichigo's credit, he remembered to pull the nobleman back to his feet.

"Thank you," Byakuya said before he bent down to pick up the zanpakutō he had dropped when he hit the ground.

"You're welcome."

Ichigo didn't even have enough time to take a good look at Byakuya to make sure that the man wasn't severely injured by the impact, since Byakuya simply stated, "I'll take care of all Hollows in front of me and you take care of the one in front of you. Don't let out too much spiritual power or you'll just draw more Hollows out from Hueco Mundo."

"I know," Ichigo replied solemnly. Although he had never fought in the same battle with Byakuya, except in the three times when they were trying to kill each other; Ichigo still knew that Byakuya would not let one Hollow get past him to creep up on Ichigo from behind and he had a feeling that Byakuya believed the same about him. Therefore, he didn't need to worry about his back or be concerned that Byakuya would get hurt, and he felt strangely reassured. Even so, he still believed it wouldn't hurt to say, "Be careful."

"You too," Byakuya replied. Then both of them were off to take down any Hollows that appeared in their line of sight.

It didn't take long for them to take out all of the invading Hollows although Ichigo couldn't deny that it would be much faster to deal with them if the battle took place in some vast empty area where he could go on his bankai and Byakuya could release Senbonzakura on them.

Once the battle was over, Ichigo found Byakuya on the rooftop of one building, talking on what appeared to be a Soul Phone as he took down a barrier from around what appeared to be two bodies that were soaked in blood. Therefore, Ichigo flash-stepped to stand by Byakuya's side.

"...situation is now under control, although two officers are down and in need of medical assistance."

Once Byakuya hung up the phone, he turned to Ichigo and said;

"I know you wish to return to your daily life, but would you mind staying with them until the medical team arrives? I have a mass memory manipulation to do."

Byakuya then motioned his hand to the two severely injured Shinigami who were probably put there earlier by Byakuya himself.

"Err... sure?" Ichigo replied.

A picture of the nobleman running around, spraying the memory modifier thingy that Ichigo had seen Rukia used a few times on people who witnessed strange supernatural events suddenly popped up in Ichigo's mind, so he was a tad surprised to see that Byakuya had yet to leave the rooftop.

The noble Shinigami merely moved to the edge of the roof before he reached inside his kimono sleeve and pulled something out before he dropped whatever that was down to the crowded street where people were starting to calm down after some police officers came to secure the road while some ambulances rushed in to take the injured people to a nearby hospital.

Before Ichigo could begin to wonder what it was, his attention was taken from Byakuya when a Senkaimon opened behind him to reveal two pairs of Shinigami, each pair carrying a stretcher. They then moved the injured Shinigami onto each stretcher. However, before they left, Byakuya turned around and walked towards them. Ichigo wasn't sure he was imagining things or Byakuya actually staggered slightly as he approached, but it was later confirmed to him that it was not just his imagination when the Shinigami in the medical team voiced his concern to Byakuya.

"Are you hurt, Kuchiki-taichō?" the Shinigami asked, motioning to Byakuya's legs.

Byakuya shook his head.

"I'm fine. Don't worry about me and just take care of them."

The medical team gave him a dubious look, but since there were more emergency tasks at hand, they turned their attentions back to the wounded Shinigami and then quickly moved them through the Senkaimon so that they could receive a full treatment in Soul Society.

After all other Shinigami left, Ichigo stared at Byakuya for a moment as if doing so would give him any clue whether he should believe that the captain was really unharmed after that big car crash that could have left an ordinary person with broken shins if not dead.

"If you wish to know something, ask," Byakuya commented.

"Well, about that memory manipulation, do you need any help with that? I mean, there are a lot of people in this area, and you shouldn't be moving around to spray the modifier on them when you've obviously hurt your legs."

"There is more than one method to manipulate humans' memories and I already got that done," Byakuya claimed. "However, if you offered out of concern for the condition of my legs, you should have known that I have survived worse injuries."

That sentence brought Ichigo's eyes to Byakuya's legs. However, there was no way Ichigo would be able to know if there were any injuries hidden underneath that thick hakama pants.

"So you really are injured by that crash. That car must have hit you a lot harder than I thought."

It might have been a statement from Ichigo's side, but it still required a reply from Byakuya nonetheless.

Byakuya sighed and glanced down to his legs. From the look in those slate eyes, Ichigo could only presume that the man was contemplating his plausible responses. It wouldn't surprise Ichigo if the man was trying to find the way to give him just enough information to keep him from poking his nose into Byakuya's business and not more. After all, Byakuya held himself with a certain level of pride and reserve. It would be strange if he were to let Ichigo in on anything important, especially if he perceived it as one of his weaknesses.

"As you should know, the higher spiritual power one possesses the more difficult for one to receive injuries," the captain claimed.

"In other word, that crash shouldn't have hurt you enough to make you limp," Ichigo concluded. "So then why…?"

Ichigo didn't really need to finish his question since he knew Byakuya also knew what he was talking about.

Once again, Captain Kuchiki had that pensive look on his face that said he was searching for the best answer. In the end, he sighed as if he decided to give in. Whether it was because he had decided to trust Ichigo with his story or because Byakuya was too weary to deal with Ichigo's insistence, Ichigo could not tell.

"It is just a case of an old injury acting up," Byakuya explained. "It's nothing you should be worried about."

"An old injury?"

Byakuya sighed once again. He didn't seem to want to further discuss the subject, but he didn't think he could avoid it either – not after he had decided to mention it to Ichigo.

"I was forced to cut my tendons during the fight with an Espada I encountered in Hueco Mundo," said the noble. "I was healed right afterward, of course, but I was not allowed enough recovery time since we were in the middle of the war. To make a long story short, my left leg and left arm have not been operating quite the same ever since. Not that I could complain. I was already fortunate enough that those damages did not leave me crippled."

Ichigo cringed.

"So they're basically your Achilles' heel, you got injured there, but you said there was nothing to be worried about?" Ichigo asked incredulously, feeling like Byakuya was in a serious need for a scolding. "Seriously, Byakuya, could you be any more reckless?"

Byakuya furrowed his brows slightly and gave Ichigo a look that said he wasn't sure why the Substitute Shinigami should care about his well-being. However, the captain didn't actually voice those words and opted to say something else entirely.

"You are calling me reckless?" Byakuya returned. "As far as I'm concerned, between the two of us, you're the more reckless one."

"Don't change the subject."

"Is there really anything more to discuss about this matter, because personally, I'd prefer to return to Soul Society and have my leg checked?"

Ichigo wasn't sure what he was expecting or why he let Byakuya's old injury bothered him when it was Byakuya's own fault he was in that condition to begin with. The nobleman was old enough to know what was good for him, and he even said he would have a check up afterward, so Ichigo didn't know why he couldn't just drop the matter.

"I'll come with you," said the teen.

"Pardon?"

Ichigo rolled his eyes in annoyance before he replied, "I said I'd come with you."

Byakuya furrowed his brows. "Why?"

"Because you were limping just then and Rukia is going to tear my head off if she knew I let you walk home by yourself when you're injured?"

Lord Kuchiki tilted his head slightly as he looked at the Substitute Shinigami. Ichigo might have brought Rukia's name up as a reason, but Byakuya doubted that was all there was to it. After all, despite the way Ichigo often portrayed himself as an anti-hero who couldn't care less about strangers' misfortune; Ichigo was actually a kindhearted person who, in Byakuya's opinion, cared a little too much.

"Rukia is not going to do anything to you because we are not going to mention anything in this conversation to her."

It was a valid argument from Byakuya's side, but it somehow made Ichigo turn to give Byakuya a curious look.

"Rukia doesn't know about those old injuries of yours?"

Byakuya blinked once and wondered if Ichigo was perceptive or his one sentence really revealed that much information to the teen.

The captain drew a breath before he replied calmly, "She knows I was injured in that battle, but she doesn't know how much or why, and I'd like to keep it that way."

"Why?"

"You have two sisters, Kurosaki Ichigo. If you were to get hurt protecting them, would you want it on their consciences?"

Although Byakuya didn't give too much information on what really happened in that battle that left him injured, Ichigo still believed he understood the man's stand point enough to shake his head as a reply.

"If you want to be an unsung hero, then fine, I'm not gonna tell Rukia; but I'm still coming with you."

"If you're offering this out of pity, don't bother. I won't break just because of a short walk back to Soul Society."

The Substitute Shinigami rolled his eyes.

"I'm not offering out of pity, Byakuya. This is actually my excuse to go to Soul Society and have that tea you once offered."

It was, obviously, not Ichigo's true intention, and he believed Byakuya also knew it, which was why he wasn't surprised when the nobleman called his bluff.

"I never knew you like tea."

"Not really, no, but Rukia once mentioned that you serve killer chocolate biscuits at your calligraphy club."

It was the truth. In fact, Rukia had even made Ichigo try some of those biscuits just so he had to agree with her. Ichigo had to say they tasted nice, despite how they were cut into a shape of the Wakame Taishi, which was a design that he believed only the Kuchiki siblings were able to understand the appeal.

"So?" Byakuya prompted.

"So I'm a big fan of chocolate."

An amused gleam flashed behind Byakuya's gray eyes as he shook his head slightly.

"So you are telling me that you would go all your way to Soul Society just because of a cup of tea and some chocolate biscuits?"

Ichigo shrugged. "Is that a problem?"

Byakuya chuckled softly before he shook his head.

"No, not at all," said the nobleman. "Let's go to Soul Society, then."

As Byakuya opened the Senkaimon with his zanpakutō, Ichigo came to realize one problem that hadn't crossed his mind until the gate was opening right in front of them, and then he simply froze there in front of the gate. Normally, he would have no problem crossing over through the danger of the Dangai. However, no matter what he might have said to Byakuya about his intention to go to Soul Society, his actual reason for insisting to go there with Byakuya was to make sure that the nobleman truly didn't hurt himself too badly and to see to it that Byakuya made it back to his home safely. Therefore, it would serve no purpose if Byakuya were to return on a normal path and Ichigo would have to travel through the Dangai.

When he came to think about it again, he might just be a worrywart because if Byakuya could still move around and kill all those Hollows after being hit by that car, it should have already been clear to him that the man wouldn't have any problem getting back to Soul Society on his own. Not to mention, there was no way they could travel back together, since Ichigo would be sent directly to the Dangai as he didn't have his own Hell's butterfly while Byakuya would continue on whatever path that the Shinigami used. And it wouldn't make any sense for him to ask a man who seemed to have injured his legs to use the same path as him and risk facing the danger of the Dangai's very own janitor. However, he had already told Byakuya he would come with him, so it would be strange to back out just then.

Ichigo slowly turned to Byakuya, who gave him a look that said he had seen that problem all along but had not bothered to point it out perhaps just to see Ichigo's reaction when he realized his folly.

"Err..."

Once again, there was a hint of amusement in Byakuya's expression, but it faded almost as quickly as it was there. The nobleman then pulled a small glass jar which had something that appeared to be a small black butterfly inside out of his sleeve and handed it to Ichigo. However, instead of accepting it right away, Ichigo just stared at the jar with an incredulous look.

"Seriously?" Ichigo asked. "You're carrying around a spare jigokuchō with you just in case someone wants a free ride to Soul Society?"

"No, I'm not," Byakuya replied as he all but shoved the jar into Ichigo's hand so that the boy would accept it. "I happened to be asked to evaluate whether this jigokuchō had been given enough training to be used to guide a Shinigami through the Senkaimon. However, I was ordered to come to the World of the Living to dispatch Hollows before I had a chance to evaluate it properly or even to leave it at my desk. Since you insisted to come back to Soul Society with me, it would be a good opportunity for you to take this jigokuchō on a test run."

Ichigo narrowed his eyes.

"And just when I was beginning to think that he might like me a little," Ichigo muttered under his breath, turning the jar lid in order to let the butterfly out. Then he raised his voice to its normal volume and asked, "How am I supposed to use it, by the way?"

"You only need to release it. If the jigokuchō is well trained, you'll be shown a path to Soul Society, but if not, I'm sure you already know what the Dangai looks like."

Since there was no way his journey to Soul Society could get any worse than any other times he had gone there, Ichigo decided to release the Hell's butterfly just as Byakuya had suggested. Fortunately, when he stepped into the Senkaimon, he was shown to a much cleaner and safer path, and also Byakuya was still walking beside him with their butterflies flying off ahead of them.

"Seriously, where can I get me one of this?" Ichigo asked as he walked down the straight path that would certainly lead them to Seireitei, maintaining a rather close distance to Byakuya just in case. However, despite his abnormally slow pace, Byakuya didn't show a sign that he would limp or fall. "I'm sick of being chased by the janitor every time I come to Soul Society."

"I'll see what I can do about that."

Ichigo blinked at the unexpected response from the man who was walking slowly by his side. To be honest, he didn't really know how Byakuya was going to respond to his remark, but that was certainly not the reply he thought he would ever hear from the nobleman.

"Thanks, I guess," the Substitute Shinigami eventually replied. "It seems you really kinda begin to like me."

Byakuya didn't stop or even turn around to give Ichigo's a look that said the teen was being absurd. Instead, he kept on walking to the end of the tunnel where Soul Society would be as he commented:

"You can feel free to assume whatever you wish, Kurosaki Ichigo," he said. "After all, you might not be exactly wrong."

"Huh?"

Byakuya said nothing else as he simply made an exit from the Senkaimon, leaving Ichigo alone between the two realms with the borrowed butterfly. Ichigo blinked for a couple of times before he followed the man out through one of the Senkaimon in Seireitei; however, Byakuya had already disappeared by that time, possibly to the Fourth Division to get his legs checked as he had said he would do earlier.

Although Ichigo had planned to return to the World of the Living once he was assured that Byakuya returned safely to Soul Society, since he didn't really trust Kon all that much with his body; Ichigo changed his mind and decided to just track Byakuya down by the man's spiritual presence.

Because after everything that had been said and done that day, he believed it would be okay to really stay for some tea and cookies.