Parts of this chapter are based on the inside cover picture of Bleach Volume 15 (any GinxKira fan who doesn't know what I'm talking about, go look it up RIGHT NOW.)
A week's worth of meetings, and he still wasn't used to them. A week of meeting up awkwardly with his friends in the morning and then not seeing any of them again until the following day. A week of training. A week of heavy paperwork. A week of dealing with Gin.
Each day that week, Gin would find Kira after his Vice-Captain's meeting and the two would go off training. And he was never late: even if the meeting ended early and Kira was talking with Shuuhei, or taking a walk, or practicing his swings, Gin would show up at the same time wherever he was and insist that they go train at once. Kira was getting a lot out of it; Gin was extreme when it came to fighting, the same way he was with everything else. Kira walked away every day with a new wound, but he was learning to ignore the pain temporarily, at least until the session was over. The first few days, Hinamori was worried that he was getting into fights, and Renji insisted it was because his Captain was crazy, and he was crazy to agree to the training. But they let up on their arguing soon enough; it clearly had no impact.
After training for a few hours, Gin would lead Kira back to their building at the Third Squad, where paperwork waited for them. "Them" meaning "him" – Gin had no intention of filling out these reports ever again. Kira hadn't realized how many reports there were to fill out, how much filing there was to do. He had always speculated that there was a lot; but a lot didn't describe it. It wasn't so much the amount as it was how exhausting and tedious it was. Every letter had to be neat and careful, every name had to be spelled correctly, and if he screwed up he had to start all over again. Sometimes, Gin watched over his shoulder, oftentimes correcting him, sometimes breathing loudly in his ear, which was unnerving as well as annoying. He was glad to get outside when he was finished, walking around the grounds, once or twice running into someone he knew, a few times making his way to the library. He would return to his building at the end of the day, ready to go to sleep. But Gin awaited him, and he knew his Captain would never let him sleep quite yet.
The fourth morning, Kira woke up to find Gin asleep next to him. He was surprised at how defenseless he looked, breathing gently, silver hair strewn on the pillow, peaceful. He had dared not disturb him, but did remember watching him for a few moments before getting up. It was that same day, later on, that he had returned to the Third Squad building and found his Captain missing. It wasn't long before he realized that another one of Gin's bizarre habits to add to the ever-growing list was disappearing without saying where he was going.
The fifth morning he found blood on his sheets, knowing right away that it hadn't come from any of his various lacerations from training. He spent ten minutes with his head leaning on his knees and rocking back and forth, biting his lip, trying to think of what to do before simply walking over to the closet and changing the linens. There hadn't been that much blood anyway. It would probably be best for everyone if he ignored it. He had gone about his day limping again, but his friends assumed it was from the training.
The sixth day, Kira had almost gotten killed. Again. It was a Hollow attack; an easily defeatable hollow, had he been paying attention. But he had been distracted, busy practicing with Wabisuke, swinging at falling leaves in an alley in the First Squad and watching them pick up speed, pulled down by their own weight. It was amusing and tested his skill, until he had felt something at his back. Naturally assuming it was Gin, he turned, smiling grimly, armed and ready, but when he saw it most certainly was not, he lost his composure, frozen, staring at the giant monster glaring down at him. It smiled deviously, licking its lips and flexing its hands threateningly, taking a step forward, advancing. Kira could not move, stricken by fear, only watching as the creature reached for him, hand clenching around him, squeezing – when a figure jumped in front of him and suddenly the Hollow was gone. Gin had saved his sorry life once more. He had scolded his subordinate briefly before insisting that they now train for longer periods each day. And unexpectedly, he wrapped his arms around Kira gently, being comforting on purpose. Kira remembered the moment distinctly, and the words Gin had said afterwards.
"Stick wit' me, Izuru; I'll protect you."
Kira could still feel Gin's hand resting on his cheek, stroking it softly, wiping away a stray tear with his thumb, and for the first time since he had been saved that night from Squad Eleven, he had been looking into the face of the man he had so wanted to serve as Lieutenant. But about two hours later, he was thinking otherwise.
It was the seventh day that made him afraid of both leaving Squad Three and ever going back. During training, Gin had him backed into a wall again, something which had been happening less and less over the past week, but still at least once per session. Though it was the first thing Gin had told him not to do, it was difficult to achieve, as his Captain seemed to be cornering him intentionally. That day, as their swords clashed, Shinsou hovering only inches from his neck, he suddenly found that Gin's lips were on his own. This was not unexpected altogether: in fact, it had been the third day in a row that this had happened. It was a tactic that Gin used to throw him off-guard that had definitely worked the first time, but now he knew he just had to keep his head and push him away.
He gripped Wabisuke and focused his strength to driving Gin back, pushing forward with his arms and shoulders, but Gin barely moved an inch. Instead, he forced forward, strangely tender and passionate. Kira's guard fell, eyes wide, and grasped his Captain's hand just as it reached for his throat. At that, Gin sheathed Shinsou and brought the other hand to Kira's neck as well, caressing his Adam's apple gently before pressing down on it with both thumbs.
Kira at once tried to inhale, but could not. He dropped his sword and clawed desperately at any part of Gin he could get to, head spinning as his air supply thinned out, as Gin pressed harder, smiling sweetly. His Captain's face pulled in and out of focus, foaming at the corners of his mouth, everything around him swirling in a dizzying motion. And just when he thought it was all over, he was done for, he felt the fresh oxygen reach his lungs once again.
"Oy, Izuru, you outta be more vigilant," Gin had said, dusting his hands. "If I wuzn't me, ya'd be dead right now."
There's no way, Kira thought hours after the incident, filling out paperwork reluctantly and rubbing his throat where it was now bruised, no way he was only doing that as a lesson to be more careful. He cursed quietly to himself as he misspelled yet another word, crumpled up the page and started again. Then what was it for? To show that he could kill me if he wanted to? He doubted that: he had long known Gin could kill him if he had wanted to, it was obvious. There didn't seem to be any reason or logic behind it; just a random act. A random act that almost rendered him dead.
He clenched his fist around the pen as shivers went up his arms. He feared death more than anything else in this world, the unknown fate that awaited each one in the world beyond. And if Gin knew anything about him at all, he knew that much. Perhaps that was what he was playing at.
That eighth day's morning, Kira rushed out without saying good morning, seeking to distract himself from domestic affairs as soon as possible. An opportunity arose when he saw Hinamori standing in the shade, beaming and bright, talking away with a little boy with shocking white hair. He jogged over and waved, putting on a big, fake smile for her. But she didn't respond, still giggling with the child, who didn't seem to understand what she was laughing about.
"Hinamori-san, good morning," Kira said, standing right next to her and the child. Both of them looked at him, Hinamori with excitement and the boy with disdain.
"Good morning, Kira-kun!" She said happily. "I want you to meet Shiro--"
The boy cut her off at once, giving her a stern look with his magnificent teal eyes. "Not 'Shiro,'" he corrected her humorlessly. "Hitsugaya. We made a deal."
"Right, I'm sorry," she said, blushing. "This is Hitsugaya-kun. We grew up together in the soul society before we both became Shinigami. He's just graduated, and at the top of his class! He's even achieved his Shikai. . .so I have to address him properly."
Kira bowed to the boy awkwardly, barely reaching the top of the latter's head while doing so. He seemed a nice enough person, though lacking the ability to smile. And if he wasn't mistaken, the boy's strong reiatsu said that he was a prodigy.
"And Hitsugaya-kun, this is Kira-kun, sanbantai Fukutaichou."
Hitsugaya bowed, though it was hard to tell due to his height. "Fukutaichou?" he said, skeptically.
"Yes, that's right," Kira said, smiling stiffly.
"You're under Ichimaru Taichou?"
"Yes," Kira answered again, wondering vaguely how he knew that.
"Oh." Hitsugaya left it simply at that. "Congrats, then."
"Um, thank you," Kira said, confused as to the graduate's condescending tone of voice, but shook it off and plunged right into what he came there to do. "Hinamori, I was wondering if you wanted to train later with me, or something."
"I would love to, but . . . not today," Hinamori answered slightly awkwardly. "Shir- - Hitsugaya-kun was going to teach me a few things, actually. I'm still working to be Aizen Taichou's Vice Captain. . . and . . ."
"You're more than welcome to come along," Hitsugaya added in his bored droll.
"No, that's all right," Kira said quickly. It looked like they were expecting a time to themselves and he didn't feel right intruding. Hinamori acted around her friend with almost with as much excitement as at the mention of her Captain's name. "Is Renji-san around?"
"I bet he's still sleeping," said Hinamori, "last night I saw him running around with some of the officers from Squad Eleven quite late. He's also training hard, you know." She shook her head. "That promise of his to beat Kuchiki Taichou. It's not going to work out, and I'm worried he's going to exhaust himself trying."
Kira nodded absentmindedly. So the one day he really needed them, they were both busy. Not that he blamed them in the slightest: had they known, they would have dropped what they were doing and spent their time with him. But to tell them . . . he didn't dare to imagine their reactions nor could he see himself admitting anything out loud.
"Shouldn't you be at a meeting?" Hitsugaya asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Ah, yes," Kira said nervously, looking at the clock. "Goodbye, Hinamori-san. Nice to meet you, Hitsugaya-kun." With that, he sped off, his feet bringing him along the same path he'd taken for the past week.
The meeting was the same as it always was. Kira found himself paying a little more attention this time, or at least pretending to. As it drew to a close and the Vice-Captains began to head out, Kira walked over to Shuuhei, thinking of how to carefully word his request.
"Hisagi-kun, would you train with me?" he blurted out. He wished he'd thought of a better way to say that, it didn't sound quite right.
Shuuhei looked taken aback for a moment, but soon complied. "Sure," he shrugged. "I'll meet you in-between squads in a few hours."
"A few hours? Why not now?" He replied too quickly to hide the desperation in his voice.
"Paperwork," Shuuhei explained nonchalantly. "Kinda dozed off yesterday in the middle. It'd be wisest to catch up. Well . . ." he lowered his voice. "Between you and me, I was having some sake with some of the guys from Squad Eleven beforehand. I know you probably hate that Squad," he added hastily, "but maybe you'd like to come with us sometime. You hardly get out anymore, am I right?"
Kira didn't respond, the expression on his face answering for him. It was nice of Shuuhei to invite him to a little get-together, and he would certainly like to get out, even if it was with Squad Eleven. The question was how he would get away from Gin for even one night.
"Well, anyway, I'll see you then," Shuuhei broke off.
Kira watched after Hisagi until he turned a corner and was gone, and his mind came back to his more eminent problem. He hadn't seen Gin all day, had rushed out that morning without as much as a hello: probably not a wise decision. He waited for him to appear in the doorway, wondered if when he did he would be smiling or if he would have that fearsome look on his face that he only used in fighting enemies or people he didn't particularly like. Kira didn't want to think about what could happen to him if he entered the room with that look on his face, only knowing that he never, ever, wanted to see it aimed at him. He put a hand delicately to his throat. If he closed his eyes, he could still feel Gin's fingers pressing against his windpipe. If that was what he did in a good mood, what was a bad mood?
Twenty minutes went by and the room remained the same. Quiet, void. Maybe the meeting ended earlier than I thought, Kira said to himself, still anxiously watching the doorway for any sign of an intruder, waiting to see what kind of news his expression brought.
Sixty minutes. Now he was starting to get nervous, thinking that his Captain had forgotten him, or had decided not to come get him after all. Still he waited loyally, wringing his hands, watching the entrance expectantly.
Another hour passed. He didn't even know how he had gotten through those hours, anxious, bored, and lonesome. He tried to distract his mind, wondering if Hisagi was waiting for him at the midpoint between their squads yet, but it kept diverting back. Had something happened to his Captain?
The room remained empty, but he could hear footsteps coming from the other buildings around, the chirping birds outside, and the bustle on the grounds. Kira finally decided that he was going to leave this dank place and maybe look for him, when a familiar silver shadow obscured the sunlight that flowed into the room. An enormous amount of relief flooded over him as Gin stepped inside.
"Taichou!" Kira called, stopping himself from running over by remembering his worries from before. Is he angry at me? He wondered, trying not to imagine what "angry" would mean for him. But Gin's expression was pleasant and calm. "Where were you?" Kira asked quietly.
"Had a few things ta take care-a. Few places ta go," Gin answered, leaning against the doorway. "Got a few thin's more, ack-chally, came ta tell ya that we'll be trainin' later than sooner."
"What kind of things?" Kira pressed his luck.
"All sorts," Gin shrugged. "I outta go. Bye bye."
He started to leave, but Kira stepped forward and held the back of his white robe, almost pulling on it. Gin looked back, mildly amused. Kira didn't want to be alone in this building for much longer. And now that his Captain had finally come for him, he wasn't about to let him leave like that. The two hours in there were almost maddening, even another minute by himself would be terrible.
"Can I come with you?" he asked shyly.
Gin's smile widened, and he nodded. "Surely."
They began to walk down towards the grounds when Gin spoke again. "I wonder, though," he began nonchalantly, "d'ya really got nothin' better ta do today?"
Kira wondered how he was expected to answer that correctly. Even though it was entirely possible that Shuuhei was finished with his paperwork by now, he couldn't exactly take off to find him. So instead, he answered it the only way he could think of. "Not really."
"Really? No places ter go, no people ter meet up with? No friends yer trainin' with?"
Kira swallowed. Did Ginknow something, or was it just a coincidence? "No, Taichou."
They turned an odd corner. Gin didn't say anything for a long while as they trudged through unfamiliar territory, the trees becoming thicker with each step. "Yer a terrible liar, Izuru," he said, keeping all tone from his voice. "But I forgive ya."