Thankee to my reviewers! You make my day, and make writing this so much easier!
Gah, this is depressing! I put humor in the catagorization, but I can't make it funny! Maybe I should change it... If it's not funny by the next chapter I am so changing it.
Anyways, I'm turning this into a sort of summer project. I'm hoping to update at least once a day, but that's probably not going to happen. If I don't finish it by September, the updates are going to slow down considerably though... I really do hope I finish it by September.
Anyways, I don't own Bleach, yada yada, this isn't for profit, blah, blah. You get the point.
On with the train wreck waiting to happen... I mean story. Yeah, I totally meant story... Right.
"Abarai," Byakuya's soft yet commanding voice carried through the small office that he and Renji shared.
"Yes Captain?" Renji replied, wondering if he was going to get another berating about his handwriting. He had been trying, and yet he still couldn't get it neat enough for his captain's high standards.
"We're getting a new third seat." There was no emotion in that statement, and Renji couldn't tell whether the man thought that this was good or bad. He let his gaze rest on Byakuya's long black hair. He was being spoken to by his commanding officer after all. He couldn't just keep on writing, which gave him a chance to allow his eyes to carefully take in Byakuya's slim figure and perfect hair.
"I'll get the applications ready sir," he said respectfully, his eyes following the folds in Byakuya's pure white scarf. There was no hint of the blood that had stained it so long ago. His blood.
"We're not allowed to choose." Still no emotion. Renji couldn't tell whether the man opposite him was amused by the idea, or frustrated or if he even cared at all. He had to have some sort of opinion, but whatever it was he wouldn't share it with lowly Renji Abarai.
"We're not?" Even if his captain didn't care, Renji was slightly taken aback by the idea. "Why not?" At his question Byakuya turned so that he faced his Vice Captain, his eyes as bored and uncaring as always. Renji could never tell whether the indifference in Byakuya's gray eyes was a mask or what he actually felt. Surely it had to be a mask. Surely no man could feel so little. Byakuya was holding a sheet of paper in one pale, graceful hand.
"Why not?" Byakuya repeated. "According to the Head Captain, the sixth division administrative staff is 'too hard on the recruits, the rest of the sixth division, and themselves. If left to them, nobody would be found suitable.' So, the Head Captain kindly made the choice for us. Her name is Kaili. She just recently graduated the academy with outstanding grades and was put into the Eighth Division, where she rose through the ranks at a speed many thought impossible, and is considered a 'child prodigy'. She will arrive at one this afternoon. Be sure to be here." And with that Byakuya was finished speaking to him, and he turned back to his paperwork, balanced his pen on his elegant fingers and picked up where he had left off.
Renji knew this routine well by now. He would be expected to continue also, because if he didn't Byakuya would need to know why. Getting questioned by his captain was an experience that Renji thought was best if it weren't repeated. He knew the dangers of pausing, and yet he did it anyways, thinking. Did Byakuya care that his authority was being undermined? Did the barely disguised insults bother him at all, or was it just another thing that just flew right by him without so much as brushing against him. Renji lifted his pen and began writing, only half concentrating. What was his captain? Who was his captain? And why did he, Renji Abarai, care about either question?
Although he didn't show it, Byakuya was stung by the badly veiled insults. He wasn't that hard on his division. Yes, he did have high expectations, but he didn't expect anything that they couldn't give. It bothered him that even the Head Captain couldn't see that, but he had to admit that Yamamoto had never been a really perceptive man. He looked at what was shown to him, and never looked beyond it. It was his way, and as he was a very old man, he couldn't be expected to change.
The clock in the office clicked softly, and the sound of Renji's pen scratching against the paper seemed louder than it really was. Renji left for his lunch break, but Byakuya remained behind, alone and lonely in the oppressing silence of the office. Renji's lunch break ended and the man stumbled in a few minutes late. Byakuya chose not to mention anything, and he could feel his Vice Captain's thick relief drift through the air. Silence again, and despite his calm exterior, Byakuya was screaming inside. And he could do nothing except work and wait in silence because he was a Kuchiki and Kuchikis could not show emotion. They weren't allowed to show that they were as human and imperfect as the next person.
It hurt, but Byakuya had gotten used to the pain long ago. He wasn't going to give into it now.
At one o'clock exactly there was a commanding knock at the door, and Byakuya gave Renji an almost imperceptible nod. Answer it, that nod said. Renji obeyed. The two had come to understand each other very well in some ways, although not at all in others. As expected, Head Captain Yamamoto was there, accompanied by a small girl who Byakuya assumed was Kaili, their new third seat, although she didn't look the part.
She was a tiny little thing, barely there really, with shining green eyes and copper coloured curls that were captured in two pig tails, framing her pale, freckled face. She looked far too young to be a third seat. She looked only eight, and although she was obviously far older, the dead aged in a far different way than the living. A child prodigy indeed.
"Captain Kuchiki, Vice Captain Abarai," Yamamoto began. "This is your new third seat, Kaili. I expect that you have her desk ready?"
"Of course Head Captain," Byakuya replied with genuine respect. Despite the old man's faults, he was an extremely good Head Captain and Byakuya couldn't help but like him. After all, he had never once failed the Soul Society in the long time that he had been Head Captain.
"Good." He nodded to Kaili, who grinned up at him, and then at Byakuya and Renji in turn. She was cute, and she seemed to shine. She would be a good addition to the ranks. "Captain Kuchiki, could I speak to you for a moment?" Despite the phrasing, it wasn't a request. Byakuya nodded his assent, despite the fact that he wanted to stamp his foot, scowl, and then lecture the man in front of him on his letter.
"Abarai, show Kaili her desk," he told his Vice Captain, forcing his voice to sound indifferent. His mask was getting harder and harder to maintain the longer he struggled to keep it up.
"Yes Captain." Renji led the bouncy young girl out of the office, and Byakuya could hear them talking once the door had been shut. He couldn't make out the individual words, but he could distinguish the voices easily. One, belonging to Kaili, was soft and light and filled with light, just like her smile had been. The other, Renji's, was gruff and warm and easy going. Neither one was like him, but he wished that he could be like them.
"Did you need something Head Captain?" Byakuya asked, standing. He was taller than Yamamoto, but he knew that this was only because the older man was stooped with age. Byakuya was quite a bit smaller than most of the male Captains. He was small for a man, slimly built with delicate looking features. Despite this, his physical strength rivalled that of a man twice as big as him, although his size made for a disadvantage in a fight.
"Don't be too hard on her." Yamamoto began. Byakuya barely swallowed back a growl of frustration. This again. He was tired of being told that he was being too hard on others. He had never ever expected anything from anyone that wasn't possible. He wasn't certain why everybody seemed to think that he did. It annoyed him, and made holding his ever present mask even harder to hold. A thousand of sarcastic retorts ran through his mind in quick succession but he shoved them back violently.
"Yes Head Captain." Sometimes Yamamoto made it so hard to hold his tongue. Just breathe, he reminded himself. Just breathe.
Yamamoto nodded, slowly. The old man did almost everything slowly now. "Good day Captain Kuchiki."
"Good day Head Captain." Byakuya went back to his desk, but he didn't start his work. Instead he listened to the people outside, wishing so much that it was a solid ache inside of his chest that he could be like them.
But he couldn't, ever. And that realization hurt even worse than the solid, unbreakable loneliness, and hopeless wishes that he knew were never going to come true.
Writing as a depressed Byakuya is so depressing! Grrr! I must cheer him up. Byakuya must be cheered.
... Did that make sense? I think not.
Anyways, hope you liked, and maybe you'll press the pretty button and tell me what you think? Come on, I know you want to press the button...
Please press the pretty review button? It'll stay depressing if you don't... Nah, it probably won't. I can only be depressing for so long, and I've almost reached my limit. It'll lighten up. Most likely. If it doesn't explode into a million pieces that are absolutely nothing like Byakuya's Bankai. First off, they won't be pink. Second off, they won't be pretty. Thirdly, you really don't want to watch it. Ever.
Right, so I will not let it blow up. Reviews help =)