Frozen flame– Chapter Three: A Place of Secrets
Summary: Tsuki has more interation with her crush, and the resulting spar only furthers her admiration, though she still has trouble from the persistant Lieutenant of her squad.
Author: Adameia Kirantro
Rated k+: no cussing, or innuendos or, has violence, possible pairing not sure
Disclaimer: I did not create, and do not own the characters from Bleach, They are owned by, and I may borrow them for your possible and hopeful enjoyment. But I DO own Tsukikade, she is completely mine so do not steal her or else you will feel my wrath once I find out that you did (and trust me I will).
Chapter three: A Place of Secrets
It was a perfectly normal day in Soul Society, Kenpachi out hunting for a good fight, people doing paperwork, messengers running about, others hiding from their superiors, etc. I also was delivering a message, like others might be, to my captain, , who I heard had left for one of the many training grounds to relieve some built p stress(and probably anger at Lieutenant Matsumoto) an hour before I first started my search according to my source, which I am confident was correct. So I find myself in yet another of the grounds, and my tenth try, and this time, I hear the sounds of battle and of shattering ice coming from deeper inside -this seems to be the place…- I thought, giving a little sigh of relief as I followed the noise farther inside, this training ground seemed to have plenty of trees to complicate any routes. Once I was farther inside I knew immediately that I had the right place as I started to find stray bits of ice more and more often the farther I went, even at one point in time that I came across a tree trunk the looked completely frozen, jagged shards and crystals of ice spiking off of it, I would have looked up as I gawked to see how far the ice went if my instincts didn't suddenly tell me that a blade was heading for my back. So I spun and blocked with the shuriken that was instantly in between my primary fingers which were raised in front of my face that was now staring at the familiar, icy blade of Hyorinmaru, my captain's zanpakuto. Toshiro must have reacted out of instinct to my presence as well, because he soon pulled his blade back, as if he realized who I was, as he did so he said, "good reflexes EnkaiSukai-san, you've gotten stronger since you joined my squad, what did you come here for?" I blushed slightly at the praise, –he seems to have a caring side hidden under that icy, strict exterior– I thought to myself as I mechanically delivered the message I had been sent with. As if sensing my thoughts, instead of dismissing me like I thought he would, he gave me a considering look before he turned and walked back into the clearing behind him as he said, "come, I need a sparing partner" his tone clearly made it an order, –oh crap, I'm done for– I thought in worry as I followed him. He turned and took a stance, and I was quick to enter one of my own, bringing out another shuriken so I had one in each hand to start with and that was when he struck. I dodged and slashed, widening the strike range with the ice shards that I let come off the edge of the blade in my hand, he pulled back and destroyed the ice like it was nothing. We continued on for a while, before he had me stop, that's enough for now, you have skill with your zanpakuto, but you could still practice more, you need to have refined control if you are to wield an elemental zanpakuto effectively, maybe you should try sparring with others every once in a while to gain a perspective on how it fight different kinds of abilities.." he advised, and I realized that that was actually good advice, and noted it for future reference, I merely replied, "Hai" and left the area to get back to work, with a slight blush at the compliments that I received from my secret crush.
`~,Time skip`~,
It has been 19 years since my joining Squad ten, and only eight years since my promotion to third seat, and I find it quite comfortable here. I am currently walking down the hall, reminiscing as I head to my Captain's office to deliver the last of today's paperwork. Right as I slide the door open and enter I felt Rangiku's presence, not far off and heading my way, –Oh crud…– I thought, quickly closing the door behind me and sorting out the paper work in my arms. Then, I studied my surroundings, everything was normal except for Toshiro snoozing on the couch, –poor Captain, you just can't catch a break now can you? – I thought in slight pity as I examined his worn out form. Feeling that Rangiku was almost to the room, and I didn't have time to slip out a window unnoticed, I quickly slipped my small frame into an empty cabinet that was set up in the room. A minute later I hear the door opening and distinctly feminine footsteps entering the room. I peek out a crack, and see Matsumoto searching the room, looking for clues as to where I could have disappeared to. She seemed to pout slightly, disappointed until she caught sight of the-sadly- still sleeping captain, –I'm sorry shiro-kun…– I thought in sympathy as Rangiku stalked over to her prey and broke his slumber by picking him up and dragging the not-quite-awake captain out of the room. I sighed in relief as I slipped out of the cabinet and straightened any disarrayed paperwork, just in time to feel an influx of very familiar Raitsu, accompanied by the faint cry of, "but captain!" that was clearly whined by Rangiku. I snickered softly to myself upon hearing that and visualizing the scene of an irritable Hitsugaya vehemently rejecting Rangiku and possibly even scolding/attacking her, depending on how things worked out when he woke up all the way. Finished with my tasks for the day I Seireisenkou'd outside, then to the top of one of the many walls that made the Seireitei into the maze it is. I jumped and used my Seireisenkou to flicker to my landing spot on yet another wall, and continued in this pattern subconsciously, getting more and more complex as I was deep in my thoughts, – what should I do? I ran out of things to do for today …. I am sooo bored, there's not much for me to do nowadays besides paperwork, the usual people I ask to spar with are busy and I am not crazy enough to cross paths with Kenpachi who is ALWAYS looking for a new 'sparring' partner…–I frowned slightly in concentration, only to hear an effeminate middle-low ranged voice pop into my head as I stepped onto yet another wall with a rather joking tone ~you could always spend more time with me ya know…your not the only bored –out –of their-minds person in here I flushed darkly in embarrassment at temporarily forgetting about my zanpakuto, who has become a good friend of mine, and the fact that she can get bored just as easily as I do, her only real entertainment coming through observing me after all. –sorry, Fukyuukarento, I forgot momentarily about your situation as well, you understand right? – I thought, still nervous about my slip-up. ~of course I do, I am in your head after all, and your zanpakuto, now how about you go make it up for me by doing something more entertaining than those patterns of yours? Because they do get annoying to watch after a while despite the complexity that it can get up to if I leave you to it for long enough…~ she finished with slight irritation. I flinched, and immediately stopped in my patterns and thought, – we could always go toy with Soifon? – The reply was ~too common~– how about pranking a squad? – ~unoriginal~ I furrowed my brows in thought as I hmm'd, –how about we sneak off to the human world for a while? – I suggested, the reply to that was simply, ~purrrfect~ I smirked upon hearing the satisfaction in the purred response and nodded as I leapt high into the air and used Seireisenkou to reach the closest senkaimon(AN: please tell me if I spelled that right) Gate. I landed, and as usual there wasn't a sound, I didn't even disturb any stray dirt particles. I waited a few minutes and straightened once it was clear that nobody was coming to investigate as a sign that I was successful in not alerting anybody to my presence. I walked over to the large white gates and pulled out one of my shuriken that was my sealed state for my zanpakuto and opened the gate, the customary hell butterfly exited it as I walked into the passageway, only to be greeted by a small flash of light at the end of the tunnel, and the sight of a dense forest surrounding me, –That's odd, I never remember the books saying that one of the gates could open up into such a large forest... just exactly where am I? – I thought in slight panic after I used Shunpo to reach the tree tops, which showed a view of a seemingly endless forest. –I wonder what could possibly be in store for me now? I have a bad feeling about this situation…– I thought, a feeling of nervous apprehension tightening my muscles slightly and putting my instincts on alert. ~whatever it is, we can handle it. ~Fukyuukarento stated matter-of-factly, her voice filled with confidence.
`~, Time skip`~,
"I still want to know where you had disappeared to a few weeks ago, Tsukikade…" grumbled the irate Taicho of the tenth squad. "But that is a se-cret! And besides, I didn't know you cared!" I playfully said, smirking all the while, and winked upon the last statement while enjoying the frustrated look on his face, a vein pulsing on his forehead as a sign of his anger. "your dismissed" he sighed finally, giving up for now on trying to weasel the secret I've been keeping out of me. I gave him a final smirk of triumph as I bowed slightly and left the room, heading off to go ask Rukia Kuchiki to spar again, her Sode no yuki was a lot of fun for Fukyuukarento and I to spar against. As I hummed happily to myself as I skipped along, barely sparing a glance at the silver colored fox that seemed to smirk at me from it's perch, before disappearing into light particles as I turned the corner, seemingly yet blissfully oblivious.
Author's Note: hi guys! How'd you like this latest chapter? I will try to make them longer as I go on but I don't want to reveal too much at once so bear with me. My challenge from last chapter still stands but with a few changes, first you have until I reveal who it is myself at some point, and the more people that guess correctly the more seriously I will be when writing this story (I haven't been completely taking writing this seriously because It hasn't been doing too well so I have been lazy about writing on it), so basically if you guess correctly I will update faster! Anyway, good luck and I would love some comments, no matter what you have to say!