A/N: To everyone asking for a jealousy plot, I hear you. I actually considered it, but since there's only one in-story night left before the plot picks up again, I didn't have time to squeeze it in! I could stretch it out to include it, but I have a feeling it would serve the story better if I got on with the plot—there's only so far you can stretch angst out before it gets tedious, and I know I'm pushing it. I might try and add it later, but considering…certain events that are about to happen, there may not be much of an opportunity for it to happen.
So, a full-blown jealousy plot is a no. Hints, however…*rubs hands together* Yes. I like hints.
That said, I do intend on torturing Byakuya with his decision over the next couple of chapters. Mwahahahaha *pokes Byakuya with a stick* Suffer.
And to all of you people who mention in reviews how hard it is for you to hate Azami, because you see where she's coming from…mwahahahaha. It's working~ *continues to weave mess into one big tangled web*
Fun trivia fact, the Gotei 13 is indicated in canon to be about 6,000 strong. Which would mean that the Sixth has about 450+ people if you assume it's evenly divided (it's probably not).
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. At all.
Chapter 30: Bloom again
"Thanks for bailing me out back there, Kurosaki," said Furutani, hefting the bottle of sake in one hand as they walked down the street. "I guess that vice-captain salary's treating you well."
"It's no problem at all, sensei," said Yuzu with a smile, keeping her hands clasped in front of her. "But you know, you really should pay eventually…"
"I get to it every half a century or so," said Furutani, waving his hand dismissively. He raised the jug in his other hand, glancing at her. "Drink?"
"Thank you, sensei, but I don't drink in the afternoon," said Yuzu, still smiling.
Furutani shrugged, lowering his hand. "Suit yourself," he said, the two of them coming to a stop around the corner from the stand. He grinned at her. "So, how's my star student doing lately?"
Yuzu frowned, thinking back to her conversation with Masa, and how she had left the Sixth after seeing Byakuya and Azami. Her hands gripped each other tighter, and she found herself looking away. "Not—uh—not that great, sensei," she said.
"That so?" Furutani frowned at her, his expression growing serious for a moment. "You wanna talk about it? I may just be an old fart of an academy teacher, but even I can be helpful sometimes."
"It's…well, honestly, I don't know if you can help," said Yuzu. "Since it has to do with the taicho."
"Ah, Kuchiki?" asked Furutani, blinking. "Is he giving you trouble? Beat him up!"
"Sensei!" said Yuzu, turning towards him.
"What? I'm serious!" said Furutani. "I had to do it a few times when he was a kid—back in the Academy. Freaking brat. Made your sister look like an angel, I can tell you that."
Yuzu's eyes widened in surprise, her previous issue momentarily forgotten. "Taicho was—?" she began, before shaking her head. "Wait. You were taicho's zanjutsu instructor?"
"All six years of it," said Furutani, with a smirk. "Oh, I could tell you stories, Kurosaki. Gotta say, growing up in lower Rukongai, you get used to some crazy stuff, but that was probably the first time one of my students called me a…ah, what were the exact words? A useless drunkard only good for swinging swords at stationary targets like a trained monkey." At Yuzu's stricken expression, he went on. "That was because I had to grab him by his ponytail, to stop him from rushing at one of his classmates. Who made the mistake of comparing him to Shihouin Yoruichi—apparently, that didn't sit well. Had a very interesting meeting with the Kuchiki-taicho of the time over that one."
Yuzu blinked, glancing both ways to make sure no one she knew was in easy listening distance before stepping forward towards Furutani. "I don't believe you," she said.
Furutani shrugged. "Suit yourself. Gotta say, though, after almost two centuries of teaching 'sake-soaked rat pig' is still one of my favorites. Oh," he added, at Yuzu's expression of disbelief, "he smartened up a bit as he got older. Turned out okay, I guess. A little stuffy, but he's a noble, so what do you expect? At least he got rid of that annoying habit of calling himself 'this Byakuya'. I mean, come on..." He scratched the back of his neck, frowning in remembered annoyance, before glancing over at Yuzu and grinning. "Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, Kuchiki ain't shit. Fight on, Kurosaki!"
Yuzu found herself still reeling from the images that Furutani had given her, and made a conscious effort to push them aside and consider them later. Still…'sake-soaked rat pig'? Byakuya?!
She shook her head, looking up at Furutani, who was still waiting for a response. "I don't think this is the sort of problem you can solve with swords, sensei," she said.
"Who said anything about swords?" asked Furutani, frowning at her. "You know what some people don't get? They think that swords are the only way to fight someone. So they come into the class, all brash and hot-headed, thinking they're going to walk out of it like some hardened warrior. And you know, some of them do pretty well. The other Kurosaki and Ankoujin—those two were some of the best swordsmen to come through my class in a long time. But some people just suck at it, and then they give up. They think they're not much of a fighter at all. They don't get that the sword is supposed to be where the battle ends, not where it starts."
He paused, giving her a long look. "You on the other hand, Kurosaki…the first day you walked into my class, I knew. This is a girl who has been fighting battles without swords her whole life. You knew what the class was supposed to be about. I didn't have to teach you. After that, teaching you how to use a sword was just icing on the cake. You may look like an angel, but you're steel where it counts, and I'd hate to see some noble make you forget that."
Yuzu stared, surprised, as Furutani's words died off. She never thought she would hear words like that—not in reference to herself. "Sensei…" she began, feeling her words catch in her throat. Furutani shook his head, looking embarrassed to have spoken.
"Well, whatever," he said. "Just remember that. And hey, if that doesn't work, drop by the Academy. I'll knock some sense into him. Or you could always have your sister do it." He grinned.
"You haven't changed, sensei," said Yuzu, with a small smile.
"I try to give my students something memorable to look forward to," said Furutani. "Now go on, Kurosaki. Get moving. Don't you have a Division to run?"
The smile widened—a genuine smile, for once. Yuzu was surprised to find that she did feel better, for reasons she couldn't name. "Hai, sensei," she said. "Thank you."
"Don't mention it," said Furutani, waving her off. "Consider it payment for the sake."
Yuzu nodded, inclining her head towards Furutani before walking back down the street. She took a deep breath, her eyes on the market district. Alright, she thought, as her eyes landed on a food stall. Enough moping! She was going to go back to the Division, she was going to get some of the shinigami to help her cook dinner, and then she was going to have a nice evening.
That plan in mind, she started off towards the nearest stall, already running through how much food they would need.
The Fifth Division, which had been quiet during the day, was even quieter that night. Masa sat on his heels in front of a low writing desk, one of Aizen's notebooks open in front of him. On the other side of the desk, in front of the lamp he was using, a jigokucho lazily flapped its wings. It had come to him earlier bearing a message from Kurosaki Ichigo, telling him that the contingent that had gone out for training was going to stay the night where they were and return in the morning. A part of him felt guilty for not being with them, but he had already forced himself on one mission he wasn't supposed to be on, and while desk work was boring, someone needed to look through these notes. If there was even a chance that something could be found that would help them in the coming battle, it was worth doing.
He flipped a page, starting to read a new section of the notebook when a knock came at his door.
Masa looked up, surprised. With the barracks as empty as they were, he hadn't expected to be interrupted. Most of the shinigami left behind were those doing their rounds around their district of Seiretei.
The door slid open, and Iwase Kohaku peered into the room, her eyes curiously lowered towards the ground. "Um, hi," she said, turning towards him. "…Can I come in?"
At his nod, she stepped into the room, closing the door behind her. Masa watched as she pulled a floor cushion over, dropping into seiza beside the desk. She clasped her hands together in her lap, looking uncertain of herself, and he took that moment to study her. While she no longer looked injured or ill, her braided hair was slightly out of place, her shihakusho looking like she had dressed quickly. Her eyes shifted every which way, seeming to be unable to settle in one place.
Even her glasses seemed slightly askew. It was odd, seeing her like this. Kohaku was always energetic, sometimes angry, sometimes distraught, but never so obviously…bothered. Not, at least, in the years that he had experience of her.
She cleared her throat, finally looking up at him. "The Fifth's really quiet right now," she said. "Where did everyone go?"
"A training exercise," said Masa, glancing once at Aizen's notes before shutting the notebook. He set it aside, turning towards her. "The captain decided that they needed to be as ready as possible, in case there's a large-scale battle any time soon."
"I—I see," said Kohaku. She cleared her throat, her eyes moving from him again to settle on the floor of his room.
Masa sighed. He might have tried being a little more discreet, but he had already had to deal with one distressed friend today, and wasn't too keen on dancing around the subject with another. "What's wrong…" he asked. "…Kohaku?"
She looked up at the sound of her name, taking a deep breath. He caught a flash of indecision across her expression before she shook her head, her expression hardening in determination as her eyes met his. "That man," she said. "In Inuzuri."
"The ryoka," said Masa, frowning. "The one called Yuichi. Kyoka Suigetsu's subordinate."
She shook her head. "His name's not Yuichi, and he's not a ryoka," she said. "I don't know why he's calling himself that nowadays, but his name, his real name…" She took a deep breath. "…His real name is Iwase Kintaro. Or at least, it was."
Masa's eyes widened. "Iwase…" he repeated.
Kohaku nodded. "My brother. Not—not by birth—it was Rukongai. You know how things are. I died as a baby, so I didn't know my name. Kin—he took me in. Named me. He taught me how to fight. He wasn't much more than a kid himself when he took me in, but we…we made it work, somehow. But then he decided to become a shinigami. He decided to leave, and I—." She hesitated, resting her hand on his writing desk. Her fingers curled, playing with the edges of the papers he had stacked there. "—I hated him for it. I was like a lot of people in the lower districts. I couldn't stand the shinigami. But Kin, you know, he had this grand vision of getting me out of Hashinezumi—the district I lived in. He said we could go live in one of the higher districts together, that someday I could join him in Seireitei too. I didn't want to hear any of it."
She took a deep breath, her fingers curling inward. The hand on his desk was shaking. On impulse, Masa reached out, covering it with his own. Kohaku exhaled raggedly at the touch, not pulling away. "Go on," he said.
"…Kin was in the Second," said Kohaku. "I think he might have been Onmitsukido, but he never told me. Anyway, one day he visited me, tried to get me to move to one of the First Districts with him, but I told him I was having none of it. I told him not to come back again. He never did. And about thirty years later…I got the news from one of his squad-mates that he died on a mission."
She sucked in a breath, wiping at her eyes from beneath her glasses with the heel of her free hand. "I spent all the time after that thinking about what I could have done different, how I could have avoided pushing Kin away. And then one day I decided that I was going to be a shinigami myself, so I could see what it was about the Gotei 13 that Kin believed in. So I took the entrance exam and entered the Academy. And well…" She gave him a weak smile. "You know the rest of the story."
Masa frowned, thinking about what to say from here. He thought back to Inuzuri, to the man they had fought in the district. "The man we fought that day," he said. "Doesn't sound like the type of man you're describing."
"I know," said Kohaku, "He's changed, but that doesn't change anything. That man was…definitely Kintaro."
"If he's on the enemy's side…" Masa began, his hand tightening around hers as he felt it shake.
"…then we have to stop him," said Kohaku. "I know, Masa. I've already thought about that. I just—I don't think I can. I tried—in Inuzuri. But I don't think I can…"
She trailed off, lowering her eyes to the ground again. "You don't have to do it alone, Kohaku," Masa found himself saying, the same words he had said to Yuzu earlier. "There are people who will stand by you."
Kohaku looked up at him, and Masa felt his breath catch in her throat at her expression. Her eyes drifted from his face onto his hand covering hers, and then back to his eyes. The room seemed to warm as she shifted herself a little bit forward, sitting just that much closer. "You know something, Masa?" she asked. "…It's kind of nice when you say my name."
His heart rate sped up at her tone, and he was suddenly aware of his hand on hers, of the fact that the two of them were alone, in his bedroom, in a decidedly empty Division. His mouth went dry, his eyes fixing on hers. She shifted forward again, moving close enough that their knees were touching each other.
"Did you mean what you said?" she asked, "About standing by me?"
There was only one possible answer to that. "Yes," he said.
She nodded and then, as if making a decision, rose up on her heels, leaning up towards him. Masa stared at her, finding himself frozen in place, unable to move. Her free hand reached up, traveling over his arm before resting lightly on his shoulder. Everywhere she touched seemed to burn, fire spreading through his veins at the contact. The nearness of her made it difficult to think.
"Kohaku…" he said, his voice strangely hushed. "What are you doing?"
She leaned up, using the hand on his shoulder for leverage. This close, he felt his eyes drawn towards her parted lips, the curve of her jaw, the triangle of skin at the top of her shihakusho. He saw the tears in her eyes, and the brief, barest hint of a decision as she studied him. His breath caught in his throat.
"Ko…" he began, a half-hearted attempt to keep the situation from spiraling dangerously out of control. She cut him off, resting a finger against his lips.
"Masa, you talk too much," she said, her fingertips brushing the skin just under his shihakusho.
In the next instant, her lips were pressed against his, her fingers threading their way through his dark hair as she pulled him closer. It was like lightning shooting straight through his body. He should have pulled away—should have said something about the impropriety of it all, but her body was flush against his, her hands and lips insistent, and he found it hard to form a coherent thought. His hands went up around her waist, pulling her closer to him.
Her hands moved out of his hair as he deepened the kiss, running down his chest before fumbling with the knot of his obi. Masa should have done something then to stop her, he realized, something in the interests of propriety.
He should have stopped her. He realized that as he cupped her hands in his own, lifting them from him before she could finish what she was doing. That would have been a good time to back away, to take stock of the situation, before something happened that they both would regret. He found himself thinking that as he pulled away from the kiss, looking into her eyes.
She stared up at him, breathless and disheveled with his hands still covering her own, and he knew that he should have done anything, anything at all other than what he actually did. Instead, he found himself kissing her again, the two of them falling back onto the floor as she pulled him down on top of her…
It was half an hour before seven when Byakuya finally left his office. He stepped through the darkened hallways, heading towards the Division's main door. The barracks were quiet as he walked through them, the same way they had been for the past few days. It wasn't surprising. After what happened in Inuzuri, and the revelation of their enemy's true nature, morale was low in most of the Gotei 13. Most of the shinigami of the Sixth had faced this enemy before, albeit indirectly, and none of them were looking forward to facing it again. The sixty or so recruits that the Sixth had absorbed in the twenty years since the Winter War were especially afraid. A commander needed to be able to rally his troops in the face of danger, but he had never been very skilled in that regard. In the past, he had left it to Abarai and the rest of his officers to boost morale, but Abarai Renji, by Byakuya's own recommendation, had his own Division to see to now. He would have left it to Kurosaki Yuzu to bolster his troops, but his new vice-captain had been somewhat of a fading presence over the last few days. Sometimes, it was easy to forget that she too was unblooded when it came to this enemy, or at least, up until last week, she had been.
Thinking about that made him think about the exact moment that his vice-captain had taken Kyoka Suigetsu's blow for him, and he forced himself to put that thought from his mind, to not think about the fear he had felt at that exact moment. Tonight, he told himself, making his way towads the door. Tonight was the night that he would finally rid himself of any inappropriate thoughts regarding his vice-captain.
Tonight, he would put her out of his mind, no matter what he had to do to accomplish that.
He neared the doors.
Laughter made him stop, his eyes moving towards the kitchens. One of the doors leading into the main kitchen was ajar, letting light and sound into the hallway. From where he was standing, he could see people moving around inside. Those on kitchen duty, perhaps? But if so, why were they laughing?
Byakuya paused, glancing once at the clock on the wall. Twenty-five minutes to seven. He had some time still. His decision made, he took a small flash step, crossing the space between the office door and the kitchens, and peered in.
Most of the high-ranking shinigami were crowding the kitchens, several pots already set to simmering on the stove. Shiyougi stood by the door to the pantry, the white portions of his shihakusho stained brown. His fourth and fifth seats, Koyanagi and Yamagishi, laughed at him, and Yuzu raised her hand to her face to hide her giggle. The sound of her laugh was something he had not heard since Inuzuri, and he found his eyes drawn to her at the sound of it. He quickly looked away.
"Really, Shiyougi-san?" she asked, "The whole jar?"
"How was I supposed to know that that box would be in the way?" asked Shiyougi, frowning. Now that Byakuya could spend some time examining him, he noticed that the third seat appeared drenched.
"I'm—I'm sorry," said a voice from the other end of the kitchen. He looked, seeing a shinigami whose name he couldn't quite remember. One of last year's recruits. She lowered her eyes to the ground, looking embarrassed. "I placed it there, and I forgot, and—I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault," said Yuzu, looking over her shoulder with a smile. "You couldn't have known that this would happen."
"But Third Seat Shiyougi—."
"Don't worry about it, kid," said Koyanagi, grinning. "By the time you make third seat, you're expected to, you know, look where you're going."
Shiyougi shot Koyanagi a glare, but offered the recruit a reassuring smile. "Yeah," he said. "Don't worry about it."
"We can just get that cleaned up," said Yuzu, taking a step closer to Shiyougi. She reached a hand out for him, frowned as she neared, and quickly pulled it back, her nose wrinkling. "Ugh—Shiyougi-san, are you sure that was just soy sauce?"
Shiyougi paused for a moment, glancing at his robes. "There may have been a jar of fish sauce in there too," he said.
"Right," said Yuzu, taking a step back. "Okay, you need to go take a bath. That's an order."
"An order?" asked Shiyougi. "How come?"
"Because if we get attacked tonight, no one will want to fight beside you," said Yuzu. "Go on. Out of the kitchen. We'll clean up here."
"But—," Shiyougi began.
"Oi, Shiyougi, listen to the vice-captain," said Koyanagi, waving a hand in front of his nose as he stirred a pot. "You smell like the back end of a ramen shop in Zaraki."
"Fukutaicho, maybe we should throw him at the enemy if they attack," suggested Yamagishi, from where he was chopping vegetables. "It might scare them off."
"No, we are not doing that," said Yuzu, shaking her head.
"Aw, why not?" asked Yamagishi, still smiling.
"Because even our enemies deserve mercy in battle," said Yuzu. "Okada-san, how is the soup going?"
"Fine, fukutaicho," said Okada, from her corner of the kitchen. "It should be ready in a minute."
"I can't believe you left Okada with the soup," said Koyanagi, lifting some of the sauce out of the pot he was stirring to taste it. "After what happened last time—." He ducked as Okada threw a wooden spoon at his head, the spoon slamming into the far wall. Koyanagi's eyes widened, the hulking fourth seat turning towards her. "Oi!"
"U—Um, excuse me," said the recruit who had spoken earlier, looking up. Two other recruits stood around her, watching the scene. "But I still don't understand. We're on kitchen duty today, so why are all the officers—?"
"Cooking?" asked Nagai, his seventh seat, from his corner of the room. He wiped sweat from his brow, turning towards them. "Because Kurosaki-fukutaicho asked for help."
"Yeah, yeah," said Koyanagi, turning towards them. "You'll learn pretty quick. There's nothing better for morale than the vice-captain's cooking."
Yuzu smiled, turning towards the recruits. "Um…your name was…Kawamoto Sakako-san, wasn't it?"
The girl, Kawamoto, looked up, surprise on her face. "Hai, fukutaicho," she said. "I'm honored that you remembered."
"I just remembered because you were the first recruit choice I recommended last year, although I was only a third seat at the time. Kido specialist, right?"
"Um—yes—but that's only because I'm bad at hakuda and zanjutsu—."
"Is that so?" asked Yuzu, frowning. "I was bad at hakuda too, until the captain helped me. Maybe if we're not yet fighting tomorrow, I can help you practice a little bit."
Kawamoto's eyes widened. "You'd do that, fukutaicho?" she asked.
"We're preparing to go to battle, so we need our strength," said Yuzu, her smile becoming slightly strained at the mention of the coming war. "Don't worry about it."
Yamagishi immediately looked up, following her lead. "Right, and if it's zanjutsu you need help in, I'm sure Shiyougi-san would be glad to help you. Besides the captain, he's probably the best."
"Nah," said Shiyougi, already slinking out of the kitchen with a pile of soiled rags in tow. "The vice-captain wiped the floor with me last week. You should ask her for help with zanjutsu. I'll help you with hakuda."
"After he takes a bath," Koyanagi said, grinning as Shiyougi raised his hand, giving Koyanagi a rude gesture.
Kawamoto looked more than a little overwhelmed by the attention. As Yuzu turned back towards the recruit, he decided that he had seen enough. He turned, walking away from the door and letting Yuzu's voice follow him out. "Anyway, Kawamoto-san," she was saying. "I need you to do me a favor. We need a new jar of soy sauce. The market should still be open if you hurry. I'll write you a note so that you can charge it to the Sixth Division's account…"
He shook his head, doing his best to ignore the sound. He also did his best to ignore the annoyance he felt at the image of Yuzu laughing as she stepped towards Shiyougi Hideki, her hand held out towards him.
Tonight. He would stop thinking those thoughts tonight.
No matter what he had to do.
Karin found her younger self at the end of the hallway, peering through an open door. She looked through it, and realized that she was looking into Ichigo's room from when he was nine, her brother standing in the center of the room facing a five-year-old Yuzu. She was sniffling, one hand holding a wooden tray close to herself, and Ichigo had placed his hand on her head, trying to calm her down. The front of Yuzu's dress was stained with soup, the same soup that the younger version of herself had thrown against the wall just a little bit earlier. Karin took a step back, glancing at the girl's face. The girl's eyes were hard as she watched the scene, but her hand betrayed her, resting on the door. It was shaking.
Ichigo and Yuzu's voices filtered out into the hallway.
"Hey, come on, don't cry," Ichigo was saying. "It's okay…"
"B-But Karin-chan…"
"Karin probably didn't mean to do that," said Ichigo, frowning as he took Yuzu by the arm. "Don't worry about it, Yuzu. It'll be okay…"
She pulled away from the door, leaving her younger self to watch as she glanced back at the hallway. Ongetsu appeared from the shadows, coming to stand at her side. He watched the girl, standing immediately behind her. He didn't speak. Karin took a breath, deciding to work the meaning of this scene out for herself.
Ichi-nii and Yuzu, she said. After Mom died, they both changed. Ichi-nii started becoming more protective. Yuzu started taking care of everyone. But I didn't know what I could do…
So you decided not to worry anyone, Ongetsu finished for her, watching the scene. You decided that if you couldn't be a help, you weren't going to be a burden. So you closed yourself off even more…started pretending that everything was fine. So that no one would have to worry about you.
…Yeah, said Karin, taking a deep breath. Because Ichi-nii and Yuzu both had something they could do to help, but I didn't have anything. I felt…
…useless. You've always felt useless when compared to your siblings, Karin. You still do. As competitive as you are otherwise, you never felt like you could match up to them. So you just faded away.
Pain crossed his expression for a moment, his grip on the rabbit tightening as he watched the girl.
You started living just for the sake of living, denying me, denying yourself, so that you wouldn't feel hurt and so that you wouldn't hurt anyone. And that…suffocated your inner world. It became a dry, barren place, the place where I formed and grew. For a moment, I thought you really would destroy me. Until…
Until? asked Karin, turning towards him.
…Until you died, said Ongetsu, smiling. Isn't it strange, Karin-chan? The day you died was the day you started living again.
Karin fell silent, staring at the scene. She took a breath, running a hand through her hair. How many more? she asked Ongetsu.
One, maybe two, said the spirit, shrugging. There's something I want to show you. But we're almost done here, I think. He turned towards her, his gold eyes meeting hers, and for a moment, Karin was struck at how much of herself she could see in them.
There were flowers in our world once, Karin-chan, he said. Someday, I'd like to see them there again…
TO BE CONTINUED
Omake
"Alright," said Ichigo, lowering his wooden sword as he looked out at the exhausted group of shinigami in front of him. "That's enough for today. Everyone get some food and then to go sleep."
The men chorused their agreement, each of them retreating to their tents. Ichigo took a deep breath, watching them go, then went to pick up Zangetsu from where he had left it, putting the sword on his back. He walked back to the center of camp, where he knew Hinamori would be waiting with her own training group. His vice-captain smiled at him as he approached, holding up a white box. He came to a stop, staring at it.
"Taicho," she said. "Third Seat Kotsubaki was just here from the Thirteenth. He says Ukitake-taicho sent these, to help with the training."
"Yeah…?" Ichigo frowned suspiciously down at the box. He thought about Ukitake-taicho's habit of sending sweets out to people, and had a feeling he knew where this was going. "What's in there, Hinamori?"
"Um…I think it's…" Hinamori paused, opening the box and peering at the contents. "Strawberry and peach tarts, taicho."
Ichigo twitched. "I was afraid you'd say that."