She's Like the Moon Chapter 11: Recalling, a bleach fanfic

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She's Like the Moon, an xSilverWingsx fanfic

That may be all I need, in darkness, she is all I see
Come and rest your bones with me, driving slow on Sunday morning
And I never want to leave

–Maroon 5

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March 1990

Light was a curious thing. Quiet and delicate, its reality was almost questionable. As said light shone in on his desk, Byakuya Kuchiki studied his agenda with a soft sigh.

"What's wrong?"

Byakuya looked wildly around. A voice, softer and sweeter than light, which he remembered from the girl who had spilled drinks on him. He blinked repeatedly.

"Hisa—"

"Hi." She smiled a sad little smile and knit her fingers together.

Finally, his voice returned. "Hisana... Hisana Harumei? Why are you here?" he felt his fingers tighten slightly. He hadn't seen her since that night by the river, with the stars and diamond-studded stones.

"I-I was just saying hi... and I heard you had a job opening."

His mind was abuzz. Hisana Harumei, requesting a job with a prestigious firm such as this? "I... I do have an opening for an... administrative assistant..." He almost knocked the paperwork over in his rush to supply it for her; she took it with shaky fingers and looked at it for a moment, eyes moving quietly.

"Do... do you think I'd qualify?" Hisana's tone was uneven and deadly quiet.

This was the point in the conversation he had been dreading. "You... do you have any prior experience?" Of course he knew she didn't. Nevertheless, there had to be some normalcy between them now –his dreams of the teenage girl with the haunting violet eyes were getting out of control.

Hisana was tight-lipped, her beryl eyes somewhat harried by the question. Byakuya was as well – he had never wanted to ask her in the first place.

"Well, no." Unsurprising. But he was surprised when she perked up. "I know! You can teach me, Mr. Kuchiki!"

This startled him. "Hm?"

She turned her head to the side. "I'm just a kid, but I work hard! You can count on me!" she lowered herself into a bow, blue dress swaying. When she rose her usually meek face was determined. "So! What does an administrative assistant do?"

His curiosity ebbed slowly back into formality. "You would, as an administrative assistant... answer the telephone, take notes, and accompany me on business trips." His voice, he found, was quieter than usual. "Are you able to do that?"

Hisana took no time to ponder. "I know how to use the phone!" she grinned, showing small milk white teeth. "I'll be nice to people!"

Byakuya knew that it wasn't practical – in fact, it was utterly irresponsible – but found himself giving her the job. "When can you start?"

"Now, I – oh." She was looking at the paperwork again. "It says I need to wear a suit," her expression was incredulous. "Do I really have to?"

He nodded. "I didn't place the rule, and it must be followed." His top lip pulled over the bottom one, a teenage habit he hadn't had the time or patience to forget. "Would you like me to accompany you to the store?" he knew she had no money. It would be tasteless to send her without any, not to mention manipulative and downright cruel.

Hisana's breath caught visibly, her hands flitting about as she fidgeted. "Um, well, that is, if you really want to..."

"Hisana," he said quietly, appraising her with calm gray eyes. "There is an empty desk right there." He pointed to a cozy cherry desk by the wall with a rather large computer, some Post-It notes and a telephone. "We will find you a suit tomorrow."

She nodded, grateful for the subject change, and slowly sidled into her new chair. When finished, she sat staring at the computer for at least twenty minutes, violet eyes somewhat intimidated.

Is it that difficult to ask me a question?

"Hisana?"

She jumped and immediately pressed the power button. "Sorry! I spa- spaced out!" she was blushing a warm, dark pink. The color filled him with odd feelings, so Byakuya cleared his throat and got back to work on a paper sent in by the Board.

"So!" Hisana's visage remained magenta. "What do I do first?"

"Email," he said simply.

"Your email? I don't think I can get in," she said, looking confused.

"Both of these computers are connected to an IMAP server that's directly wired to all my accounts – email, bank, social security." He himself was typing away at his bank account, total: 236,493.

"Oh, well... m... what if your assistant read your secret email?" she asked in all honesty.

"Well, then she can leave," Byakuya said, leaving her shortly stunned. "It was … a joke," odd, because he hardly told those. "Hisana, I have no secret email. It is all business."

In fact, one email in there really wasn't.

"Who's Isshin Kurosaki?" she asked curiously.

The name struck chords of annoyance. "An acquaintance of mine from college."

"Oh. Well, he has a survey for children's names on here. Apparently his wife is expecting a baby." She smiled.

And, this effects me in what way?"Hm."

"Anyway, they want to know everyone's favorite boy and girl name – for some reason, you're on the mailing list."

"Am I?" it didn't surprise him - Isshin Kurosaki felt the need to involve everyone in his personal life, no matter what it could be about. He had always been this way. "Then reply and tell him I have no favorite names for children."

Hisana's fingers, poised on the keys, stopped.

She looked up. "None at all?" it was surprising to her. He must have some name he liked.

"I don't spend time poring over things about children. They are... of no importance to my career."

"That's a little harsh," she murmured, but not quietly enough to go unnoticed. Byakuya found himself momentarily shocked by her blunt response, but said nothing. She was from Yukio, a place where discrepancy was an unnecessary evil. "All right, I sent that. Anything else?"

She was already finished? It took a good while to compile a satisfactory business letter, but she didn't know.

"There is nothing. You can go home now."

Hisana seemed confused. "That's it? Weird."

He blinked spastically. "Excuse me?"

She was taken aback, her cheeks invaded with a thousand pink soldiers.

"I, well, figured there would be more than that for me to do. You seem like a busy man."

She bit her lip and shut down the computer, and for some reason pain eclipsed his being. Hisana had been working here for thirty minutes and already he didn't want her to leave. What was wrong with him? It was some kind of masochistic attraction to a child, so ridiculous. So … tempting at the same time.

"Well," he said, "we could buy your suit, if you'd like."

Hisana's lips were slack for a moment. Then, she smiled. "Yes, sir."

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Kawabe was the town center located in the intersection that branched to Yukio, Omi, Kimikan and Shimomura respectively. It was large but immaculate, with awnings and cobblestones. Hisana and Byakuya stood near the entrance underneath an old-fashioned, wooden Japanese doorway. He was wary of buying womens' clothing, especially when said woman was with him. It would stir up talk among his workmates.

"So," Hisana said quietly. "Where to?" she was looking about with wild curiosity, and it occupied him for at least a minute before he replied.

"Wherever is convenient," he murmured somewhat more quietly than usual, walking forward to a uniform-looking clothes shop. Most of the clothing looked strongly made, so it would wear long. "Find something to your liking," he allowed.

Hisana gave a brief nod and disappeared among the many shelves.

At last she was gone, at least long enough for him to straighten his mind. This was honestly getting out of hand –the dreams and thoughts he had, even when he hadn't seen her for a while, were upsetting him more than he wanted to allow, and now that she worked at the firm they would undoubtedly worsen. They weren't obscene dreams, merely dreams of her face, her voice and her hands, reaching for him, but he could not take them – the dream usually ended before that point. But when he woke, the thing that scared him the most was the fact that he had wanted to.

"Byakuya Kuchiki!" said a voice.

He turned to see a somewhat tall man with untidy black hair but a clean-shaven face and bright white teeth; Isshin Kurosaki had not changed at all since college, ten years before. "Hello," Byakuya said cordially.

"Man, I'm tired of shopping! But. We men have to do it," he shrugged as if this could not be helped. "Anyway, what are you doing here?"

… Byakuya felt somewhat awkward discussing it. "My assistant is in need of formal clothing," he said bluntly. "What is your business here?" he felt it necessary to swing the conversation away from Hisana, because that would lead to unwanted questions.

"Oh, is she the little lady… over there?" he pointed directly to Hisana, who was frowning at a pair of black pants. Byakuya's eyes flared. "Well, maybe I can help! Masaki's shown me a lot of stuff."

His wife had shown him how to shop? Odd. "I see, Kurosaki. Help…" he found himself speaking, alarmingly, without thinking things through. "If you absolutely must, I suppose."

Byakuya figured if Hisana knew he had been unyielding about yet another thing…

That's a little harsh, she had said.

The words had hit closer to home than he had originally anticipated. In fact, they had been following him around all afternoon, like a small child desperate for companionship. The fact that it had been added to the growing list of Hisana's effects on him was even more mind-numbing.

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He spent an hour waiting by the same clothes rack, eyes closed gently as he waited. Perhaps there was good food nearby? It smell made his stomach groan, but he would wait for her before buying food. It would be impolite. As if on cue, his stomach complained even more.

"Finally finished!" announced Isshin proudly from near the checkout. "I helped a woman go shopping! Masaki will see me in a new light!" he crated several bags, but decided to put them on the floor with an over exaggerated sigh.

"Thank you," Hisana said with a low, aristocratic bow.

"Huh?" Isshin looked confused. "What are you bowing to me for? Do I look rich?" but as he spoke, a good-natured smile played across his lips. "All right. Let's get this stuff back to Byakuya." Upon hearing his name, Byakuya paled. There was definitely unease on the horizon as Hisana pulled over her bags and let them be free with a weary look.

"We're finished… Mr. Kuchiki!" she said with a sudden wide grin. "Mr. Kurosaki already paid for everything!" she smiled at him, too.

For a moment, Byakuya had not stopped to think about that. Should he have given her money before sending her off on her own? It was arguable, but now it mattered not. "Are you hungry?" he asked simply.

Hisana thought it over. "I haven't eaten… since coffee! I am hungry!" she laced her fingers together and looked at the shopping bags, but Isshin had them in a flash.

"Little people shouldn't carry this much!" he commented.

Hisana froze, her eyebrows contorting. Byakuya watched in wonder as her eyes went from friendly blue to a stony, frigid navy and her temple pulsated ever so slightly. "Little… peop… people?" she asked in a guttural tone. "I am 4'11, thank you."

"Short," Isshin laughed. "Now, let's go out and eat, shall we?"

Since when was he a vulture? thought Byakuya. "Kurosaki…"

"I know, I know. You don't have to thank me! I love people," he said, with an ear to ear grin.

Hisana seemed to pick up on things, and let out a soft laugh. It was a supple sound with its own individual rhythm. He couldn't remember why they were here.

He couldn't remember his name.

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When Akamori woke up, it was raining. The sound of it pitter-pattered on the roof, like tiny people running. She always thought of this when it rained.

Nothing seemed to be going on in here, other than her perusing the sounds of nature and Renji lying beside her, awake but silent. Their conversation from yesterday floated in and out of her mind.

"I'm not shy. When I slept with you, I … I felt guilty." The words had hit triads of pain and, at the same time, curiosity in her mind. Who would make Renji promise such things? Why? In her mind, he was Renji and not just a lover… even if it had happened only once.

"I see the big picture. It's of you and me," he remembered her saying, eyes heated and dark. Absurd as it sounded he sometimes found himself unsure about Akamori. Was she… too innovative for him? He was having a hard time picturing her older… more mature. And as it burned him to think about it, what was happening to the family she had shirked for a man who was having irresolute feelings?

"Renji… I want to talk to you," she said softly, sitting up in bed.

He knew, somehow, that this was coming. "…Yeah." Other than this there was nothing he could think of to say.

"Why… are you so sad to be with me?" she asked, her tone weak.

"I guess it's just that…" Renji sighed. This was not going to go over well. "I'm just waiting for the day you say, 'see you, I have a date tonight'." He didn't look at her. It would cause a world of distress, but he heard her just fine, breathing quietly.

Her voice broke. "Please… don't do that," Akamori said despondently. "The day I met you, I was surprised, you know, because every one else I knew, they all wanted to have sex with me, nothing else, and… you didn't… I was so glad. If it weren't for me drinking your beer, I wouldn't have…"

"One beer got you that hopped up?" he questioned.

"I don't have a very high tolerance for it, really," she murmured. "But other than that, you listened to what I had to say, about everything… no one else did that for me. Not even my father listened to me, but you knew that… and I…"

His frown subsided, but he wasn't facing her. Her words were in the room, entering his psyche from all sides.

"So, what you're saying is…" Renji couldn't even tell where she was going with this as he listened to the rain hit the tin roof.

"You're the only one … I've ever known and liked and thought about and dreamed of," she sighed.

And with that, the couple was quiet, trying to understand one another as the rain fell.

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I am forever indebted to seccaberry for pulling me through my lack of ideas for this chapter. It was voted a Bya/Hisa (which is good, because I'm a little stuck with Ren/Mori at the moment, but doing the math I found that their baby will be born in December yay!). But there was some Ren/Mori. I really liked writing the Bya/Hisa – in the beginning, I had no idea how their relationship was supposed to progress – and this just kinda hit me. Yay for ideas that hit people! I've put the She's Like the Moon soundtrack on my profile (a link to the playlist, anyway), so go check it out, kay? By the way. Toshiro doesn't wind up with Momo, or Karin (duh). I don't dislike HitsuHina, I just like a change of pace sometimes is all. I absolutely adore HitsuKarin, for the record, but it cannot happen in this fic for two reasons.
1. Karin is six.
2. There's a character who has no one, and she needs a little Hitsugaya love ;)
Just try and guess his pairing, you never will, he he... but their song is "She's an Angel" by They Might Be Giants. –evil grin— The Isshin thing was a last minute decision, but it worked out pretty well. :D Thanks for reading and make sure you leave me a nice review.

Tons of love, –SW

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