A Falling Star's Last Wish
C H A P T E R N I N E
I don't know whether war is an interlude during peace, or peace is an interlude during war.
Fifty Years Ago
"You want me to do, what?" Tale voiced as she stared at the woman sitting across from her. Lieutenant of the Eighth Division, Shiba Kazūme, sat at the small table sipping on her tea. She drank slowly, elegantly, before placing the cup back on the saucer and sat the saucer back on the table before her. Kazūme folded her hands in her lap, looking down at the bronze badge sitting in the middle of the table.
"I wish for you to take over my position."
"But, I'm only a sixth seat! I am still nowhere near to defeating Runa-san! And I know I shall never win against Wasebi or Hanu!"
Kazūme chuckled softly; she pulled her hands from her lap and reached across the table to hold Tale's hands. Amber eyes met deep brown.
"Sixth seat or not, everyone in the Division agrees that you should be the new fukutaichou."
Tale pouted, exhaling a huff of air.
"Why can't you just come back after having the little one?"
Kazūme chuckled again, squeezing Tale's hands in her own. "I would if I could, but Daisuke wishes for me to stay home and teach the little one of the Soul Society – and I cannot help but agree with him. My work here is done. I have paid my part in this afterlife." Tale only nodded in acknowledgement. "Besides, the big oaf will only listen to a female. That is why I always have to reread over the notes at the Captains' meetings."
Both women giggled to themselves over this small fact before going back to their tea. Tale stared down at the bronze badge, her fingers itching to touch it. She had dreamed of the day where she would do more than just clean up a Hollow's mess or do paperwork when her own lieutenant was too busy and her captain was too lazy.
"You will do great, Okitetsu-chan."
Tale looked up, smiling. "After all these years, you still call me Okitetsu."
Kazūme nodded with a glowing grin. "And you still call me stiff-necked witch behind my back."
Tale snorted out a laugh, choking on her tea. She smiled sheepishly. "So you heard about that, I see…"
With the mischievous looks the pair was giving each other, the two women burst out into a fit of laughter.
-starlightstarbright-
Thirty Years Ago
It was the early morning, and most birds would not even be awake, but a certain Shihouin lieutenant was. She changed from the simple white linen sleeping gown and grabbed the first of her shihakushō; the white shitagi and white hakama-himo were to go on after she took the time to do the tedious task of wrapping her chest in bandages. Next, she grabbed the sleeveless black kosode and black semi-skin tight hakama to put on. Fabric tended to slow her down, so the less of it meant she could go faster when using shunpo.
Finding herself dressed, Tale grabbed the pale yellow obi from off the back of a chair and tied it securely around her waist. Sitting on the desk in her quarters was her lieutenant's badge, which she proudly slid onto her left bicep with much ease. Lastly, Tale moved to pull on her white tabi and laced up the waraji she wore over her tabi. Placing a simple leather strap in between her teeth, she walked out her door with Sutanegai already resting against her right hip and pulling her long, silky purple hair back into a ponytail. Her short bangs framed the sides of her face as she tied the hair back.
Many seated officers greeted her with welcoming smiles, which she returned, as she walked to the office where she knew paperwork awaited her. Of all the Divisions to get hounded with the filing, the Eighth Division was the one picked – and they all knew how lazy the captain was.
"Good morning hime-chan~!" Shunsui greeted from his seat, at his desk, with a brush in his hand, filling out paperwork.
Tale stood in shock at the door, looking in on the scene before her. Slowly, she backed away from the door and turned around, blinking a few times to make sure her eyes were working right. Frowning, she turned back around and looked into the office. Just as she had first seen, Shunsui was still sitting at his desk, humming one of his random tunes as he filled out more files and papers.
Instantly, the fukutaichou knew something was up.
"What do you want?" Tale asked, stepping into the office with her arms folded over her chest. Shunsui chuckled, finally putting the brush down and look up at his lieutenant. She noticed something… different about him.
…where in the world had that god-awful pink kimono come from?
"Will you go drinking with Juushiro and me tonight?" He grinned at her, pulling his ruggedly handsome look on her that Tale knew would make most women melt into puddles of sake at his feet. But with her being on the same division with him for the past eighty years, it became old after the first few uses.
Tale sighed, knowing she needed a night to where she could just let loose.
"Fine, I shall go drinking with you and Ukitake-taichou tonight."
Shunsui grinned like a little boy in a candy shop before standing from his seat and stepping toward the large opened window.
"In that case, I believe I shall go watch the peach blossoms bloom."
Finding it too late to stop him, Tale watched as her captain jumped from the window and made his way over to the nearest peach tree that gave a nice amount of sweet shade for him to lie under. Tale watched him walk with his small amount of swagger in his step before she called out to him:
"Where did you get that kimono from?"
He answered without missing a beat, "Zuzu-chan sent it to me!"
-thefirststariseetonight-
Twenty Years Ago
The rustle and bustle of the bar was what welcomed the drunken senses of Tale as she took another large gulp of sake. Shunsui, being the heavyweight he was, couldn't help but laugh at the lightweight actions that Tale had. He had never seen her drink alcohol except for a few times that he could count of three of his fingers.
Juushiro was the exact same way. Sure, Shunsui had seen him drink more than three times, but the way he acted made the two seem like that had lost his mind. How had he gotten the two to drink again? Oh yes, he pulled his I'll do your paperwork if you go drinking with me, where he only ended up doing two or three papers and then magically ended up asleep under a blossoming cherry tree.
The two were now putty in his hands.
"Juu-kun~" Shunsui spoke, leaning in toward his closest friend. The white haired captain toward away from laughing at something that Tale had said, to looking at Shunsui with hazed over eyes.
"Yes, my truest and best friend how always smells of sake, ink, and sakura blossoms~?"
Tale giggled drunkenly at his words, dropping her head in her arms as she rested her arms on the table. She didn't hear the jumble of whispered words that the pair talked over. But she did feel the soft tap on her shoulder. The hime looked up into the lush green eyes of the taichou that she had come to know as one of her closest friends.
"Yes Ukitake-taichou?"
Even when drunk she kept her respect for all her superiors.
The next action almost surprised her into sobriety. His soft hand gently caressed her mocha-toned cheek. She blinked, the blurry vision becoming clearer as her mind unfogged.
"Ukitake-taichou?" she asked, but was answered with an action, not words.
His lips tasted like the sake that Shunsui had bought. Tale had never cared much for the taste of sake, but she would drown in this taste if she could. The noise of the bar drowned out in her ears and all she could hear was the beating of her heart and the beat of his. Her hand moved from beside her drink on the table to grip the white fabric of his captain's haori.
Tale's drunkenness disappeared with the time as she let her eyes close and float in the bliss that she had been given for this small moment of time. And then it was over, just like that, and the duties as a fukutaichou and hime came pouring back on her shoulders. She pulled away first.
Shunsui sat silent, being the awkward third wheel of the situation. He half-expected the outcome that had happened, but he was still surprised.
"I'm sorry," she said, standing from her side of the booth and walking out of the bar. Asa and Jinsu had been watching the scene from far away, sat in their corner seats before running out of the building after their best friend. Tale was stumbling through the dark empty streets of the Seireitei on her way to her room in the Eighth Division.
Asa was the first to reach out for her friend, gently grabbing her arm and stopping her from going any farther. When Jinsu also reached out, Tale was slowly turned around. They watched in shock as she turned around.
"I want to love him, but I can't."
Asa frowned. "Who, Juu-kun?" Tale nodded. Jinsu sighed, giving the girl a sympathetic look. "Why can't you, love?" Asa asked, whipping the tears off Tale's cheeks with her thumbs.
"Because I am promised to someone else."
The words were harsh, stern, but held such sadness the two shinigami didn't know how to respond.
"That's why I left Sutanegai behind that one time after my officer evaluation. I had to know if I could still hear her when I was far away. I knew one day she would be taken from me and I would no longer be a shinigami."
Silence filled the air.
"I want to love him, but I can't. It will only cause a war to destroy the peace that I have come to live in."
-wishimaywishimight-
Present Day
"Fall with the suns behind you," Tale commanded, gripping the blade of the kodachi as it glowed a violent purple and began to split into two. "Gekijou no Sutenegai!" The metal glowed for another moment before simmering into the midnight black steel of an unfolded form of a pair of tessen fans.
"Terasu," was the next spoken command. Shunsui watched on quietly as the scene around him flashed a bright white. Once everything held color again, Tale's tessen fans were spread open and swinging in a downward motion to slash at the wooden dummy used in her secret sparing practice. She knew how to hide her reiatsu signature very well, but that one small spike of just before she attacked was what gave her position away.
Juushiro had joined him on this small unperverse peep session just a few moments before she went through the special ability of Sutanegai known as 'Terasu'. It obviously made the opponent's vision became disoriented so that Tale could attack with the sharp blade made from her tessen.
And then Tale came to a stop. Her composure was settled and her heavy breath evened out into deep slow ones. They watched on, not suspecting what was to come next.
It as soft, whispered almost, but determined and stern and held so much courage that the two men almost felt like they had seen a whole new Shihouin Okitetsu; it was as if a whole new being had just been brought before their eyes.
It is time, Okitetsu-sama.
"Bankai."
Author's Note:
I'm so very evil, aren't I? :3
This was kind of an interlude to explain what happened between the 100 years that passed between chapters seven and eight. And I kind of ran out of ideas of what to write… a whole new list of possibilities have been brought forth from this small writing escapade! :3
Now you need some translations, yes?
Shihakushō – garmet of the dead souls;
consists of, but not limited to: a white shitagi – kind of like an under shirt
white hakama-himo – kind of like white under pants
black kosodo – the black top like thing that all shinigami wear.
black hakama – the black pants
tabi – socks
waraji – sandals
obi – sash or belt like thing, usually white.
Tessen – steel fan used in feudal war days
Terasu – means 'to shine on'; one of the four special abilities that Tale has acquired from Sutanegai. The other three are:
Koufukin – 'grant'; mentioned in chapter six; creates a large column of air that sends the opponent flying back.
Shinme – 'shoot'; to be mentioned later on.
Kieuseru – 'disappear'; to be mentioned later on.
Reviews and subscriptions very much loved! Maybe I'll get something out soon instead of being swamped with AP homework, band practice, and the need to sleep.
xoxo. Apples.