3. The Rumors

"Watch." Byakuya said, while he was already straightening the hanshi and dipping his brush into the ink. All the moves were fluent. It seemed like there was not even one wasted. Byakuya had his hair pulled back. The alabaster neck clearly visible. The brush was only a cares to the paper, barely touching it at times. Byakuya was breathing evenly, his body frozen in time. The only parts that seemed alive were his wrist and his eyes. The way he was looking at the painting was almost like a lover would be looking at his partner. But everything else about him was screaming of calm and concentration. How is he doing that...Hmm? Ichigo thought.

Byakuya was skilled in calligraphy, which was obvious in the resulting drawing. He finally turned around and motioned with his hand for Ichigo to start drawing.

"I am not doing that." Said Ichigo looking at his hanshi. The only response he got was an arched eyebrow and a hint of threat in Byakuya's eyes.

"I am not.."

Byakuya straightened and looked directly at the other Shinigami.

"Crap! I am not supposed to learn how to draw some goddamn pretty pictures! I am supposed to train kido! And you are supposed to be the teacher of kido! " He flew his hands up in a mixed gesture of defense and accusation.

Byakuya was just looking at him with his no-expression expression. He was simply waiting for the tantrum to end.

"Fine." Ichigo snapped. And angrily drew the sign. The result was pitiful, you could hardly recognize it. The brush for calligraphy is thick and the strokes he made were too small and too quick for anything readable to come out of it. "There! Happy now?"

"No wonder you can't use kido properly."

"What does that have to do with my shitty drawing?"

"You are reckless. That is not good for kido combat. You need to learn how to calm down and concentrate." Byakuya was surprisingly talkative. As a matter of fact he was way too talkative during their lessons.

"Oh, yeah?" Ichigo was becoming more and more irritated.

"You are just proving my point."

Ichigo folded his arms in response and made a face.

"I explained you the basics. And since you don't seem very cooperative at the moment, I suggest you go home and practice there. Bring me three tea signs tomorrow and we will continue then." Byakuya stood up ready to leave."

"So now you are giving me homework?"

The raven-haired man stopped for a brief moment, but remained silent like he was waiting for Ichigo to continue.

"And why do we have to do the training in your house anyway? You know, people will talk and.."

"Are you concerned with the rumors about yourself, Kurosaki Ichigo?" came the velvet voice with a hint of amusement in it.

"No, but you are, so.."

"So you are concerned for my reputation among others then?" Byakuya cut him off.

"What? I never said that. Don't go putting words in my mouth, that I have never said!" Now Ichigo was on his feet, too.

"Those may not be your words, Kurosaki Ichigo, but let me assure you that actions speak just as loudly and clearly as words." Byakuya looked at him over his shoulder.

"You are just unbelievable!" Ichigo shouted in agitation. This whole thing was so puzzling. If he hadn't known better, he would have thought that someone had this whole thing arranged from the very beginning. He felt like a marionette.

"Bring those signs, Kurosaki Ichigo. Tomorrow."

Renji was on his way to the Tenth division. He wanted to discuss some changes of the newbies. But that was all forgotten when he stepped into the office that Rangiku and Hitsugaya-taicho shared.

"What the hell?"

"Oh, hey Renji! You came just in time! We need to ask you something." Rangiku winked at him and started to push Renji to go sit on a sofa. There were at least ten people in the room, but it did not look like a meeting. Not any official kind at least.

"Ikkaku? Yumichika? Izuru...? Ukitake-taicho? Shunsui-taicho?...What is going on here?" Renji was utterly puzzled.

"Ah, just sit down and have some sake.."

"Rangiku!" Hitsugaya roughly interrupted the woman.

"Taicho?" came her singing voice back accusingly. The little man just lifted an eyebrow at her and folded his arms. She got the message and sighed. "Fine. You want some tea then, Renji?"

"Can anyone tell me what is going on?" the questioned one demanded instead.

"We just have a few things here that you might be able to help us with, Abarai." Shunsui gave him a vague answer.

Defeated, Renji sat down on the sofa. I guess, I'll just have to wait and see what they want. But I don't like this one bit. All of a sudden, everyone´s eyes were on him. He shuffled nervously. This was not a good sign. Rangiku handed him a cup of tea, smiling like an angel.

"So, Renji, tell us. What is going on between Ichigo and Byakuya?" Shunsui asked.

You could hear a pin falling on the floor if anyone dropped it. Everyone was watching Renji very closely.

"How the hell should I know? I mean - I have no idea, sir."

"It is ok, Renji. You are among friends here, you don't have to call me sir while we are having a friendly conversation." Shunsui said and moved closer to the Redhead to put a hand on Renji´s shoulder.

"Ah, don't be like that Ren." Rangiku pleaded.

"You might as well tell us. We know most of it anyways." Yumichika added.

It looked like an ambush now.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Renji was starting to get a really bad feeling. He shouldn't have come, he should have waited till tomorrow.

"Seriously man, don't play dumb. ´S not cool." Ikkaku joined the conversation.

"But I don't know anything! I am telling you. Whatever it is you are trying to get out of me, I don't know!"

"Yeah, right. So that´s why you told me like two weeks ago that you think Ichigo might like Kuchiki-taicho. As in ..." Ikkaku did not get to finish his sentence.

"What? So this is what this meeting of yours is all about? You gotta be kidding me." Renji was exasperated.

"I swear, Ren, sometimes you're as dumb as they make ´em." Rangiku sighed.

"Shut up, Rangiku! How the hell was I supposed to guess what y'all were referring to, huh?" Renji snapped back at the woman.

"Calm down, Abarai. If even we have noticed something, there is no way you'd be oblivious. You get to see both of them almost on a daily basis. And you already said something to Ikkaku before, so you don't have to be pretending to be a good guarding dog for those two." Hitsuguya announced in a level voice. Clearly hoping that logic would trump pleading.

"That was a long time ago. And it was a private conversation between friends." Renji glared at Ikkaku. "Besides, with all respect sir, I don't see the reason why all of you should give a damn anyway."

This time it was Ukitake, who answered. "We are just concerned for our friends, just like you are Renji-san."

"Then why don't you ask them in person?"

"Yeah, like either of them would tell us." Kira retorted.

"Well, Izuru, maybe there lies your clue. Maybe, just maybe, you should not even ask, since it is none of your business anyway." Renji snapped back.

"Oh, it is our business, Renji." Yumichika said.

"Oh, really?" Renji snorted. "That is just amazing. Good for you. But could you leave me out of this, please. I mean, Rangiku and Yumichika I get, but the rest of you people? Making sessions just to talk about people behind their backs. What happened to you, seriously?"

"Peace happened to us, my dear friend. And with that comes boredom, which is very often accompanied by curiosity about anything that seems out of place. Which, as I would like to point out, smiling Kuchiki Byakuya most definitely is." Shunsui answered on behalf of all those present.

"Kuchiki-taicho was...smiling?" Now this piece of information subdued Renji´s anger a bit.

"Yes. He was spotted smiling on his way home." Hitsugaya confirmed.

"Wait, are you telling me that you are spying on my captain? That you are following him around?" Now, Renji was confused. Was he supposed to be angry about the fact that someone is spying on his captain?

"Oh, come on, man. None of us is suicidal!" Ikkaku said with a wicked grin on his face that suggested otherwise.

"It was I, who saw him." Ukitake started to explain. "It made we wonder if there was a particular reason for him to smile, since, as you are well aware, he is not much of a fan... of showing any emotion, let´s say. I wondered if we could maybe find the source of his happiness, which seemed to be rather developing at the moment and help him sustain it for longer period of time maybe."

"Ah, you are just so romantic, Jushiro." Shunsui exclaimed and went over to hug his friend.

"Wait. So if I understand all of this correctly, you think that the source of his happiness is somehow connected to Ichigo and you would like to play matchmakers, right?"

"See! You are not as dumb as you look, Ren." Rangiku exclaimed happily.

"Oh, shut up!" He turned to the innocently smiling woman. "But what do you want from me, if you have everything figured out already?" he addressed the rest.

"Well, we need confirmation." Hitsugaya said.

"Sir, there is no way in hell I could give you that. The only thing I know is that they are training together now. Kuchiki-taicho is Ichigo´s new kido teacher. And knowing my captain, I would suspect that he was smiling, because he found some new way of how to make Ichigo miserable during training. I mean, don't get me wrong, he is excellent teacher, but his methods sometimes are...well, let´s say unorthodox."

"What? He is training Ichigo? Izuru, did you know about that?" Rangiku turned to the former teacher of the young captain. Kira only shrugged.

"I mean, it is really nice of you guys that you want to make my captain happy, though I am not convinced that everyone here is here for that purpose," Renji gave a meaningful look to Rangiku and Yumichika and a short questioning one to Ikkaku, "but I really think you should not in any sense intervene. If either one of them finds out they will kill you. Instantly."

"They just won´t find out then.." Shunsui winked. But a hand was put on his shoulder to stop him from any further comment.

"Renji, you cannot possibly see it the way I and Kyoraku do. We knew Byakuya when he was married to Hisana. It was a completely different person back then. He was content, almost popular and he would smile at least once in a while. That smile I saw on him the other day, reminded me of those days. And I found hope that there still might be someone or something that could make him happy again." Ukitaku continued.

There was an awkward silence after this statement. Not very many people could even picture Byakuya smiling, let alone loving someone.

"Ah, this is turning into some chick-flick." Ikkaku grunted and was getting up to leave.

"Ikkaku!" Yumichika stopped him.

"What? It is! We are grown men and we are talking about emotions and shit. That is disgusting, if you ask me." He argued looking back at Yumichika.

"Hey I am not a man!" Rangiku protested. Few people chucked at that, which resulted in her glaring at them.

After that there was a long silence. Everyone seemed to be lost in thought. Only Ikkaku wasn't but Yumichika was literally holding him, so he would not leave the room. Those two were having a whispered argument about that.

"Well I should probably get back to work." Renji stood up. When nobody told him to stay, he started to leave. When he reached the door, he turned around and uttered: "I really think you should not interfere. That just might be the biggest help." He sighed and left.

Ichigo was sitting in his office, going through papers like always. He was almost done. Murphy´s laws...When I want to have lots to do, there are almost no reports to go through. He sighed. Crap.

Soon enough he was done with the administrative. There was no avoiding it now, he had to do the stupid calligraphy thing. He was pretty sure that if he didn't, Byakuya would find some way to get it out of him anyway. He remembered Renji´s stories all too well. He took out a paper, brush and ink. It looked so easy, when Byakuya was doing it, but somehow Ichigo could not make the sign look so nice or fluent in its strokes. It´s not like it was his first time writing it, but every time before he used a pen or pencil and you just hold those differently. The brush seemed like a vicious enemy right now. For crying out loud, he used pens and not brushes even for his reports! He was holding the brush in his right hand, but the weight of the thing seemed off. He was staring at the blank paper in front of him trying to get himself to calm down.

There was a knock on his door. "Ichigo? You still there? Can I come in?" A familiar voice called him.

"Since when are you asking me whether you can come in, Renji?"

The door opened and his tall friend entered the office. "Ah, well...I just came to see how you are doing. That´s all.." Something was off about the way he was made Ichigo finally look up to him only to find Renji´s gaze securely locked with the floor.

"Renji?"

Renji met his eyes and at that moment noticed what was Ichigo doing. He smiled. "So you are supposed to train your concentration, huh?"

"How´d you know? Did he make you do the same?" Ichigo was surprised. He couldn't recall Renji ever mentioning something like that to him ever before.

"Yeah, sort of.." Renji looked like he was going down his memory lane. Some of it clearly amused him. "So what sign are you supposed to draw?"

"Tea." Ichigo said almost disgusted.

The red-head chuckled. "So what? You don't like tea or something?"

"Fuck that. I just don't see how this is gonna help with kido. And what am I supposed to tell the general in few weeks? Oh, you know, I was too busy painting some pretty pictures in Byakuya´s garden, so there was obviously no time or need for me to improve my skills. I am sure he would love a report like that."

"You should definitely tell him that." Renji was laughing now.

"But why did you come to see me? You looked like there was something wrong." Ichigo put the brush down. This might take a while.

"Nah, there´s nothin´ wrong. I just came by to say hi and stuff." Renji ran a hand through his hair. He was a poor liar.

Ichigo leaned against his chair in response and folded his arms. "Uh-huh." He was clearly not fooled.

"Well..." Renji sighed. "Never mind."

"Spit it out already, will you? Why did you then come looking like a beaten dog if you didn't want to talk about it, huh?"

"´Cause I maybe thought that you could take my mind off of it. That ever occurred to you?" Renji snapped back then sighed."Sorry, didn't mean it like that. It´s just that I can't tell you, so.."

"Ok, then. Well, sorry, but I can't indulge you in a conversation now if you only came to say hi and stuff. As you can see I got homework to do, so." Ichigo made a face clearly showing what he was thinking about the homework.

Renji laughed. "That I can. I am going to make us some tea. You will need it for sure."

"You are not staying to mock me! Go...do something." Ichigo was already on his feet and shoving laughing Renji out of the door.

"Hey! Not even a little bit?" Renji was pleading mockingly in between laughter.

"No." Ichigo seemed a great deal embarrassed. He shoved his friend out of the office and closed the door.

"Oh, you can't be that bad." Ichigo could hear Renji yelling from the hallway and laughing.

"Good, so it seems I got his mind off of whatever it was. Now back to work." he said to himself.

He sat down and with resolve took up the brush, dipped it in the ink and let his hand hover above the ink-container for a bit. Calm down. Concentrate. He took a deep breath and begun his first serious attempt.

"That´s not that bad." Ichigo evaluated the result of his hard-work. He took another paper and tried again. The second painting was even better. It really did some miraculous things when he calmed down. The young captain was happy with his last painting, so he decided to do one more and take that to Byakuya. He had still some time before he was supposed to leave, so he just leaned back in his chair, joined hands behind his head and closed his eyes to fully enjoy this little free alone time.

"Oh, goodie! You aren't doing anything!" Rangiku exclaimed, startling the man.

"Rangiku? What the hell?"

"Oh, I just thought I drop by and say hi." she gave him one of her most innocent smiles.

"Oh, really? There has been way too many people doing that today. I have to be becoming quite popular for some reason." He mocked her.

"That you are." The blonde winked at him. "So how are you? Any news?"

"I take it, you already know about my new teacher then."

"Oh, so you have a new teacher? That is good."

Ichigo snorted. "Yeah, like that isn't the reason why you're here."

"Ah, don't be like that. I even brought some sake." She smiled again. There was a lot of danger hidden in that smile, but if you didn't know her well enough you wouldn't even notice.

"Look, I gotta go anyway. So how about we postpone this little interrogation. Tomorrow for lunch sounds good to you?" Ichigo was already on his feet. He knew he wouldn't shake her off easily, so he at least made himself some time to think what to tell her and what not, though technically there was nothing to tell anyway. But one had to be careful with this woman.

"Ok, tomorrow then. Have fun." And there was that wink again. Not a good sign.

"I am telling you, we should stop making these meetings in your mansion. Seriously. There are people coming to my office acting weird all of a sudden!" Ichigo was telling Byakuya, though the man hardly looked like he was even listening to him.

"Byakuya! Are you even listening to me?" Ichigo demanded the attention of his teacher more loudly.

"I am. Show me the signs."

"God, one of these days someone will really kill you for the lack of people skills." He muttered under his breath while handing him the paper.

"Doubtful."

Ichigo shot him an incredulous look. The man could hear as good as a lynx. "So? What do you think? We can go back to normal training, right?"

Byakuya was studying the painting very closely and made no sound or expression to clear whether he was satisfied with it or not.

"So?"

"Impatient, are we?" He finally turned to face Ichigo. "It is good actually."

"No way! The Kuchiki Byakuya gave me a compliment just now." Ichigo mocked him, though he was beaming with pride inside.

"Let us test whether you remember how to calm down and concentrate. Shall we try Baykurai again?" The raven-haired man decided to ignore Ichigo´s previous comment. He will make him pay for that in other ways.

"In here?"

Byakuya looked around, evaluating the premises. "Lets go to that training ground." He finally said.

Ichigo almost leaped for shunpo, but he felt a hand on his forearm and stopped. Was Byakuya really touching his hand?

"By going I meant walking. I need to get to know you better if I am to teach you properly. We can use the walk for just that purpose." He explained.

Ichigo let out a big sigh. "Man, it´s like you want the people to talk about us. Really, Byakuya, if I hadn't known any better I'd think you are hitting on me by now." And with that he made his way out of the garden.

"Why aren't you thinking so then?" There was not a hint of taunting in that question.

"What?"

Byakuya just looked at him. They walked for a while in silence, since Ichigo didn't really feel like answering.

But he soon started a new topic."Why the hell do you need to get to know me for? Did you get to know Renji, when you trained him?" Ichigo was defensive.

"Renji was born in Rukongai. He went through the Academy here and then served for a long time in the Eleventh division. Renji´s way of thinking was not hard to figure out. Yours on the other hand...Yours puzzles me. You are not responding to situations the way any of us would. Your principles are strict and one-way oriented. But since you were told you have to stay here, your whole personality changed, it seems. Like I said, you puzzle me, Kurosaki Ichigo."

"Man, you have got to be really bored if things like that interest you." Byakuya looked at him in surprise. "Never mind. Anyway, I wanted to ask you one question for quite a while now." Ichigo paused and looked for approval to continue. Byakuya nodded. "Well, how come you are so talkative all of a sudden?"

"Kurosaki Ichigo, I thought you were going to ask for my sisters hand, when you said you have been meaning to ask me for a while."

"What?" Ichigo turned red and started running his hand through his hair. "Why...why would you think that? I mean..it´s not like she isn't ...I mean...uhm.." He didn't know what to say or where to look. This was very unexpected and he wasn't really interested in her, anyway.

"Oh, hello Byakuya. Kurosaki-san. What a lovely day for a walk, isn't it?" Ukitake called on them. He was sitting on a bench with Shunsui. Both of them were smiling towards the walking men.

"It is indeed." Byakuya confirmed and bowed his head in greeting.

"Yes, it brings out the most beautiful colors in everything, doesn't it?" Shunsui winked at Ichigo.

"Yeah, well we have a training that we should get to. So sorry, but we gotta go." red again, Ichigo hastily replied and started for the training field. Byakuya was right behind him.

"I told you this was not a good idea!" he sneered at his companion as soon as they were out of hearing range.

"I don't understand why are you so upset about people talking about something, which clearly is not true."

"Maybe, because it isn't true! And why are you having so much fun anyway? Weren't you supposed to be all about your pride and honor?" he snapped back.

Byakuya did not grace this with any answer. The entered the training field in silence.

"Attack."

"I need to speak with general Yamamoto, right away." Nemu told the guards at the First Division. When they notified him and told her she could go to his office, she wasted no time. It was not like Nemu to hurry. But when she reached the office, she calmed to her old-self immediately.

Nemu bowed and handed a piece of paper to Yamamoto. It was a report from the Twelfth Division. There has been some abnormal Hollow activity in the Real World. The regular stationed teams would clearly not suffice.

"I see." The general said. "Please notify all the captains and lieutenants."

So, I hope it is not too slow for you. I just really love conversations. And again thank you for support. :)