Chapter 6: Confrontations
Kuchiki Byakuya poured himself a cup of tea and was just about to take a sip when the door burst open revealing an enraged Yoruichi.
"What is the meaning of this?!" yelled Yoruichi, referring to the rumors.
"Meaning of what?" Byakuya raised an eyebrow in her direction and continue sipping his tea as though nothing had happened.
"Stop playing dumb"
"You mean this?" he waved his hand.
"It's called paperwork, Shihouin Yoruichi. Unlike you, I have a ton of them to do. I suggest you get reacquainted with yours"
"Not this!"
Yoruichi felt her blood pressure shoot up. I bet it is off the charts now. How can he sit there and sip his stupid tea?! Wait. What is it that he is about to do?!
This might just make that stupid cat burst a blood vessel. Pay-back for all the stupid things you make me do when I went to find you, seeking a solution to our shared problem. He picked up his brush and began writing on the piece of paper in front of him, pausing occasionally to think about his response to the things mentioned.
Yoruichi was indeed about to burst a blood vessel at that sight. Paperwork?! That Byakuya. He… he…ARGH!!!! That's it. This. Is. My. Limit. Without a word, Yoruichi released her shunko stopping Byakuya's brush in mid stroke and trashing up his entire office in the process. Bits of paper could be seen floating in the air to the floor. A long gash in the wooden floor, a table broken cleanly into two and an obliterated pile of paperwork was the extent of the damage done to the room.
Let's see how you deal with this.
*twitch* Byakuya could feel his eyebrows twitching incessantly. That stupid cat. Now I need to redo that whole pile of shit. No. First I need to figure out what that whole stack contains. Not to mention my tea. Stupid cat. He reached out his hand and grabbed a random bit of paper. What is this?! It doesn't even make sense! This is impossible.
"So are you ready to talk now?"
I'm so far away from talking right now. "Argh!!" an uncharacteristic growl tore out of Byakuya's throat.
Good. I'm itching for a fight too.
Flash stepping their way out of the sixth captain's office, Byakuya began chasing Yoruichi who is looking for open grounds so that she can pummel Byakuya to her heart's content.
--Second Division Quarters—
"Look. They are at it again."
"God. They are so fast that you can hardly see them."
"Maybe this is their form of dating. After all, people do weird things while on dates."
"Ahem!"
The gossiping three jumped at the clearing of the throat. To say that the aura surrounding their captain could kill is putting things mildly.
"Taichou!"
The three saluted and dashed off before Soi Fong could do anything to any of them.
Yoruichi-sama. Are you really going to leave me?
--Kuchiki land: a huge empty plot of land out of nowhere—
"Chire, Senbonsakura"
"Hmph" Yoruichi was obviously not impressed.
Preferring close combat, she dashed at Byakuya. Everything was a blur after that. Flashing from place to place and placing hits so fast that the naked eye could barely follow, Byakuya finally understood why her title was called the Goddess of Flash. She really lived up to her title. Stupid cat. One hundred years did nothing to make me faster or her slower. Byakuya was panting and trying in vain to keep up. CRACK. A sickening sound could be heard as he lifted his left arm to fend off a particular nasty kick aiming for his solar plexus. She is still as good at hakuda as ever. Watching carefully for her next move, he timed himself so that he was able to fend off the attack and not injure himself further. However, she surprised him by letting him grab onto her leg, delivering a slamming kick on his shoulder with her other leg. Everything went downhill for Byakuya after that. Yoruichi was able to land more hits as the injuries took their toll on his body. After landing a few well placed punches and kicks, she flipped away and stood at arm's length from Byakuya to take in the damage she did.
His face was bruised from a right hook. His left hand seems to be broken in a few places when he raised it to fend off one of her kicks. His left shoulder seem dislocated. If I'm not wrong, he is definitely badly bruised underneath that hakama.
I really don't want to do this. But it looks like I don't have a choice. "Bankai" he dropped his sword into the ground. "Chire, Senbonsakura Kageyoshi"
Bankai. Maybe I'm taking things a little too far. The broken look on Soi Fong's face flashed into her mind. Bankai? I shall show you what happen to those who put that look on my Soi's face.
Yoruichi resumed her attack with vigor. Each time she tried to break through, to get to Byakuya, she was blocked and thrown back by his bankai. Cuts and gashes adorned her face and tears could be seen on her clothes. His bankai sure is faster and there are more of those freaking swords! The Goddess of Flash lived up to her name. Byakuya's bankai wasn't able to touch her even with him directing with his right hand. Yet, she wasn't able to land a hit on him. Thinking hard, she formulated a plan to get through his defense.
Unleashing her shunko, she flashed step and charged towards Byakuya. As expected, his bankai shield him from the attack. The next that happen caused Byakuya's eyes to widen. It can't be… the shunko manage to cut through his bankai. That split second of disbelief cost Byakuya as he felt Yoruichi's arm around his neck as she gripped him from behind.
"Now tell me, what is up with all that rumors and who is spreading them."
"Don't tell me you actually think I'm the one doing the spreading."
You never know. You're the only person that I can think of. So I'm coming after you first and the rest later. Yoruichi snorted at his claim.
"What I think is of no importance. Now tell me, as much as I enjoy annoying the hell out of you, why did you keep appearing at my office every day the last two weeks? Now there is some stupid rumor that I'm engaged to you. It costs me Soi Fong and it huts her. How the hell did that happened anyway?! I don't remember proposing or being proposed to. If I turned you down, I'm damn sure that I'll remember it!"
"Could you let me go first?"
"Fine"
Knowing that Byakuya was going to explain the entire befuddling situation to her, she released him and he, in turn, dispelled his bankai. In a very un-Byakuya fashion, he flopped onto the ground in exhaustion.
"It is true. We are engaged to be married. I have nothing to do with it. All I knew was that there was a council meeting of the Kuchiki elders after you've been reinstated as head. The next thing I know, they summoned me to say that they have come to an agreement with the Shihouin elders that, for the sake of the two clans, we are to wed. I stopped by every day the last two weeks to ask you if you had indeed actually agreed to the whole thing. That was what the council claimed when they informed me. They said and I quote "Shihouin Yoruichi-sama has not objected to this union". Each time before I could open my mouth, you would do something that would make me see red and you know the drill. Soi Fong taichou must have heard it from one of the servants from either your house or mine whose relative is in her squad. I should have known that my stopping by every day would cause tongues to wag even without the help from the servants from either of our side. I admit that was my mistake."
"That's it? That's the whole story?!"
"Were you expecting something more?"
"No"
Actually, I thought it would be something more dramatic. Wait, the council said I didn't object?! How is that possible?! Oh my god. That dream! Fuck! To think I thought it was only a dream! Ugh!!!! Oh my god, Soi…I'm so sorry. Did Byakuya –yago just apologized?! I think he did. Time to make peace.
"I admit, annoying you and irritating you is fun. Especially when I haven't seen that expression after so many years. Now that I know what makes you tick, we call it a truce shall we?"
"Truce"
"Shake on it"
Byakuya lifted an eyebrow at this sentence.
"I see that Shiba has rubbed off you"
Yoruichi smiled wryly.
Byakuya did the second unexpected thing that day. He laughed and shook Yoruichi's hand.
Maybe I could stand this stupid cat after all. I grew up with it anyway.
I'm glad things are all cleared up. All I need to do now is find Soi, explain it to her and make it up to her. Seems like we are friends now. Byakuya-yago. The younger brother I never had.
"You know, you should find Soi Fong taichou and explain it to her."
"You know about me and her?!" I must have let it slip just now. Somewhere, somehow.
"I knew it long ago. You two have what me and Hisana had. Don't go screwing it up. You will regret it."
"You don't have anything to say about it?!" I can't believe he is taking things so calmly.
"I grew up with during the time when you are always off doing weird things. Weird and stupid. So I'm used to it. Not to say that this thing with Soi Fong taichou is stupid, but it definitely is weird for others. I'm just glad you have someone else to irritate and annoy and I'm glad you two are happy. I'm even happier that someone could rein you and get you off my back."
Yoruichi's jaw slackened and dropped at Byakuya's words. He could actually talk to me like a friend. I guess that makes us friends then.
Noticing Yoruichi's reaction, he laughed.
"You might want to hurry"
"Yeah. I wonder what he did this time round."
"Maybe dropped crumbs on her head again."
"Want to watch a free show?"
"I think I'll pass this time. She might just change targets at the sight of me."
"I'll get going then. I'm not going to miss this. It seems big."
"Take care of her and don't screw things up this time around."
"Yeah" and she flash stepped away leaving Byakuya alone in the middle of the field.
I shall just stay here a while longer before going to the fourth to get healed.
AN: Like I promised! Once a week! Please read and review. If possible, please do leave a review. I hate it when authors say that there won't be an update unless there are a certain number of reviews so I'm not going to do that. But it's nice to know that there are people who enjoy reading what I've wrote and it keeps the ideas coming and me writing.