CHAPTER 61: TEMPORARY SEPARATION, PERMANENT SECRETS

"Well… Our house is awkwardly cramped today."

Tayomi glanced around the living room as all the Captains and Vice-Captains gathered in their house for a meeting. Ever since Head Captain Commander Yamamoto's orders, all of the Captains and Vice-Captains headed for Karakura Town to keep an eye out for Aizen while the seated Shinigami and Squad Zero took care of Soul Society. Everyone had squeezed into the Living Room, waiting for dinner before starting the conference call with Head Captain Commander Yamamoto.

Once the timer went off, Tayomi instantly rushed to the kitchen to bring out the honey glazed chicken she had made for her colleagues. Hinamori helped her cut the chicken into portions and divide the salad, while Matsumoto and Hisagi helped hand out the food to the other Captains and Vice-Captains.

"Ah, it smells good doesn't it, Nanao-Chan?" Shunsui sniffed the piping hot meal and gave a disturbing smile to Nanao, provoking her to smack him on the head with the book she was reading.

"A decent meal fit for my status," Byakuya muttered to himself.

"Yay! I finally get to try Yomi-Yomi's cooking!" Yachiru cheered and jumped up and down excitedly.

Tayomi sat between Hitsugaya and Matsumoto, eating her homemade dinner while deep in thought. It'll be great if such peaceful times could continue this way… Noticing her sudden silence, Hitsugaya stared at her for a moment. He could sense that she was hiding something from him… If only he knew what. He reached out his hand to tuck a strand of her long dark hair behind her ear, afraid that she would end up chewing her hair with her food. Tayomi blushed, her cheeks turning into a shade of bright red. Spotting her Captain's affectionate act, Matsumoto squealed in delight and hugged the two Captains.

"AHHHHHHH TAICHO THAT WAS SO CUTE! Why are you only nice to Tayomi-chan and not to me?" She whined.

"That's because you don't do your paperwork."

"But Taicho, I'm such a loyal and hardworking…"

"But you don't do your paperwork."

"But I've always backed you up and ran errands for you and…"

"Still never did your paperwork."

At the exact same moment, the large screen installed in the living room flickered, showing Yamamoto's face, with Vice-Captain Sakashibe behind him. Yamamoto informed the Captains that Aizen had issued a set of rules for the upcoming battle. The Captains and Vice-Captains gasped as they heard about the intensity and elaborate system of the battles, with a total of 13 arenas, each allowing a one-on-one battle with anyone that was randomly selected by the systems controlling the arena. The most fearsome thing was that it could select anyone, no matter which side they fought for, and they were forced to fight to the death or until the arena decided to rotate the opponents or switch in new fighters. Apparently, if the people within the arena refused to fight, Aizen would release "a force that was worse than fighting each other", hinting to the Captains and Vice-Captains that they had no choice but to fight, regardless of who their opponent was.

"Also… I have a question for Hitsugaya Taicho and Tayomi Taicho."

Tayomi and Hitsugaya stared at each other with their eyes wide open, wondering what Yamamoto could possibly want from them.

"What exactly is your relationship? I want you to clarify your relationship now."

"Yama-jii… Why is it of concern to you?" Shunsui quickly came to Tayomi and Hitsugaya's defence.

"CLARIFY YOUR RELATIONSHIP, HITSUGAYA TAICHO. I know there is something going on between you two, even without looking at the way you two are sitting."

Tayomi glanced at Hitsugaya, instantly realizing that he had her arm around her and they were sitting close to each other, with her arms wrapped around his waist. She instinctively backed off and looked at her feet, before looking up to face Yamamoto's stern face, which was brimming with fury.

"We're together." Hitsugaya replied coldly.

"I know that both of you are very capable, being the youngest Captains in the history of the Gotei 13," Yamamoto nodded. "However, I expect you to behave with the same maturity as the other Captains. This upcoming battle is extremely crucial. I will not allow your relationship to interfere with your performance. You are not permitted to discuss your relationship until this battle is over. You will only talk about work and focus on your task at hand. This is not the right time for any of you to be distracted. Especially when you've been entrusted such a great task, Tayomi Taicho. That's all."

Once the screen switched off, Tayomi was dumbstruck. Her relationship had been suspended by Captain Commander Yamamoto. She could feel the pressure in the room rising, especially within herself. She was aware of her own task, running her hand over the tulip insignia on her arm. She glanced at Hitsugaya, holding back her own tears, before moping back to her room.

"Yomi-chan?"

Hinamori crept into her Captain's room, after sending the other Captains and Vice-Captains off, as everyone headed to their own headquarters scattered around Karakura Town, with Tayomi and Hitsugaya's holding the central location. She found Tayomi hiding under her quilt, letting out a few sobs. Hinamori sighed, her heart aching for her friends, knowing how much suffering they had endured to finally be together. Taking Tayomi into her embrace, she held her Captain for a moment and tried to console her, before noticing that Hitsugaya had entered the room. She frowned at him and shook her head, knowing that they wanted some time alone on the last night they were allowed together.

Once Hinamori left the room, Hitsugaya slowly walked forward towards her, trying to suppress the excruciating pain he felt from their separation. He had not expected Captain-Commander Yamamoto to know what had happened between Tayomi and him. Gently, he lifted the quilt and stared into Tayomi's eyes, wiping away the tears she shed with his finger.

"It's alright. Once we're done with this, it'll all be okay."

Tayomi shook her head slowly.

"It won't. It just won't."

Upon hearing her words, Hitsugaya grabbed her right wrist, gripping it tightly. The snowflake bracelet he had given her from their schooling days sparkled under the moonlight, glittering as it always had.

"This bracelet I gave you is my promise to you! I made you a promise Tayomi! It'll be alright once this is over and we finish Aizen off! It'll be alright! WE'LL BE ALRIGHT!"

Suddenly from the corner of his eye, he noticed a black tulip insignia imprinted on her arm. It definitely wasn't related to her limiter. He had never seen it before. Tayomi wasn't the type to get tattoos either. It was strange. He looked at her face, as Tayomi bit her lip and looked away, knowing he had spotted the insignia.

"Tayomi… What's this..?"

Silence.

"Tell me!"

Tayomi shook her head violently, bursting into tears again.

"I CAN'T TELL YOU AND NOTHING WILL BE THE SAME!"

She wrestled her arm from his grip, rubbing her wrist as it felt sore from his grasp. Hitsugaya sighed, knowing it was pointless to convince her to tell him. Tayomi was stubborn enough to refuse to reveal a secret and he decided to respect her decision to do so. He shook his head, before inching towards her slowly and pulling her in for a long, deep kiss. Slightly shocked by his actions, Tayomi shut her eyes tightly, as she felt the distance between her pillow and her head diminish. It wasn't the usual gentle kisses. It was rough, forceful, and a clear indicator of his despair, as he held her tightly and refused to let her go and his lips leave hers. Placing her hands against his chest, she violently pushed him away, inhaling deeply and leaving Hitsugaya shocked.

"You heard Captain-Commander Yamamoto's orders. We'll settle this after the war… Hopefully."

The next morning, all of the shinigami gathered in Urahara's underground training facility. All of the Captains stood before their subordinates, waiting for Tayomi to appear. Today's session was headed by her, and they were to focus on enhancing their Kidou skills. Being the most gifted at Kidou, it was no surprise that she was the most capable of heading today's session.

"According to Captain-Commander Yamamoto, Aizen will be bringing out more Espada to deal with us in the upcoming battle. And he intends to enhance their abilities in every way possible. Due to that, we can't let our guard down in any aspect of the Shinigami arts."

Tayomi unsheathed Inazuma Kaze and placed her hand on its blade.

"Today, I'm going to teach you a special kind of kidou. I'm going to teach you how to deflect Ceros… And I'll teach you how to protect yourselves from being sealed."

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Well that was an unexpected statement... It serves as a little hint to what it coming up next in the upcoming battles and the strange things that have been going on. My exams are finally over so I'll have more time to update and finally catch up on Bleach :D Can't say I'm very happy with how it's turning out... Kubo needs to stop cutting Hitsugaya out of fights and let us see his Bankai at full strength!

Next chapter will be on their training and we'll get to see Tayomi spar with someone :) Please review and comment! Thanks for reading and for your support :D