She'd recognized the garden the second she entered it. Like a punch to the gut, Tsukiko had suddenly remembered being in the garden, its every surface covered in shimmering, pink-white sakura blossoms that filled her young eyes with wonder. There weren't any sakura blossoms fluttering around when she'd meditated with the captain, but not every garden had a bridge in the exact location as the one in her memory, or the same bend in the stream, even if over fifty years had passed since she'd last seen it. She almost brought this up to Captain Kuchiki, but how could she explain it? For all she knew, she'd never been to the Kuchiki manor and was only laying a memory of a different place over the beautiful sight before her. Besides, there was the likelihood that Captain Kuchiki meant to impress her or, more likely, remind her of his social rank. Either way, a guest doesn't offend their host by telling them they've already seen what is meant to awe them.

The rest of the training session had gone about well. Captain Kuchiki hardly lost his cold demeanor, but he advised her calmly and slowly. Without saying it directly, he taught her to banish the rushing sensation she always felt and then lost with sword meditation, as though she had to tap into her innermost self as fast as possible or die. Of course, then she'd woken up after nodding off for who knew how long and wished she'd died after all.

As for the garden, Tsukiko told herself to bring it up after a few more training sessions. She didn't anticipate her relationship with Captain Kuchiki changing, but she felt it more acceptable to discuss the garden after a few more visits.

That had been over a month ago, and now Tsukiko only had to remind herself once to focus, and into the lull of meditation she drifted, more often than not without falling asleep. She felt that she finally knew what her fellow rookies meant about feeling "better" after meditating, for though she hadn't made contact with her Zanpaku-to (and knew better than to think she could just yet), she always walked away from meditating feeling happier and lighter.

The next day was another training session with Captain Kuchiki, and while she still wasn't entirely ready to address the Kuchiki gardens, Tsukiko did want to prepare herself for the lesson itself. She leisurely made her way to the Squad Six gardens, hoping to settle beside the koi poi but not counting on it. The most recent weather report had warned that the next day would bring an early autumn storm, so many of her squad fellows were now outside, chatting, sparring, and blasting music. They of course knew better than to make such a ruckus in the garden proper, but that didn't mean Tsukiko could avoid the odd Shinigami also enjoying the budding autumn flowers.

Luckily, though, she managed to sit close enough to the koi pond to where she could pick up its still calm. She rested her Asauchi across her lap, gave herself the command You are meditating, and closed her eyes. Filtering through the sounds around her proved slightly more difficult than usual, but with tips of her proverbial hat at the noise, she bid adieu to the occasional bout of laughter, the dull rubber bounce of a kickball, the haze of chatter coming into the garden…. But there was music she just could not tune out. It was some World of the Living import, with an underlying bassline that throbbed in rhythmic intervals. She couldn't follow much more than the bass, but it was enough to pull her in, as if it had lassoed her around the waist and swept her along its journey…it thrummed and loomed…it took her places she could not know…it stirred something in her chest—

Someone grabbed her and heaved her back, and Tsukiko's eyes flew open. Just as she was reaching back to fight off her attacker, Emi's cheery laughter made her swing even harder to sock her right in the mouth.

"Hey, no hurting loved ones!" Emi said, finally releasing her.

Breathing heavily, Tsukiko turned to face her and slapped her arm. "You can't be normal for just a of couple seconds?" she shouted.

Emi's brow furrowed in confusion. "What's 'normal'?"

Tsukiko scoffed and smoothed down her hair and shihakusho. "Dare I ask why you're interrupting my meditation?"

Emi settled on the ground beside her. "I had some time to say hi before my monthly check-in." She rolled her eyes. "You know how my Captain Kuchiki likes to stay on top of us."

"How's that a bad thing?" Tsukiko asked. "It's pretty nice she wants to know what's going on with her entire squad."

"No, it's fine, it would just be better if it wasn't her doing it."

"Emi, for the last time, my Captain Kuchiki isn't going to just magically switch places with yours."

"Oh, let me dream!"

Tsukiko sighed and glanced up at the sky. "I guess it's not like I was really focusing anyway…" she said.

"Meditating still not going well for you?" Emi asked.

"Well it has been, and I've been enjoying it, but then you—"

Emi raised an eyebrow. "Since when do you enjoy meditating? I thought it was just a necessary evil to you."

Ooh…right. Tsukiko still hadn't told Emi about her lessons with Captain Kuchiki. It wasn't that she didn't want to, but with Emi now launching into her usual interrogation of what Captain Kuchiki had been up to since she last grilled Tsukiko, there still wasn't much incentive to tell her. Then again, putting the issue off any longer would only worsen the situation when she did tell her…. Oh, fuck it.

Tsukiko held up her hand at Emi's latest question. "I can't tell you if Captain Kuchiki got a tramp stamp," she said, cutting her off, "but I do have some news related to him."

Emi grabbed Tsukiko's shoulders. "You're only just now telling me?" she said, a frantic note in her voice.

"You might want to hold off before saying that," Tsukiko said. "About a month ago…."

All things considered, Emi took it well. That is to say, hardly had Tsukiko finished speaking when Emi let out the shrillest of shrieks and hugged her tight. They were at least outside, but as Tsukiko's ear was pressed against Emi's chest, that didn't really help her.

"Oh my goddess!" Emi shouted, at last releasing her friend. "You are so lucky and I am so jealous! Why didn't you tell me sooner? Ooh, maybe I can get my Captain Kuchiki to personally train me and she can partner up with the best Captain Kuchiki and we—!"

"Emi, shut up!" Tsukiko said, nervously looking around. She knew Emi finding out about her training would be loud, but she didn't connect it to the rest of Squad Six finding out as well. More importantly, while Captain Kuchiki had never explicitly said their training sessions were to remain a secret, he didn't strike her as the type to want it advertised. "Emi," Tsukiko said, quieter this time, "I think it's great that you're thrilled, but one of the reasons I didn't tell you is because this is supposed to stay on the downlow."

"Oh, I won't tell anyone," Emi said.

Deciding not to strangle her today, Tsukiko ignored the squad members staring at them. "Anyway," she said, "it's really nothing big. Captain Kuchiki acts exactly the same. It's just that we're at the Kuchiki manor instead of—"

"You go to the manor?!" Emi nearly shouted, catching herself only just. "You're in his inner sanctum! You seriously couldn't even text me about this?"

Tsukiko gave her a look. "First, what part of 'downlow' do you not understand, and second, do you really think you'd be okay with me not telling you this face to face?"

"Very true," Emi conceded. She smiled broadly, but then her face fell. "Did he say why he wanted to train you and not, I don't know, me?" Her fingers began to tear at the grass.

Tsukiko shrugged. "He says I have a lot of potential, and he wants to help me hone it."

Emi raised an eyebrow. "That's it?"

"I mean, he also said something about diamonds in the rough being more determined than people born into the Seireitei, but that kinda turned into an insult—"

"And do you know how many people would kill to be insulted by Kuchiki Byakuya?" Emi said, her fingers tearing at the grass with renewed fervor.

Tsukiko rolled her eyes.

"But yeah," Emi said, "jealous as I am, I don't believe that's Captain Kuchiki's real aim." She threw the shredded grass into the air like confetti.

"What makes you say that?"

Emi shrugged. "Dunno. Just seems a little…." She chewed on her lip. "I don't know. It just rubs me the wrong way. That's not how the man works."

Though she agreed that Captain Kuchiki wasn't the warmest or most inviting person alive, Tsukiko felt more than a little defensiveness, and her jaw went taut. "Maybe he's testing a different approach with this batch of recruits."

Emi shook her head. "Kuchiki Byakuya doesn't do that."

"You're doing a shit job of defending yourself," Tsukiko growled.

"Oh relax," Emi said, throwing her natural confetti directly at Tsukiko now. "If Captain Kuchiki wants to lie, he can lie, but he wouldn't train you unless there was something in it for him."

"You're jacked. And would you fucking stop—" Tsukiko swatted at the confetti.

Laughing as she threw the last of the shredded grass, Emi leaned back on her hands and looked around the garden. "How's it going with Lieutenant Blueballs, by the way?" she asked.

Instantly Tsukiko's face went red, and she grabbed Emi's arm. "Zip it!" she whispered. "What if someone hears? They're already looking at us because of all your shouting!"

Emi swatted her away. "There's a ton of lieutenants, who says we're talking about yours?"

"Me!"

"Then don't say anything." Emi smirked.

Tsukiko sighed, but soon enough her exasperation was replaced by a sad smile. "I mean, I can't exactly pursue this, can I?" she said. "There might not be an official rule about it, but it's not really a thing for squad members, especially tiny unranked ones like us, to date their lieutenants. Not to mention Captain Kuchiki is such a stickler for rules, spoken or unspoken."

"Isn't that structure one of the reasons you wanted to join Squad Six?" Emi asked.

"Of course," Tsukiko said, "but I didn't think I would…y'know…."

"You didn't think you'd flood your basement every time you saw Lieutenant Abarai."

"Oh my gods, shut up!"

Emi cackled. "Do you think he likes you back?"

Tsukiko shook her head, still blushing like mad. "I can't tell. He's nice and all, but that's not any different than how he treats everyone else."

Emi pointed in the direction of the offices. "Want me to go ask?" she said.

"Don't you dare!" Tsukiko swatted at Emi.

"Oh relax. It's been forever since you last got laid anyway." Emi stood up and brushed the shredded grass off her shihakusho. "I say pursue this, no matter what Captain Gorgeous might think—and speaking of…." Her gaze turned serious. "Tsukiko, please text me if anything changes with you and Captain Kuchiki. I know you said not to worry, but I really don't think this is just casual interest in training you."

Tsukiko raised an eyebrow. "You make that sound like he's hitting on me or something." She mimed gagging.

Emi remained serious. "I mean it. I have a weird feeling about this."

Tsukiko rolled her eyes. "I think you're just jealous, but I promise I'll tell you if anything happens."

"Attagirl." Emi winked. "And don't be afraid to open your shihakusho a little. Based on his track record I doubt Lieutenant Blueballs is a boob man, but it won't hurt."

"Emi—"

"Tootles!" The first of her shunpo took her out of sight.

With only a little guilt, Tsukiko sighed in relief as she was finally left alone. As much as she loved her, talking with Emi could be exhausting, even when she didn't bring in conspiracy theories about Kuchiki Byakuya and publicly advised her in matters of the heart (or boobs). Tsukiko agreed that it was strange for the captain to single her out of an entire squad, but the fact was, he wanted to train her, and she'd be a fool to pass that up. Whatever his motivation, Tsukiko knew better than to question it, and so far, it had only brought her positive change.

Without Emi, the garden was once again quiet, surrounded as it was by the sounds of her joyous squad fellows. Placing her Asauchi back on her lap and closing her eyes, Tsukiko shed away the noise, but again, that dull bassline would not leave. It was a strong thrum that she found all too easy to latch on to. It was like a guide in the dark, imbuing her with focus and purpose. She gave herself one idea to consider, You are your sword and your sword is you, and with that her thoughts began to flow. Clinging to the bass, she drifted from thoughts of her sword alone to thoughts of her place in Squad Six, where she brandished her sword as the one surefire defense against her foes…her place in the Soul Society, where her sword was a mark of triumph and power…her place in the world, where her sword could bring her anywhere because as she moved, so did her sword, she was her sword and her sword was her…who was she…where was she….

She was a toddler sitting in her father's lap. He was writing on a sheet of paper, and she was desperately trying to grab the end of the pen. His deep voice rumbled from his chest as he told her to let him write, all while he leaned down to kiss the top of her head.

With a deep gasp, Tsukiko's eyes flew open. Her heart was racing with adrenaline, and she held out a hand to catch herself, though she wasn't falling.

For Hokutan Tsukiko, this new memory aside, had just felt a pulse, as Emi said she would, but this one had absolutely nothing to do with Lieutenant Abarai. It wasn't even a real pulse, or lightning, or whatever else she had been told she would feel. No. This was like she had been roughly shoved and only just caught her balance before falling—and she was completely alone.

Shaking slightly, Tsukiko looked at the Asauchi in her lap, unsure of what to expect but hoping it would offer further explanation. But other than a bright gleam where the late summer sunshine hit the gray steel, her sword remained silent.

Just as wordlessly, Tsukiko rose, sheathed her Asauchi, and headed to her shift half an hour early, eager for a distraction from the sudden memory of her father, the tight unease in her chest.

A/N: Another shout out to everyone who's read, favorited, followed, and/or reviewed "The Heiress" thus far! I appreciate your support!