She stirred, quickly realizing that she was resting against something a bit warm. Opening her eyes she noticed she was leaning against someone and fully woke up. She sat up and looked to the heir who didn't change his expression, she noted that was the first time he wasn't smiling at her.
'Uh-oh, I've angered him,' she thought to herself. She bowed her head lowly as she apologized for falling asleep.
"Why would you apologize? I doubt you slept very well last night, and the mental exercises are not easy to perform at first," Byakuya answered.
Kisuke offered her a smile as he introduced himself, "Kisuke Urahara, pleased to make your acquaintance."
"Tama Shimizu, it's nice to meet you Urahara-san," she replied. There still was no smile from Byakuya, and that was concerning to her.
"He's the third seat of the second division," Byakuya informed her. The conversation quickly turned to training, with Kisuke offering to help teach her some Hakuda and flash step. Before the end of the day, she had managed to successfully utilize flash step ten times and improved her form when fighting empty handed.
Now she was walking back to the Kuchiki manor with Byakuya and being escorted by Kisuke, who back away from the teenagers to give them space to talk amongst themselves while also keeping a watch over them.
"Ugh, I don't think I'll have trouble sleeping tonight," Tama groaned as she trudged along, noticing that they were nearing the Manor.
"I suggest you have a bath before you go to bed. It helps soothe your muscles in preparation for tomorrow's training," Byakuya advised.
"Hmm that does sound nice," Tama admitted. She blushed a little before admitting, "but—I will admit I'm not too keen on the chance of anyone seeing my back."
"I could stand guard outside of the bath, if you wish," he offered.
"Won't that seem a little strange? The young lord of the house, guarding the Rukon brat whose supposedly being trained to be his bodyguard?"
He thought momentarily before shrugging it off, "perhaps. Then again, it's strange for the Kuchiki clan to employ someone who is from Rukongai to begin with."
"Hmm, when is your grandfather expected to return?"
"Probably in about two weeks. The number of hollow attacks in Rukongai villages has gone up lately, which is strange. They should always be low or non-existent, so he went along with some other experienced Shinigami to sweep a few areas and see if he can uncover anything that would indicate a reason or the sudden spike," Byakuya answered.
"In other words, that hollow from my village-"
"Shouldn't have even been there," Byakuya concluded.
She gripped the sword at her side tightly and admitted, "well, I'm glad you and your father were nearby."
'I thought her name was familiar. She's the girl that Sui-Feng interviewed at the fourth—but it wasn't about a hollow attack. Poor kid,' Kisuke thought to himself.
He then smiled a little as he observed the Kuchiki heir interacting with her and concluded, 'still—she seems to have opened Byakuya's heart a little. That on its own is quite an accomplishment. Usually he's abrasive, rash, hotheaded and quick to anger—but with her, it's like he takes a step back from Byakuya Kuchiki Clan heir, and just becomes Byakuya Kuchiki the teenager.'
Tama turned and waved goodbye to Kisuke, which finally gave him a good look at her blade. He smiled as he asked, "what's your sword's name?"
"I don't name inanimate objects," Tama replied.
"It isn't exactly inanimate," Kisuke objected as he approached her and explained, "each Zanpakuto has a spirit residing within it, which allows the blade to purify hollows and grants special abilities to their wielder. As an example, mine is named Benihime. She's a pretty versatile girl, her special attacks are kido based, but I can add some fire power to those kido based attacks to create explosions."
"Father's blade is named Raiden, a lightning based Zanpakuto," Byakuya added. Tama looked pensive, her brow furrowing in thought before asking , "Hmm, do I name it or—does the spirit tell me its name?"
"The spirit does," Byakuya answered. This caused the teen girl to blink, and wonder to herself why she wasn't hearing anything.
Byakuya observed her momentarily before offering, "well, I have quite a few Shinigami talents and I haven't heard mine speak to me yet. Maybe you just need a bit more time."
"Yeah, maybe," Tama agreed with a small smile. The sight of the corners of her mouth gaining the slight upward curve did little to ease his heart, but eased it marginally none the less. He looked to Urahara, giving a slight nod of his head before escorting her into the manor. The blonde man waited until both teenagers were inside before flash stepping away.
Within the manor, Byakuya gently gripped her wrist to stop her from running away as her body language seemed to suggest she might sprint somewhere. Without waiting for her to turn around he asked, "are you alright?"
"Yeah, it's just a lot. He knew. Not about the hollow, about—the other thing," she replied, her breathing was shallow, rapid, and heavy. She was trying to fight off tears.
"You don't have to hide from me," Byakuya reminded her as he let go of her wrist.
"No offense, but I feel like that's all that goes on between us. I get upset, you calm me down—some 'friend' I turned out to be, huh? Just another reason why I don't deserve everything you and your father are doing," She lamented.
"It's not like it bothers me any," Byakuya offered in an attempt to placate her.
"There you go again," She pointed out before she flash stepped out of the hallway. He'd seen that she went to her room, but he took the hint. She wanted to be alone right now. So be it. He'd let her come to him when she was ready.
He went to the kitchen and turned in the bento boxes, making a request that next time, they give her some mild curry rice as well. She had liked the spices, but found the curry a little too hot. He hadn't been surprised. He loved spicy food, and had built up a tolerance for most spicy things. He then headed to his room, allowing his spiritual pressure to flow out very slightly, and looked through the book shelf. Finding what he was looking for he extracted the book and sat down on the floor with it.
Normally it would take prodding from his father or grandfather to read on this topic, however he'd been wondering something ever since she had shown him the scar near her heart. His eyes skimmed across the pages, the text was from when the kido corps was first established, listing every kido spell currently used and some that were forbidden. From what his grandfather had said, their family had been entrusted with a copy of the text incase the spells fell into the wrong hands. He kept turning pages, his eyes searching, until they went wide. He brought a hand up over his gaping mouth and swallowed hard. What he would've given to be wrong, but alas, he wasn't.
That answered the question about her unusual awakening in Rukongai, however it raised others. The first new question: was that spell cast on her by a friend who was desperate to protect her from a powerful enemy? Or by an enemy with the intention of torturing her?
Either way, he'd have to bring this to his father's attention, and seek out the answer to the second question: what was her real identity?