It was dark. She could make out shapes, one resembled Iwabee without his cap on. She had to still be home, he didn't show off his hair to just anyone. Why exactly was that? Was he embarrassed about his hair? He never conveyed the reasoning to her, but whatever, everyone has their secrets.
She certainly had hers and she could almost swear one of them had been standing in her doorway. It couldn't be right? The odds of this happening were—she couldn't even calculate the probability right now. A million to one, or a million ten thousand to one? She couldn't be sure right now, her head was spinning too much. She still felt woozy. The last thing she remembered was the Shinigami asking if she was okay but it was like time had slowed down, making his voice distorted.
She closed her eyes, there were voices. Two sets of voices but she still couldn't hear clearly. That boy couldn't be who she thought he was. Right? There was no way she was that unlucky. Her mother had told her about him of course, and the circumstances surrounding him. She'd always thought that he'd be someone she would have to protect but the power she could sense from him—he was as strong as her mother—or at least held the potential to match her.
How long had she been out? Opening her eyes again they finally focused, allowing her to see beyond shapes and shadows. She stirred and moved to get up only for a strong hand to gently grasp her shoulder as a stranger coaxed her, "take it slow. You've been out for a few hours."
Hours? Oh boy, as soon as she sat up her head began spinning again. Bringing a hand up to her forehead she closed her eyes momentarily, trying to will the sensation to pass. She felt an added weight near her legs, making her realize they had moved her onto the couch.
"I'll ask Captain Kuchiki to have someone else take my station here. It seems my presence upsets you," the stranger offered. She managed to shake her head 'no' as she explained, "No. That won't be necessary. It's just you surprised me. You kind of look how I imagined someone I'd heard about would look."
He gazed at her intensely as if he could see through the lie she just told. After what seemed like eternity to her he turned his gaze towards the kitchen area where Iwabee was emerging with some water and a bowl of shrimp chili.
Toshiro blinked at the sight of the food, recalling the concoctions that the substitute shinigami's wife would come up with. Despite how off putting those dishes looked, they did taste pretty decent. The biggest challenge with that human's cooking was getting around the appearance of the food.
Iwabee looked to Toshiro and asked, "are you alright with spicy food? I'm making ramen if you want something else."
"I wouldn't mind the ramen then, thank you," Toshiro replied.
'Well, he's polite at least,' Sakiya thought as she began eating the chili. Toshiro observed her as she devoured the serving with the ferocity of a wild animal. Once the bowl's contents were consumed she placed the bowl on the table and sipped at the water, grimacing at the taste. For some reason he found himself unable to refrain from quietly chuckling.
She eyed him and inquired, "what?"
"I've never seen anyone disgusted by water," Toshiro admitted as he continued to observe her.
"I prefer matcha with honey," she explained as she
"Or milk with honey, or juice with honey— if she could drink a glass of honey she would," Iwabee added. Toshiro had to chuckle again before revealing, "as long as it isn't spicy or too hot I don't mind. I don't like heat."
"Polar opposites there," Sakiya remarked as she forced brought the cup up to her lips. She hesitated feeling her stomach clench and her throat tightening. She took a deep breath, exhaled and then took a mouthful of water. Immediately her stomach began trying to revolt. She cupped her hand over her mouth and wrestled the fluid down into her system. After successfully forcing that gulp down she coughed a little at the effort of keeping the water down.
Toshiro stopped chuckling and looked at the glass disapprovingly before standing and taking the glass away with him. He went into the kitchen with it and seemed to be doing something in the kitchen with his back to them. After a few minutes he returned with the glass and handing it to her suggested, "try that."
She hesitated before picking up the glass, fighting against her system anticipating the fluid but took a relatively small sip of the water. She blinked when she realized her body was willingly accepting it, she then continued to drink until the glass was fully empty and then was hit by a blast of honey taste.
'That's what he did,' she concluded in understanding as she set the glass down and eyed Toshiro before remarking, "What are you some kind of genius?"
Toshiro simply gave a coy smirk before heading out to the balcony. This seemed to annoy her as she inquired, "Where are you going?"
"Your father requested that I be here in case the Defectors or humans affected by the scrolls of Jashin show up. I'm going to remain close but there's no need for me to occupy more space than is absolutely necessary," he replied before continuing towards the balcony.
At once Sakiya and Iwabee both realized what he was implying and yelled, "you are not sleeping on the balcony!"
"It's fine. The cold doesn't bother me, not that I'd even call this cold. It's similar to the area I grew up in back home," he assured them.
Sakiya felt her throat go dry. Similar to the area where he—did he grow up in Rukongai? She swallowed the saliva that had been gathering in her mouth as she pressed, "Which district?"
'Please don't be that district. Please don't be. There's no way. It can't be true. It can't be. Please don't let it be Junri-' her inward pleading was interrupted by his response.
"Junrinan."
Her fingers clutched at the fabric of the throw blanket they had covered her with while she recovered from her fainting spell, although he was a distance away from her, he took note of this and walked back over towards her. He stood about two paces away from her, wordlessly waiting for whatever she was wrestling with to come to light.
"Your birthday is December 20th, you're 130 years old, and your full name is Toshiro Ryunosuke Hitsugaya. You were raised by your grandmother," Sakiya listed off.
At first his turquoise eyes widened, then he gasped with his mouth gaping. Then all he could do was blankly stare at her before he managed to stutter out, "h-ho-how—how do you know about me?"
Sakiya avoided eye contact with him, debating in her mind if she should tell him now or if she should leave that to someone who had more right to tell him. Should she rip the band aid off? She'd already come this far—but no. No, what if the truth just sent him into a tail spin like she had been in since he showed up at their door? No, she couldn't do that. Granted he was a lot stronger than she had anticipated, but she shouldn't have been surprised by that. Actually, she wasn't. She was relieved that he was stronger than her, it was one less thing to worry about at least on the battlefield. But then what if the enemy told him on the battlefield and the shock caused him to spiral? That was a pretty big risk. What to do? She decided to test the waters a little with a truth, "my mother told me about you."
Toshiro found himself blinking a little as he parroted back, "told you about me?"
"Yes," Sakiya confirmed her grey eyes meeting his for the first time he saw her true complexion, the shape of her face, her jawline, her nose. He felt as if his breath had caught in his lungs as he probed a little further, "why would she speak of me to you? How? She was sent here when I was very young—a toddler even!"
"Because – she arranged for you to be adopted by your grandmother," Sakiya hinted. She then lost her nerve to tell him the full truth and concluded with, "your mother and my mother knew each other very well. My mom did what she could to protect you from a danger that your mom faced. One that even the second squad couldn't fully protect her from. My Dad was part of that protection as well."
'Damn it Sakiya! You are not fit to lead. You are not fit to be the 29th head of the Kuchiki family. You're just not! Gah you're such a disgusting coward,' she mentally berated herself.
"Anyway, there's no way I'm okay with you sleeping on the balcony. You can have my room—or we do have a pretty comfy futon we can set up out here," She changed the subject.
Sensing her discomfort over the topic the 10th squad captain relented and gave a small nod of his head in agreement as he confirmed, "alright. I'll sleep on the futon."