"It shouldn't be long now before you hear," Byakuya notes, unprompted, as he watches Toshiro raise his sword once more. The rising sun is growing warm against his back, almost to the point of discomfort. He's been supervising his lieutenant's practice for several hours now, since dawn broke, and the early summer heat is only now just beginning to reach them, prickling against his shoulders and back. "Within the month, I would imagine."
"What?" Toshiro pauses mid-strike and looks back at him, premature wrinkles forming on his forehead. He lowers his sword and sheathes it, his training abandoned, then scowls as he dabs a few beads of sweat from his face with the back of his sleeve. "They didn't give me much of a sense of when I'd find out. What did you hear?"
"It should be soon," Byakuya says. In reality, he's not heard much yet, but between the Captain Commander's eagerness to see their vacancies filled, coupled with a general lack of interest from the other captains, he can tell it won't be long—the feeling creeps up a little more on him each day, heralding his student's coming departure the same way the heat heralds the coming of summer. "At least, I cannot imagine them delaying once there's been a formal decision."
"Hm. Interesting." Toshiro gazes at the ground around them with an uncertain eye. The forest around them is marred with the impressions of his last few demonstrations. Deep gouges mark the earth, half turned to mud from the remnants of melting ice. The few blossoms that have not yet begun to brown are frosted over, shivering like stars with each gust of wind that blows.
"It is splendid," Byakuya says. "Your bankai."
Toshiro seems taken aback. His head snaps back to him, his eyes a fraction wider. "Captain?"
Byakuya continues. "You have excellent mastery over both close and long-range combat, and your attack strength is more than one would expect, given the type of zanpakuto you possess." It is rare for him to be so indulgent with his praise, but he is in a particularly fatherly mood, and the words come easy. They are on borrowed time together, and the time for him to impart any last words of praise or wisdom is quickly dwindling. "Truly, you have honed your powers well. I could not be more proud of you."
Ice-type zanpakuto are, as a matter of course, more delicate than others, but they can be powerful when brought to their full potential, something Toshiro has accomplished with only slight guidance from Byakuya.
Given Toshiro's own talent and genius, Byakuya suspects that his assistance only played a small part in his lieutenant's success, though he'll gladly say he contributed towards it.
"It isn't like you to be so freehanded with your praise, Captain," Toshiro eventually says, after taking a moment to digest Byakuya's words. "But I'm thankful for it—for your encouragement, and all you've done for me as a member of your squad."
"It needed to be said," Byakuya responds, perfunctorily dismissing the last of his sentimentality. "From what I gather, it seems you'll be given Squad Ten to look after. It's been a long enough time since they've had a captain working in a permanent capacity, and I know that Squad in particular is in need of a firm hand. There has been no official consensus on that point, but as your current captain, I would like to be the first to tell you all this."
The corner of Toshiro's mouth perks up in a proud smirk. It's a rare but endearing indulgence of his youth, and it makes him look all the younger for it. "Thanks for the heads up."
"It is not final," Byakuya cautions, "though at this point, I see very little that would persuade them otherwise."
Toshiro is quiet for a moment, resting his palm on the hilt of his sword. For a moment, his grip tightens, and his face becomes serious. "I owe a good deal to you, Captain," he says, his voice as tense as his grip. "For all that you've taught me over the years."
Now, it is Byakuya's turn to fight down a proud smirk. "You would have come this far regardless." He shakes his head. "And I am glad to do it. It is—it is important, I believe, that talented young shinigami be mentored closely, for that exact reason."
And, what he does not say, is that it assuages the worst of his existential concerns, by providing him with younger colleagues to look after.
Having no children of his own, the shinigami he mentors will be the whole of his legacy one day, and so he approaches them with the same care and attention he would have provided his own children, had he and Hisana had any.
"Hm." Toshiro finally relaxes and begins to stretch his shoulders, as they both turn to walk back towards the Seireitei.
It is still not even noon yet, which means there is still a full day ahead of them to continue working through the numerous administrative affairs that have arisen in light of Toshiro's anticipated promotion from Squad Six, the most prominent being his lack of an adequately trained Third or Fourth to step into the lieutenant position.
It is a question that has brought Byakuya nothing but frustration, given the amount of work his adept lieutenant has shouldered over the years, and the lack of suitable substitutes has been a recurring headache.
They are not long on their journey back when Toshiro runs one hand through his hair and fakes a casual glance over towards Byakuya. "When do you think they'll want to make the announcement? To me, even if not publicly?"
"I can only guess." Byakuya's own promotion had been handled internally within Squad Six, with hardly any meddling from the other squads. His retirement, he imagines, will be handled very differently from that, but that is not something he'll have to consider for many years, and by then, a suitable heir may have already materialized from elsewhere in the Kuchiki family.
"I doubt that there will be much of a delay between my finding out and yours," he eventually offers, unable to conjure a more definitive estimate. "That being said, I will be leaving in several days on a personal errand and won't be able to confirm until after I return."
There is a noticeable stutter in Toshiro's next step, and his carefully schooled expression slips. "So soon? Captain—"
Before Toshiro can finish that thought, they're both interrupted by his good friend—the lieutenant of Squad Five, Hinamori, on her patrol of the outskirts of the Seireitei. "Hey, Shiro!" she calls, waving her arm. "There you—"
She cuts herself off, biting off the rest of her sentence when she sees the two of them together. Her face flushes, and she lowers her arm with a nervous laugh before hurrying over towards them both, her face flushing an even darker shade of red. "Good morning, Captain Kuchiki!" she greets hastily, offering him a polite bow.
"Momo." Toshiro's own greeting is brusque, and perhaps comes across as impolite, though Byakuya himself has been privy to enough of these interactions to know this is not how his remarks will be received.
Young love, Byakuya supposes, is eternally foolish in that way, lacking very little outward consistency, for whatever inner idiosyncrasies it humors.
Just as he anticipated, Hinamori beams and pushes forward, until she is almost in his lieutenant's face. "How did it go?" she demands. "Captain Aizen said that you finally had your exam this week, and—and I haven't heard from you about how it went, so…" Her voice trails off expectantly.
"It was fine," Toshiro tells her, suddenly much more modest and cool. He waves his hand once before setting it on the hilt of his zanpakuto, entirely nonchalant. "Nothing worth so much fuss."
Hinamori grins, in a way that suggests she knows precisely just how underplayed Toshiro's account is. It is a regrettably charming tableau, for all their gangly youth, and she plays a fitting part in it with her wide, brown eyes and girlish smiles.
Then again, young women are unfortunately a bit of a soft spot Byakuya has, one that stubbornly persists despite his best efforts to suppress it. It has never been something he's advertised, and given the opportunity to do so, he's always blatantly denied it. Even so, he's aware that it has more or less been accepted as common knowledge, leading any number of young shinigami women to approach him, imagining them to be allies.
And he so, so rarely sees them as such, but he seldom finds himself able to refuse whatever aid they seek of him.
It is a compulsion that is simply beyond his control. Young women - Aizen's lieutenant especially - all appear to him in shades of Hisana, marked by her ghost, and hers is a charm that has not faded in the slightest over time.
"We are all looking forward to seeing Toshiro take command of his own squad," Byakuya offers diplomatically, though he does note with some satisfaction the sudden redness at the tips of his lieutenant's ears. "Certainly, there is no question he is deserving of it."
"Then if you think so, it must be true!" Hinamori claps her hands together. Her smile wanes, wilting, and she claps her hands again, softly this time, before looking down at her feet with a contemplative smile. "I can't imagine doing something like that," she confesses. "Leaving Captain Aizen—that would be so strange. I don't know what I'd do, leading a squad without him there to guide me."
"Don't discount the possibility just yet," Byakuya says. "Your skill with kido is admirable; perhaps one day a captain's seat will be within your grasp as well."
Hinamori's head jerks up, her eyes wide as they meet his. Her lips form into a gentle smile, and she self-consciously tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Well—perhaps it would not be so bad to work outside my squad from time to time. I've—in the past, working with Squad Six, I've enjoyed the opportunity to improve my skills by working with others. Maybe later—"
"By the way," Toshiro interrupts, "I noticed that your hair is different today." There is a certain frostiness to his tone that immediately catches Byakuya's attention, though Hinamori seems unaffected by it.
"Oh! Yes, this." Hinamori lifts one hand to the back of her head, where her hair is tied back. As best as Byakuya can recall, she's almost exclusively worn it bound up with pins and ribbons—simple, nondescript ones that have always seemed to be primarily functional.
Today, however, her hair is loose, though several strands are held back by a pin decorated with silk cherry blossoms, each studded with small pearls in their center. The rest falls down to her shoulders and curls delicately around her jaw, somewhat unruly in the light humidity. "I just—" Hinamori starts, then hesitates. "It's new, and I wanted to wear it around, so—so that, ah, people could see it."
"It's different," Toshiro notes carefully, his voice deceptively calm. He crosses his arms over his chest as if sizing her up. "Looks expensive."
Byakuya flinches internally at that, though he does not correct his lieutenant. To Toshiro, likely, her new trinket probably does seem rather fine, though the pearls are rather small, and the silk itself is only of average quality at best. An acceptable flourish for a casual social gathering, perhaps, but not something that looks particularly expensive.
"It looks very nice," Byakuya says instead, hoping to undercut the seriousness in Toshiro's tone, causing Hinamori to blush again.
Toshiro grunts. "Is there some sort of special occasion?" he asks, prodding. "It's not really the sort of thing you'd normally buy for yourself."
"Well, it isn't." A certain defensiveness creeps into Hinamori's voice, and Byakuya has enough sense to realize he may very shortly become an unwitting third-party to a quasi-lovers' quarrel, if he hasn't already. "It was on my desk when I arrived this morning. There was no note or anything left behind, and no one else was around when I arrived. Captain Aizen said he hadn't seen anyone either."
Toshiro's eyes narrow. "Doesn't that seem concerning, Momo?" he asks. His voice rises an octave, almost scolding. "You should be more careful than that."
Hinamori's cheeks burn, this time with annoyance, rather than embarrassment. Her soft face becomes pinched with frustration, and she balls her tiny fists at her sides. "Of course I checked it over before I took it, but there was nothing I could find—no kido, no… nothing that would suggest it's anything other than a gift." She lowers her head and sets one hand on the pin, her severe expression easing as she hazards a glance in Byakuya's direction. "Besides… It's nice to think someone out there is admiring me, even if it's from afar."