Chapter 84: 1,000 Yr. BWArc: Relationship Goals
Byakuya's POV
"Yamamoto's dead . . . Kyoraku is the Captain Commander now."
I could hear Senbonzakura responding to Mina's words, but it sounded like a faint echo in my subconscious; my mind was too busy to make sense of the damning news that she had just given us.
News that I never expected to hear, despite it always being a possibility.
The captains' meeting before the Quincies' initial attack was the last time I saw Captain Commander Yamamoto in the flesh, hale and healthy, watching all of us in turn with a cool gaze that hid the fiery vengeance and thirst for revenge that everyone in the room knew he held within.
The man has lived for over two millennia, taking down opponents who dared to challenge him or threaten the Soul Society.
To hear that he fell in battle, it seems almost inconceivable to be truly believed.
"How. . ?" I find myself asking, failing to hide the shock that roiled throughout my entire being. "How exactly did Yamamoto fall in battle?"
"Ever since the Quincies made their declaration of war, I guess you can say it was inevitable that the old man would seek out the Stenritters' leader," Mina explains to me as she continues to unwind her bandage. "Sasakibe's death and the blow their initial attack did to my division's numbers simply cemented it."
"And so, he sought him out in the field. . ."
"Only to duel a Quincy whose power allowed him to impersonate his superior and his entire move set," Mina adds on, scowling. "By the time Yamamoto realized the truth, Yhwach arrived, stole his bankai, cut him down, and annihilated his remains . . . All that was left of him was the burnt remains of Ryujin Jakka."
"So, he couldn't stop at just killing him," I whisper, disgusted by the details. "He had to desecrate his remains as well. . . Add insult to injury."
"These Quincies are merciless Byakuya, and it all starts with their leader." She reminds me as the bandage becomes bloodier the more she unwraps it. ". . . They simply follow in his footsteps. Some simply do it with absolute glee."
"Would you like some assistance with that?" I ask, needing to distract myself before my mind could even try to recreate Yamamoto's death for me.
"I would say that I have this handled, but something tells me that you will not take that for an acceptable response."
"No, I wouldn't," I admit, pulling her chair closer to mine. ". . . Especially when it is obvious to me that the wound is quite uncomfortable for you."
"Not really uncomfortable," She mumbles as she turns her body around so that her injured shoulder faces me. ". . . More annoyed than anything."
"Hmm, well, regardless of the level of annoyance that you currently feel, this is what you get for not getting the proper medical attention for your shoulder when you should have."
"Oi, didn't I tell you why I hadn't before?" She asks as her wound is finally freed, summoning a flame to her hand to finally do away with the bloody bandage.
"Did you? Hmm, must have slipped my mind then," I say, grimacing at the large gash that defaced her shoulder, the wound so deep that it cut into the bone. "A wrap should not have been the only thing used for treatment here."
"Well, in my defense, I was also given pain medication."
"Still not a good excuse . . . Then again, you always did tend to be a bit reckless when it came to handling your injuries when we were younger."
"True, I could have taken better care of myself, but after what happened with your bankai during the first wave, do you really think it's a good idea to call me out on my latest bout of recklessness?"
"She has you there master."
"Shut it Senbonzakura. . ." I say, ignoring the reverberating chuckle the samurai leaves in the wake of Mina, admittedly, shutting me up.
Part of me wanted to believe that the biting tone she used was because her wound was truly bothering her and she wasn't willing to admit it, but the smarter part of me knew that despite my survival, she still didn't fully approve of my actions during the Quincies' initial attack.
"Alright, you have me there," I eventually say, my words apparently shocking her, if the slight widening of her gaze was anything to go by.
"You're not going to even try to argue against my point?"
"Why should I when it is a fair one?" I ask in return as my right hand becomes shrouded with healing kido. "Now that I'm far removed from that moment in my life, I will admit that, at the very least, I could have been a little less quick to use my bankai in that fight . . . But instead of waiting for word from the Twelfth. I decided to spring the trap if you will. It was definitely not my finest hour."
"No, it was not, but at least you got a trip to the Royal Realm out of it," she says, her natural dark style of cheekiness returning. "What was it like up there?"
"It's quite different compared to how we live our lives down here," I admit, shaking my head as I brought my hand to her wound. "Each member of the Zero Division has their own . . . floating palace to call their home, and in the center stands, well floats, the Royal Palace itself. It's not what I imagined the Soul King's residence to look like, but if it fits his preference, who am I to judge?"
"Did you ever get to see the Soul King?"
"No, my time in the Royal Realm was spent purely with the Zero Division training, to a point."
"To a point? What do you mean by that, Byakuya?"
"I mainly trained with Captain Hyosube, the Zero Division's leader . . . I met with the rest of the squad at different points during my time there, but when it came to actual training, it was with Hyosube, and even then, my training was focused more internally than externally."
"Ah, so it all boiled down to you and Senbonzakura . . . working things out?"
"To a point."
"Again, to a point?" She questions me, now looking more suspicious than curious. "And again, what do you mean by that?"
"I, um, may have had my fighting style be called into question," I admit, watching her face keenly to see if she would connect the dots before I even said the truth.
I did not have to wait long.
"Someone else finally called your structured style into question," She whispers, and the amazement, and smugness, I expected from her slowly comes out in a grin that I would find a little annoying in the past, but found endearing now. "The Head of the Zero Division called your style into question?!"
"He did not fully critique my fighting style," I say in all seriousness, my eyes narrowing slightly. "He just made me realize that I should . . . broaden my horizons when it comes to my tactics."
"In other words, he encouraged you to start winging it?"
"Mina, don't start."
"But I feel so validated right now!" She says in return, smiling greatly as she reaches up to touch my cheek. "I've been hinting, encouraging you to change up your move set all these years . . . Can you blame me for feeling just a little smug right now?"
"You are going to hold this over me for the rest of our lives, aren't you?"
"Hmm, maybe a little. . ." She admits, her smile becoming more genuine as the seconds ticked by. "I may bring it up in a future argument if things get that far."
"Thank you for the warning, and are you really that confident that we will argue in the future?"
"No couple is perfect Byakuya. We've had arguments in the past. What's to stop us from arguing in the future?"
"Our future children would be a pretty good reason, would they not?"
Minata's POV
"Future CHILDREN?!"
That was all my brain could register as I started tuning everything out, my body going completely still as I tried to get a semblance of my bearings together.
I already accepted the prospect of Byakuya proposing to me sometime in the future, but the idea of having children was a whole other idea that I never gave much thought to until now. Growing up, I knew that I would need to have heirs simply to help continue my clan's line, but the thought of having children, let alone Byakuya's children . . .
. . . How the fucking hell I never gave that idea much thought is beyond me, and I've been courted by the man for over two years now?!
"Don't worry master. Sometimes these things just happen."
"That's not really reassuring to me Kiri."
"Mina, are you still in there?"
"You just have to give her a minute," I hear Mizukiri say, deciding to speak for me. "She just. . . never expected those words to come out of your mouth."
"She never expected me to talk about the possibility of us having children together?" He asked, as if he was surprised to know that I hadn't been one to think about our potential progeny.
"NO, No I did not, to my own abject shock and disbelief!"
"Well, in her defense, you've never vocalized the possibility till now."
"That is true. This is the first time that he's really vocalized it."
"Like really? If you haven't mentioned it before, why should she expect you to talk about it now? Especially since we're in the middle of all out war?!"
"You are a very good zanpakuto spirit Mizukiri."
"Only the best for you master. Only the best for you."
"Hmm, fair point," He concedes. ". . . But still, this was a conversation that she should have known would be a long time coming."
"Um, shouldn't the marriage conversation come before the having kids' conversation?"
"It really should," I say, finally jumping back into the conversation while Mizukiri makes her exit. ". . . But maybe we are getting a bit ahead of ourselves?"
"But if we don't talk about it now, will we ever?"
"Honestly, maybe. . ." I admit. ". . . Also, I'm sorry for freezing up on you like that. You mentioning possible children just stopped me in my tracks a little."
"I should be apologizing to you Mina. My timing could have been better," he says, his gaze looking a little amused. "But you must admit, if we do have children in the future, we would not want to argue in front of them, right?"
"No, that would be a bad example to set for them," I mumble as the healing kido peters out, the large gash now a small scar a shade darker than my skin tone. ". . . Anyway, why the sudden mention of, well, future progeny?"
"Would you blame me if I admitted that I have been thinking a lot about the future recently?"
"Well, I hear that being very close to death's doorstep tends to do that to a person. . ." I say, immediately regretting my word choice as soon as I saw him flinch, and Byakuya Kuchiki is not a flincher. "Sorry."
"I see your dark humor is as strong as ever." He mumbles as I test my shoulder out, the relief palpable on my face now that it wouldn't bother me anymore.
"I struck a nerve, didn't I?"
"Maybe a little. . . But do not worry. I am not truly bothered by it, well, as much as you'd expect me to be," He admits, taking my hands in his. "And to be perfectly honest with you, I have been thinking about the future even before I was almost put on death's doorstep."
"I see, and where have those thoughts led to then, if you don't mind me asking?" I asked, trying to sound playful, though my curiosity still managed to creep into my tone.
Well, there was also a bit of hope, but I'm not sure Byakuya detected it.
Who am I kidding? He probably did.
"Mina, have you ever given any thought about becoming the next Lady of the Kuchiki Clan?"
"Well, it has been a recurring thought, especially after the first six months passed, I must admit," I say, watching the expectation slowly rise in his eyes.
"And?"
"It depends," I concede, deciding to voice a concern that resulted from my thinking, a concert that I'm sure that all noblewomen with a brain have had. "Will I be expected to simply sit at your side and look pretty? Be made to give up my position in the Gotei 13 for the sake of staying home and raising our children? I would be giving up my own heirship to be your consort, so if we do attempt to take that next step, I would at least like to know what exactly I would be getting myself into."
My words had a definite effect on him, if his eyes narrowing were anything to go by, but it wasn't out of anger for my sheer audacity of speaking such words.
It was the familiar look of awe and desire that would always cross his face whenever I dared to challenge him, that hooded look that told me he was more impressed than pissed off. I did like to push his buttons a little, whether by subtly calling something into question in public, or outright calling him in the safety of our personal rooms in the manor.
Either way, the results of my actions tended to work out for the both of us in the end.
Right now looks to be the latest example.
"I do not seek a trophy wife to parade around Mina. I don't want a submissive consort," He declares, his deep baritone taking on a husk that sent shivers down my spine. "I want a partner that challenges me. Someone that will not wither under the constant scrutiny of my elders, but hold her own in light of that. Someone that commands respect, not because they are married to me, but because they worked to build that respect on their own volition. Someone that I can rely on, that I trust my life to. That person is you, Minata. . . It's always been you."
"Even after all those pranks I pulled on you when we were younger?" I ask, trying to keep my tone light, but it came out faint instead, even to my own ears.
"As I have mentioned before, you challenge me, Mina. You keep me grounded, and you call me out when I deserve it, even when I think I do not." He goes on to say, reaching out to cup my cheek. "You are the one that I can always talk to, even about the stuff that I can't tell my grandfather about."
"Ginrei is an absolute sweetheart, so if I must spare him from the stories you don't want to tell him about, then I'll gladly be that ear you can rely on." I say, earning a chuckle out of him.
"I'm glad to hear that you will continue in that role, but you are so much more than that to me. . . You are the person that I trust with my highest hopes and my darkest thoughts. The one that I can rely on to be the sane voice in the mess of voices I have to listen to on a daily basis. The one that I feel lucky to come home to every night, and the one that I am reluctant to leave come morning, and that is a lot coming from me considering that I am, well, what did you call me that one time? You know, when you found me in my personal office still in my shihakusho going through stacks of clan documents that one night?"
"A raging workaholic that can't let things be until you've personally overseen all of it first?"
"Yes, that."
I couldn't help myself. I busted out laughing, having never thought he remembered that line I spat at him five months ago. He was supposed to be hosting my grandmother for dinner that same night, but the man just had to look over some clan records first, and thus fell into a rabbit hole of his own making. If I hadn't found him in time, he likely would have arrived for dinner in his captain's uniform instead of the yukata he planned, and did, wear.
"Mina, you are my best friend, my closest ally, and you hold my heart in your hands, and I trust you wholeheartedly with it . . . I love you, Lady Minata Fukudome, daughter of Lady Satsuki and Lord Masahiro, heir of Lady Moka, and Lieutenant of the First Division, it would be an absolute honor to have you as my wife, if you will have me?"
He barely got the last word past his lips before I pounced, my lips finding his as my fingers found a home in his hair, knocking his cap off in the process. It was hard on my part, almost bruising to a point, but I couldn't help myself, not when I felt like I was walking on air, my euphoria almost palpable.
After all, it's not everyday that one's boyfriend finally decides to pop the question.
". . . Um, was that a yes Mina?" He dared to ask, his eyes almost dazed as I rested my forehead against his.
"That was a definite yes Byakuya. . ." I say before pecking his lips. "Congratulations, you have yourself a bride."
A/N: Please review!