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Never Let Me Fall	By : shadoesong Category: Bleach > General Views: 1394 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach and its characters, nor do I profit from this story.

Chapter List
- 14
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Chapter 15

The next day, Byakuya had let Rin go out alone for lunch with Daisuke. He had made her promise that she would let the man escort her back to the mansion after. The woman had agreed. She was just glad to be out of his sight for longer than a couple of minutes. Her headache still plagued her, but on a smaller scale. This also left her in a relatively good mood. She practically forgot about it by the time she met Daisuke outside the restaurant.

The two friends ate and chatted. They were joined by Aika and a very hungover Rangiku about halfway through the meal, giving Rin a good excuse to stay out longer. The conversation swung over to her and Daisuke's upcoming mission at some point, making Aika point out much the same thing Jushiro had at the meeting.

"Isn't it a bad idea, letting you go to the World of the Living when you're being targeted?" she asked before taking a sip of her tea. Rin shrugged.

"Head-Captain's orders," she muttered before shoving more food into her mouth. Daisuke answered the question, instead.

"He's confidant that she'll be fine if she listens to Byakuya-sama's orders. Which worries me," he added, glancing at the woman out the corner of his eye. She glared back at him.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" she snapped.

"It means you have some sort of listening disability. Every time you get orders, you just have to twist them until you approve," Aika said. "Which usually means you end up doing the exact opposite."

"From what I hear, Captain Kuchiki's harsh on those who can't listen to orders," Rangiku said a matter of factually.

"I listen to some orders. And it's not like what I've done hasn't helped out, in the end. I'm just improving them," Rin said.

"Name one time you've listened to Byakuya-sama," Aika challenged. The brown haired woman hesitated.

"Uh... When... I... Oh! When he ordered me to let him come!" she exclaimed triumphantly.

"That doesn't count," Daisuke said. "He would have followed you even if you'd told him not to come."

"Suck it, Daisuke," she snarled before finishing her meal. Aika sighed.

"Just try and listen, okay? I don't want you getting hurt," she said. Rin rolled her eyes.

"I won't get hurt. Trust me."

"What else did the Head-Captain say? Do you two know where you're going?" Aika asked, redirecting the conversation.

"No," Daisuke said. "He never said. He told us we should prepare for a week's stay. The 12th Division is taking care of accommodations, clothing, and other things we'll need, so there isn't much we really need to do. Which reminds me," he turned to the brown haired woman, "Rin, is it okay if we spar after we're done here? We haven't done that in a while, and I could use a good warm up."

Rin looked over at him. At least she didn't have to bring up the fact that Byakuya wanted him to escort her back to the mansion. She had been trying to think up a way to bring it up without sounding like she needed a babysitter.

"What about your eye?" Rangiku asked the question that had been on Rin's tongue.

"It'll be fine. I've had a week to recover now, and it'll only be a quick bout so I can get back into things," he reassured her.

"I'll make sure he doesn't kill himself," Rin said. "We can go now, if you want. We'll do it at the mansion. Kuchiki wants me back there, anyways."

"Mind if I watch?" Aika asked. "It's my day off."

"Ooh, that's a good idea!" Rangiku exclaimed.

"Except Captain Hitsugaya would have a fit if you didn't show up for work again," Aika pointed out with a teasing smile. The busty blond folded her arms across her chest and pouted.

"The Captain's always working me to exhaustion!" she whined. "I deserve a break!" But she sighed and said, "You're right, though. I'll see you later, Aika, Daisuke-kun, Rin!"

"Bye, Rangiku-san," Daisuke waved her off.

"Have fun, Rangiku!" Aika called after her as she left.

The three then finished up and left for the mansion, chatting all the way. Despite the threat that Aizen posed against Soul Society, the friends still found time to be cheerful. Byakuya was in the garden reading when Rin came to tell him that they were using the place to spar. The man stood and caught her shoulder as she was about to leave.

"Is that wise?" he asked. "Hana told you not to overexert yourself when you have a headache."

And he could tell that she had one now by the tired, pained look in her eyes. Aika and Daisuke had gone ahead to get their zanpakuto, since the small woman wanted to join in the sparring as well.

"I'll be fine," she scoffed, pulling away.

Still, the Captain decided he would watch the match, just in case.

"Zanjutsu, I assume?" Rin asked once she and Daisuke were standing across from each other in one of the many courtyards found at the Kuchiki Mansion. Byakuya and Aika knelt on the part of the porch that had a tree to offer shade.

"It'll be a good start. I'll do Hakuda with Aika, afterwards. She's a better match for me," he said, grabbing the hilt of Dokuga.

"Pfft." She rolled her eyes as she tied back her hair. "Bastard. You say that like I suck at Hakuda."

"You do," he deadpanned. "And I surpassed you decades ago."

"No way. You're just delusional," she scoffed. "One or two katana?"

"Two. You fight better when you have both," he replied.

They drew their weapons. When Aika called the signal to start, they had closed the distance between each other in a second and their swords clashed.

"Don't be afraid to use my blind side to your advantage. I need to practice sensing people when they approach on that side," he told her. She smirked.

"You're making this easy on me!" she exclaimed before they separated and started for real.

Daisuke's advantage during the fight was the fact that he moved around a lot. Rin, who preferred to stay in one place mostly, struggled to keep up as he danced around her. Her Zanjutsu techniques were far more refined, however, and she was able to block his attacks. The pair knew each other's fighting style well, though. Neither gained the upper hand.

Rin, who had been holding back on taking Daisuke by his blind side despite what he had said, decided she would use it now to turn the tides of the bout. His reaction time on his right side was slower, and he received a few hits because of it. He was fortunate that she was only tapping him with the flat of the blade.

Suddenly, the woman's vision swam and her headache worsened. She fought for breath while, at the same time, she tried to retain her balance as the world tilted and spun. She was relieved when Daisuke placed a hand on her shoulder, helping her recover. He looked at her, concerned.

"Are you all right? You just stopped, for a second," he said.

"Yeah, just let me get a drink." She brushed him off, walking away and sheathing her weapons.

"I'll spar with Aika and let you take a break," he called after her.

She didn't argue with him as she climbed the steps to the porch. Aika, who had stood when she saw Rin stop, confronted her.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, equally as concerned as Daisuke.

"Your turn," came the gruff reply before Rin slipped inside.

When she returned with a cup of water, Daisuke and Aika were already well into it. She had come out just in time to Aika land two solid, consecutive kicks onto the man's chest and stomach. He was quick to recover and he countered by straight arming her. She ducked and kicked her foot out to trip him up, but he leapt up and avoided it altogether.

Aika was on her feet by the time he landed and they exchanged dozens of blows at high speed, both quite evenly matched and receiving about as much as they got. The small woman was taking full advantage of her foe's blind side, but he was slowly getting better throughout the match. While his efforts weren't in vain as Daisuke had gotten in much needed practice, Aika eventually came out on top. Literally.

She looked down at Daisuke from her place on his chest. Both were breathing hard, but looked content with the match. The woman grinned down at her foe.

"Oi, Esaki, this is a good position for you," she purred. She was rewarded when the man gave her a huge grin. "You're up, Rin! I got him alllll warmed up for you!" The brown haired woman frowned.

"You're disgusting," she growled as she stood and walked over.

"Why am I disgusting? You didn't have to take it that way," Aika purred as she removed herself from her other friend's chest.

"You're disgusting because you wanted me to take it that way!" Rin snapped. Both Aika and Daisuke just laughed at her. "See?!"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Aika laughed as she returned to her seat beside Byakuya. Rin's hands clenched into frustrated fists as she waited for Daisuke to get up and dust himself off.

"You ready, now?" he asked, going to retrieve his zanpakuto from the edge of the courtyard. She followed him.

"Of course. Who the hell do you think I am?!" she snapped. He smirked.

"Just wondering. I thought you would pass out during our first bout," he said. She shrugged.

"I just needed a drink," she insisted. She saw the dubious look on his face, but pretended to not see it.

When Aika called the signal, Rin launched herself at Daisuke with renewed determination. He barely blocked her first attack before she slipped in behind him and slapped the flat of her blade against his back. He was able to avoid what would have been a fatal blow in a real battle and spun to confront her. She ducked beneath his swing and brushed the point of her sword past his side, silently telling him that she could have given him a serious gut wound.

They continued to dance, staying in close with each other. Rin pressed the offensive enough that her foe was more focused on dodging than attacking. Daisuke held his own pretty well. The woman looked exhausted, though, and she had started breathing hard far too soon into the match.

He paused in his dance when he saw her falter. She tried to take advantage of his brief hesitation, but instead her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fell forward in a dead faint. His sword clattered down to the ground along with hers when he freed up his hands to catch her. By the time he had laid her on the ground, Byakuya and Aika were there as well.

"What happened?" Aika asked as she checked to make sure her friend's pulse and breathing. She was still alive, fortunately.

"It is the Sword Sense," Byakuya answered before Daisuke could say anything. The dark skinned man shot the noble a surprised look, while Aika just looked at them in confusion.

"The wha-?" she began. Byakuya had already scooped his subordinate up into his arms and was heading for the mansion. She looked at Daisuke instead for an explanation.

"Another secret," he said somewhat apologetically as he gathered up his and Rin's weapons. He then sighed. "You'd think she'd learn by now not to push herself."

It wasn't the first time his friend had passed out like that. She had explained her ability to him long ago. What worried him the most was that it seemed like she passed out more and more as the years passed. Aika frowned as she followed Daisuke into the mansion and to Rin's room, where the noble Captain had taken the woman.

"Shouldn't we take her to 4th Division?" the small woman asked as they walked. He shook his head.

"That would just upset her, waking up in a hospital. They can't do anything that rest wouldn't do to help her anyways." Aika sighed.

"I'm afraid I've missed out on a lot since I left," she murmured. "You two are a lot closer, now. I'd know these things if I'd stayed."

"She'll warm up to you again soon, don't worry. I think she's a little peeved that you left so abruptly, too," he reassured her. "Why don't you get the servants to make some tea? She'll be out for a while."

"Okay."

By the time Rin awoke, it was sunset and just about everyone had left. She sat up, cursing herself for pushing herself too far once again. She had wrongly assumed that she would be fine until the match was over. At least her headache was gone, now. They usually left whenever she passed out because of them.

"Are you all right?"

She jumped when the voice came from her left. Her head whipped around to look at Byakuya, who looked back steadily. She had expected an 'I told you so' type of response, not an 'are you okay' one. He was wearing a dark blue kosode and hakama with a dark green haori over top. She quickly looked down, relieved to see that she was still in her uniform.

"Fine, now." When she saw him narrow his eyes, she added, "Don't give me that look, I'm being honest this time! My headaches go whenever I pass out like that. Were you here the whole time?"

"Yes," he replied. She saw the chair he had been sitting in and wondered how long he'd sat there.

"I need to go outside. It's stuffy in here," she said swinging her legs over the side of the bed.

"Then I will accompany you," he told her. He walked around to the other side of the bed.

"I don't need my god damn bodyguard to look at some stupid fish in your stupid pond," she snapped.

"I'm not going to protect you. I'm going so you won't be alone," he corrected himself. This caught her off guard, a little.

"I...guess that's okay," she agreed. "Though I wouldn't have been alone. I would've had Gilepsi."

"Your cat has been absent all day," he pointed out, a little miffed that she was implying that she enjoyed her pet's company more than his.

"Shut up. I knew that," she muttered, standing up.

A wave of nausea hit her and she placed a hand to her head when the world spun a bit. She felt Byakuya steady her with a hand on her shoulder. The feeling passed, and she shrugged off his hand before leading the way into the garden. She stopped and looked up at the roof. She turned her head to smirk at her Captain.

"How mad would your Head Advisor be if he found out we were on the roof?" she purred. The image of the old man lecturing him came to mind and he knew he would not be pleased.

"He won't know if we are quiet," he replied a little mischievously. Her smirk widened into a grin.

They walked along the peak of the roof for a while, watching the sun finish its journey as they did. By the time they had found a place to sit that Rin approved, the moon was fairly high in the sky, casting their shadows onto the roof in front of them. They sat down beside each other, just close enough that they were almost touching.

"You're easier to get along with when you're not being such a stick in the mud," she told him after a bit of silence.

"You are far more tolerable when you're not yelling fury at me," he shot back. She rolled his eyes.

"I only do it cus you're a stick in the mud," she muttered. " You kinda reminded me of Hatori at first, but now I know you guys are nothing alike. You're more like you used to be when you were a teen now that I know you better. Well, kind of. Not really. You hide it better when you're mad, now."

"I remember you were far colder 100 years ago," he recalled. "You weren't as close with Esaki, either."

"No, but after you spend over a century with someone you're pretty much forced to be friends with them, you know?" She smirked.

"More than friends, I believe." She blushed deeply.

"N-no! We're not-"

"Not lovers, but not friends," he finished for her.

"Something in between, I guess," she agreed. "We've never been like that. Lovers, I mean. I haven't had someone like that since...since Felix," she admitted. "Daisuke has commitment issues, anyways. I don't think he'll ever settle with one person."

"Everyone has their shortcomings," he said. "He is still a good man, though."

"Too good. I probably don't deserve him." She hugged her knees to her chest and rested her chin on one of them. "You're good, too," she finally confessed sheepishly. "I guess anyone who puts up with me is good." He gave a small smile.

"You are a good person," he told her. "Even if you won't admit it." She scoffed.

"That's what Daisuke tells me. Just because you're a Captain, doesn't mean I'm gonna believe you. And I'm not above pushing you off the roof, either, if you want to fight about it," she growled playfully.

She froze when he placed a hand on her back, pushing just a little. Not even enough to move her, but it still scared the shit out of her. She stifled a screech and clutched his arm as if her life depended on it.

"Don't! I'm sorry! I wouldn't push you off, I was kidding! But only if you don't push me off, you stupid bastard! I'll bring you with me to break my fall!" she cried. He chuckled.

"You should be resting, now. I will walk you back to your room," he said. He stood, offering her his hand. She took it, glowering at him as she stood.

"Oh, so just because you surprised me you think you have to babysit me again. I can get back to my room on my own, you know!" she said indignantly.

"The last time I let you wander my garden alone at night, you decided to jump into my koi pond," he reminded her. She huffed.

"Fine. Let's go, then."
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Never Let Me Fall