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That Dreaded Word	By : Platinumsabr Category: Bleach > Het - Male/Female Views: 11539 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, or the characters from it. I don't make any money from the writing of this story, but I do enjoy writing it. Any Original Characters are mine however, as is the story itself, and if you see it posted elsewhere pleas

Chapter List
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The
Missing Piece

Soi-Fong, esteemed captain of the
Second Division and quite possibly one of the grumpiest people either side of
eternity, couldn�t understand why she couldn�t get the eye-patched oddity out
of her mind. It didn�t help that she had nothing she could use to get her mind
off it; if she trained with her division in the group sparring sessions
Yoruichi had been so fond of she would probably end up injuring them more
severely than she should because of her distraction, and if she looked at
paperwork in this state she may as well just burn it.

She had no idea of the possible
boundaries or steps usually taken even in friendship, let alone any kind of
relationship. She knew she wanted to talk to Gwydion again but the urge to use
her captain status as a way to figure out more of his past was becoming more
and more tempting as time went on, and it had only been two days. She had said
she wouldn�t mind meeting him again, and he had told her that he�d be at that
club nearly every night, but she didn�t know when to go.

Should I have gone right away?
Today? Tomorrow? A week from now? She knew she wasn�t emotionally attached,
there was no way someone could get under her skin that easily, so she found
herself constantly going over why she couldn�t stop thinking of what to do when
it came to the artist she had just met. She could explain away a lot of it as
curiosity, but that didn�t tell her why she was so hesitant to use her status
to gain more information. She was the Special Ops commander, a person who had
more clearance than almost anyone when it came to personal files and other such
research, but in this case that easy road made her hesitant.

She knew why, she didn�t need
personal experience to tell her that. What would he think of her if she
suddenly knew so much about his past and they hadn�t talked very often? It took
away most of the point of meeting him in the first place. She knew if she
wanted someone to talk to other than her purple-haired goddess of flash, some
kind of relationship would have to be formed. At this point she didn�t know
what kind of relationship either. She knew many women that had male friends,
but seeing as how she barely had any friends period, a man would be an easily
misunderstood choice as one of the few. Why did that bother her? And more
frightening even, why didn�t that bother her as much as it should?

Ichigo talked to her whenever
they met, which was more than she could say for most people, but she couldn�t
really consider him a friend, and then again he wasn�t afraid of talking to anyone
in his regular straightforward manner, even the Captain Commander himself. She
had to give him props for that. One of the few exceptions was Kenpachi, though
that was probably because he didn�t really �talk� when around the orange-haired
man. What was so different from talking to Ichigo than talking to Gwydion?

Too many reasons came to mind
right away. One: Ichigo wasn�t single, so that made it a whole different ball
game. Two: he didn�t have as much in common with her as the skilled drawer
seemed to have. And three: he didn�t intrigue her near as much as the walking
enigma. She hadn�t seen many Soul Reapers�other than those directly associated
with the former substitute Shinigami�with so much familiarity with the Living
World that they wore more than just the necessary items on their gigai, but his
music player suggested he was well acquainted with the physical realm.

There were a few things she could
think of, but none that truly explained why she found him so fascinating. He
didn�t look it, but she couldn�t deny that there was the possibility he had
been in and out of the Second Division before she had even started, but she
guessed against that. She had come into the division as a child, and risen to
the rank of lieutenant, then captain. That didn�t happen overnight. However,
she had to admit that she wasn�t the most observant of her subordinates, she
usually just gave them orders based on their skill level. They were numbers to
her, if she thought of them as people with names she would be too inclined to
show the same kindness Yoruichi had shown her. It was quite possible she had
never come into contact with him even if he had been in her division before she
became captain. His proficiency with hand-signs suggested he had been there for
quite a while though, and that bugged her.

All of the guessing was killing
her! She wasn�t one who guessed, she was one who found out what she wanted to
know even if she had to bloody her knuckles to do it!

The confusion was getting to be
too much for her. She may not know certain boundaries or what can or can not be
done when relating to someone else, but she would get nowhere if she simply
stayed in Soul Society like she was. She found herself growing discontent with
the boring evenings she had reveled in previously, and not even beating up on
her lieutenant offered much relief anymore. She couldn�t even make the excuse
that she couldn�t see him because she was too busy with work, as it was the
Second Division was rather lacking in duties actually. In this age of peace,
assassins weren�t as needed as they used to be, and all the lesser jobs could
be done by the lower officers.

She was�restless.

He offered something new,
something to do that she hadn�t done before. She wasn�t one to shy away from
anything, and she had to prove to herself that she could do better than she had
that night they had met. That was a secondary feeling, no matter how hard she
tried to say it wasn�t, but it did drive her to want to talk to him again. She
felt drawn to him, the man that had experienced a similar kind of betrayal.
Would he share it with her? Would it get to the point where she could actually trust
him enough to tell him of hers? It sounded idealistic, but if she had learned
anything over her life so far it was that things can only be reached one step
at a time, even if those steps seem so small at first. It was just like her
training to become a captain, at times it seemed she was getting nowhere when
it fact she was steadily improving. It had tested her already small
patience even then, and it had been too long since she had last challenged
herself in that way.

Now, convincing herself that that
was the case wasn�t as easy as she thought.

She wanted to see him, to do something.
Now was as good a time as any. She looked in the mirror of her sparsely
decorated living quarters and cringed. Not two decades earlier she wouldn�t
have cared about what she was wearing off duty, but now, looking in the mirror,
all she saw was a woman that had spent the better part of almost a hundred and
fifty years�running away. The only other clothes she owned were a pair of
pajamas, and she wouldn�t have even had those had it not been necessary for the
Shinigami Women�s Association. She had one outfit on her gigai in the Living
World too, while others had taken advantage of their wages and the low prices
in the Living World. Her bravado in battle was all she had, otherwise she had
no life. She had never questioned it before, but with even the slightest
inkling that there was hope for a life outside the military she found herself
realizing things she had been trying to deny.

Again, she was being left behind,
but not in the same manner anymore.

All those around her�with the
exception of her division for the most part�were embracing a part of themselves
she had been trying to forget she had. Their humanity, the desire for
companionship, for understanding on the deepest level possible. She knew she
loved Yoruichi, but in what sense she didn�t know anymore. At one time she
would have vigorously argued that point had anyone questioned that, but looking
around her she wasn�t so sure anymore. She wanted to be of use to her, to be
near her, to be needed. Now that she thought about it as she had done so many
times over the years, she couldn�t define that love anymore. She had been a
child back then, and still was in many ways; one who had been denied the chance
to love, to live freely, and maybe she had started to look for love anywhere
she could find it. Her siblings had all died doing missions while she had been in
their division, and she wasn�t even allowed to feel sad. She had buried that
sadness in the desire to be near Yoruichi.

Now though, she was able to see
how regular siblings interacted, how families should work, and as much
as she didn�t want to admit it, she could feel the realization crawling up on
her, shaking down her wall of denial. She was everything she could be for
Yoruichi: a best friend, a confidant; and the woman was still the role model
for everything she herself wanted to be. But they would never be lovers,
and she knew that. The more she looked around and became familiar with life
outside the harsh existence of assassination and reconnaissance, the more she
knew what her love had become.

Yoruichi�was like an older
sister.

She was everything she wanted to
be as a woman, and as a warrior. She adored her, and had worked herself to the
bone to become her guard, which was classified as lieutenant in any other
division. When it all boiled down, she was the adoring little sister that was
cruelly deserted, not the scorned lover. She knew her mentor had her reasons
for doing so, but she couldn�t understand why she had been left behind
back then. Their relationship was like that of sisters, it always would be. As
hard as it was to accept that, she knew she couldn�t be anything else, Kin was
the case in point. The Shihouin loved Kisuke Urahara, and had had no other
choice but to help him way back when. She could understand that now, she saw
that kind of love displayed all around her. She knew any of them would do the
same thing had they been in Yoruichi�s position, regardless of who they had to
leave behind. Love did that to people.

She couldn�t help but wonder what
was so great about it, that blissful insanity. She had worked herself to have
her mentor�s strength, but as she suspected might always be the case, she still
wasn�t as strong as her. At least that was a reachable goal, as she looked in
the mirror all she could feel was disgust at the figure she saw reflected back
at her, a woman who had stayed trapped in the Past. She still looked so young,
and the fact that her curves looked like that of an early teen going through
puberty spoke of that even more. Her body had never bothered her before, but
just as she had around that table in the bar, she felt�inadequate, compared to
everyone else. Soi-Fong didn�t do well with inadequacy, but this was one thing
even she knew she couldn�t change simply by her own will. She could do some
things though, and she was nothing if not a woman of action.

Maybe, as a first act of
rebellion against her old self�she would go see Gwydion voluntarily. She didn�t
need to be asked, for once she would do what she wanted to, not what someone
else told her to do. If everyone else was allowed to have a personal life away
from the death and drudgery of the Gotei Thirteen, then she could too.

That was her new challenge, that
was her new mission. As the captain of one of the most secretive groups of Soul
Society it would certainly be hard, but she wanted to find out for herself. She
was the only one that could answer the questions that wouldn�t leave her mind,
but she would have to seek those answers, not expect them to come to her. It
looked like the Shinigami Women�s Association had actually done something good
again, if not for that outing she wouldn�t have felt like this.

With a cloak on her reiatsu, the
Second Division captain spirited away to the realm of mortals, the Living
World.

She had to get her gigai.

~~~~~~~~~~

She had to admit, she felt
awkward walking into the club she had been in only with the Association by
herself, and in the same clothes she had worn last time, but the stores were
all closed at this time of night and she didn�t even know where to begin when
it came to shopping.

The mood lighting of the club was
very well done, and the second floor had been consciously designed to dull a
lot of the music so conversation could take place easily up there. She walked
the glass steps to the upper level, fighting off the nervousness that had been
so prominent last time she talked with him. She was Soi-Fong, she couldn�t let
something like this get to her! If she wanted to have some kind of life, she
would have to get over this feeling!

It was harder than she thought to
get used to the tight black shirt Yoruichi had picked out for her, and the fact
that it left her stomach completely in view still felt kind of weird.
Thankfully, she was allowed some relief in the cloth she wore on her arms,
exactly like that of what she wore with her shihakushou. It added some much
needed familiarity, something the form-fitting black pants she had on was
sorely lacking in. The flat-soled black leather boots were strangely
comfortable though, and she liked the sleek look. They weren�t her regular
fighting shoes, but she had to admit she didn�t mind wearing them. She could probably
grow to like the rest of the outfit too, but it would take some time for her to
get used to the clothing of the Living World. Why it had all but completely
done away with kimonos was beyond her, but it did allow better appreciation of
the human body. Even she felt like she had some sex appeal wearing the
clothes she was now.

The dim, colored lighting set the
almost dark purple background into an upbeat, sensual glow that cast those
dancing on the floor below into a hypnotic display of shadow and light. As she
walked up that last step sure enough, his profile could be seen in one of the
corner booths off to the side. She was glad he was there, she hadn�t known what
she�d have done if she came here only to be greeted by strangers. Since the
upper level wasn�t reserved today, as it had been for the Association, there
were others there too, drinking and talking while enjoying the music flowing up
from downstairs.

It shouldn�t have come as a
surprise then when she saw that though he was there, he wasn�t alone, though
arguably there was quite a radius between him and where the other people had
chosen to sit. He was pretty intimidating after all. One woman had
actually gotten up the nerve to sit down and talk to him, and she wasn�t blind
to the other appraising looks of the other women nearby. As she got closer the features
of the woman came into more detail, and she felt something burn in the bottom
of her throat. Her appearance pretty much explained why, and how, she had sat
down to talk with him. A sensual blonde that looked taller than her even
sitting down, and her curves were like those she had seen in magazine stands on
the way here. It did explain why she had sat down though, she clearly didn�t
know any better. She must have been a foreigner, of mixed origin, or at least new to the bar. He was attractive and that was obviously all that mattered to
her, not the blatant disinterest in his visible eye and the fact that his scowl
was still firmly in place. That he had his earphones on was probably the
biggest giveaway though.

It was only natural she feel
annoyed, and though she knew she had more strength than the ditz would ever
have, she did feel slightly envious of her developed body. She swore she
had almost been asked for identification at the doors before she gave the
bouncer one of her death glares. Just because she looked so young didn�t mean
she wasn�t a few lifetimes older than him, not to mention that she could have
killed him five times over in the time it would have taken him to ask for her
papers and he wouldn't even know it until she walked through the door.

She had the advantage even
without the body; she already knew Gwydion, at least somewhat. So, being her
usual self finally, she strode over to the table confidently and put her hands
in her pockets in an almost disinterested pose that could be taken as nothing
less than a challenge. Gwydion looked over and she could see his almost-smile
that wanted to come over his lips, and the woman actually had the sense to look
frightened, though she didn�t move. All things considered, she was probably too
stupid to move.

�Long time no see,� he commented
idly as he removed one of his headphones, that course tenor tone just barely
betraying the hint of disinterested amusement he couldn�t hide at seeing her
usual demeanor, even in a place where she wasn�t known.

�You know, things to do, people
to kill,� she replied with a dangerous sneer, and the nameless busty blonde
looked like she wanted to crawl into the cushions of the bench she was sitting
on. The only thing that made it funny was that that statement wasn�t true�for
once.

�I-I�ll leave you two alone,� the
blonde stammered hastily as she shuffled out of the booth and down the stairs.

Soi-Fong was almost amused at the
grown woman fleeing in terror, but she supposed basic survival instinct was one
of the few things the woman had left in her air-filled void of a head. It
certainly didn�t do much for her self-esteem though. Does he�like women like
that? She didn�t know why that bothered her, but it did. It wasn�t like
just because she wanted to talk to him he couldn�t talk to anyone else.

Gah! All this is just messing
with my head!! She fought the urge to physically shake her head to try and
get rid of the thought. She couldn�t let any of these new and weird feelings
show on her face, she had a reputation to keep.

�Did I keep you waiting?� she
asked instead in her typical tone. It felt much better to talk to him like
nothing was wrong, even though that was the farthest thing from the case. She
would only figure out what to do if she acted like her usual self, it did no
good to try and force herself to be something she wasn�t. One step at a
time. One step at a time.

�She�d been prattling on for the
last twenty minutes, so yes. I�ve never been more thankful for my music in my
life,� he replied icily as he took off his other earphone to again hang around
his neck like the last time she had seen him. It was hard to tell with the
lighting, but she could see his shirt was a different color than last time, but
it still had the same excessively long sleeves. Even holding his drink, his
left hand was covered in his sleeve.

It answered her question though,
and she found herself releasing the breath she hadn�t known she�d been holding.
At least he doesn�t like that kind of woman. She didn�t know why she had
thought he did, people with their kind of personality rarely cared for the
likes of the previous occupant, even if she did look like a model.

�Why do you come here every night
if you�re on assignment?� She queried, then almost hit herself for the way she
sounded. Coming from her mouth, it sounded like more of an accusation than an
honest question.

He took it how she had meant it,
and for that she was thankful. �I enjoy the music. This place is right in the
center of town, so I can get anywhere quickly if something comes up. The
captain usually takes the ones further away, he and his wife are faster than
anyone posted here, so for the most part they leave the ones that appear close
by to me.�

�I don�t think you can get much
faster than him and Yoruichi-sama, so that�s no big surprise. How long have you
been posted here?� It was getting easier to talk the longer she sat down, and
that was greatly relieving for the moody captain.

�I�ve only been here for a few
years. I transferred here after Senna was born, because the captain and
lieutenant needed some time to adjust and the extra hassle wasn�t needed.�

Still, even a year in the Living
World was more than most Soul Reapers could claim, and she knew that, so many
years were more than even some captains had. �Where were you posted before
that?�

He eyed her cautiously, but only
for a moment. �The Thirteenth Division. Captain Ukitake has been very kind to
me for a long time.�

No surprise there. There
aren�t many people Ukitake isn�t kind to, she thought as she
mentally rolled her eyes. �What seat were you?�

His expression didn�t change as
he took a sip of his drink before answering. �I wasn�t a seated officer.�

Soi-Fong nearly choked. �W-What!?
There�s no way someone who can take out Menos class Hollows without breaking a
sweat wouldn�t be able to make it to a seated position, especially in the
Thirteenth Division!� That, and his skill with hand-signs meant he had been a
high ranking officer in the Second Division at one time, so she just couldn�t
understand what he had just said.

�There were some�extenuating
circumstances.�

Even if she wasn�t used to
talking to people normally, she could see his hesitancy to elaborate. At least
it wasn�t too tense an atmosphere, and she quickly ordered a drink from a
passing waiter to break whatever was there. She turned back to him after
ordering and put her hand under her chin. �You�ll have to tell me about them
sometime.�

He looked truly grateful she had
dropped it at that. �I appreciate that.�

�So you transferred there from
the Second Division, right?�

There was a long pause, in which
the waiter returned with her drink, but eventually he nodded. �Yes, that�s
right.�

�Was I the captain at the time?�
she asked before drinking some of her pop. Though the buzz had been barely noticeable
last time she drank, the headache the next day was still very annoying, and not
something she wanted to put up with again.

He gave one of his rare low
chuckles. �No. Princess Shihouin was in command at the time, and you were still
lieutenant back then. I transferred shortly before she left, perfect vision is
required in the Second Division.�

Soi-Fong stilled. �It�s not��

�For show?� He completed sadly with
one of his half-smiles. The slim eye-patch fit perfectly over his right eye
with the same general look as that of Kenpachi Zaraki�s, though his didn�t go
down into a choker and instead the ties held his long ponytail in place. �No,
this is very real. I can�t see anything out of my right eye anymore.�

�I�I�m sorry.�

A short cough-like chuckle was
what that earned. �Why? It�s not like you had anything to do with it. The
princess was very understanding to my transfer, considering everything that was about to happen.�

For once, Soi-Fong actually
smiled softly. �It�s nice to hear that Yoruichi-sama still gets shown the
respect she deserves.�

He nodded politely. �She helped
me when I needed it the most. Even if she hadn�t been my captain back then, I
would never consider her anything less. After the war with Aizen, and her,
Captain Urahara and Captain Tessai�s names were cleared, it�s surprising how
many people still don�t know who they are. Most know them in name only.�

Her scowl returned. �At least
most of them have the sense to know what they�re dealing with if they hear the
names though. They were famous before they became infamous.�

He nodded as he raised his glass
to her, his long sleeve still hiding his hand. �Very true. I have to say, it
does feel slightly�off, to be able to talk to someone of your standing so
easily. I remember a time when a party the likes of the other day would have
never happened. Captains, lieutenants, seated officers, unseated officers, even
strangers, all sitting around one table and talking and drinking like nothing
was amiss.�

�Your captain changed a lot when
he showed up.�

He smirked ever so slightly. �That
would be a gross understatement. I find it absolutely baffling how much
difference one person can make if they actually stand up.�

They were loaded words, she could
feel it in his tone, and see it in the way his eye looked dark in guilt. She
knew that look, she saw it in the mirror every day. Somewhere, sometime, he had
experienced some kind of trauma, of betrayal, and he had never truly recovered
from it.

�I know,� she whispered quietly,
but it was drowned out in the steady music flowing upstairs from the lower
level.

�It�s a nice change though,� he
continued after he had taken another drink. �I�ve talked to you more in the
past week than I did back when I was in the Second Division, and I saw you rise
all the way to lieutenant. Then again, this wouldn�t have happened a couple of
centuries ago under almost any circumstances, a captain talking to an unseated
officer of another division, so either way I think it�s worked out nicely so
far.�

He was almost impossible to read,
and she wasn�t used to that. What most people didn�t see, she saw because of
her past, but everything else was hidden behind that veil of his own past and
she didn�t know how to take some of his words. Did that mean he was glad to
talk to her? It hurt her head to think about it too hard, she was running
around in circles.

�I guess so.� Normally she was
temperamental at best, but Gwydion�s behavior reminded her a lot of Byakuya
Kuchiki; polite and formal, but also dismissive and nearly apathetic. He had a
wider range of expressions than Byakuya, but that wasn�t saying much. Why so
many of the heartthrobs in Soul Society were blocks of ice confused her to no
end. At least he and Byakuya had a reason behind their stuffy behavior; she
hadn�t found out the particulars yet, but she was sure of it.

She could feel the eyes of the
other women on her, most likely surprised that out of all of them, someone like
her had been the one to be able to talk with the handsome regular who had a reputation of coldness. It wasn�t a very pleasant feeling, but she had to
admit it felt nice to be envied for something other than strength.

�Have you been enjoying it here?
Not many Shinigami are posted in the Living World on a long-term basis.�

He shrugged. �Compared to Soul
Society, I find the change of pace refreshing. At least here I can bring my
music along with me anywhere I go. It makes the fighting so much easier when
you don�t have to hear the Hollows speak or roar. Every once in a while there
are reports of Shinigami going missing, but with the Menos appearing more often
than regular Hollows these days, it�s not surprising that a few fall.�

She nodded in agreement. �Kin was
saying something similar to that earlier, about how she and Kaien were
surprised by how little good Soul Reapers were posted where they were needed. I
thought with Ichigo�s division in place there were more agents being posted
around the world.�

He grunted in amusement. �More
and �what�s needed,� are very different things. Then again I shouldn�t talk,
there could have been more posted originally, but Center Forty-Six rarely keeps
up with the officers lost in action, so replacements aren�t very common.
Whatever the case, I�m glad to live here.�

�I guess the different scenery
would be a nice thing to draw, right?� She saw the tendons in his neck tighten
momentarily, but couldn�t understand why.

�Outlines are all I�m capable of.
When the feeling of reality can be captured on canvas, that is true art.�

She couldn�t help but think she
had brought up a taboo subject, because she just couldn�t shake the feeling
that something was off about him. He had been broody before, but even though he
had answered her question, he seemed different than before. Had she brought up
a painful memory? She wasn�t used to walking on eggshells around people, people
walked on eggshells around her, not
the other way around. Knowing he had been in a similar position as her at one
time let her give him that courtesy though, she knew she would appreciate it,
so he probably would too. Still, she knew more about him now than she had
before, and the fact of the matter was she actually hadn�t minded simply
sitting down and talking to him like a couple of normal human beings.

Not knowing what to do, she tried
to take the most tactful route away from the topic, which was quite the
accomplishment for her. �I wouldn�t mind seeing some of your stuff sometime,
even if they�re just outlines. If that drawing of me was your definition of an
outline, they must still be pretty impressive.�

For a moment his face froze in
disbelief, but sooner than she could totally take that in it had already
changed into a soft look of quiet thanks, even if it was hard to see on his
still slightly scowling face. That frozen second had revealed something to her;
just like her, she knew he looked probably ten times younger if he softened his
eyebrows and smiled. For that one second where he hadn�t been scowling, he
looked even more attractive. She felt something pang in her chest, and she looked down on her body in confusion.

What was that??

�Thank you,� he said softly. �Though
I have to admit, you were the last person I expected to have an appreciation
for art.�

Truth be told she didn�t really,
not before she had seen his drawing of her. If he could make her look that good
just on a napkin when she was skeptical of her own mirror, she wondered what he
was capable of on a canvas. She could let the jab slide, it hadn�t been meant
in malice, and she was feeling pretty good after talking with him for the past
while. She felt mellower than usual, and she didn�t mind the feeling. �What got
you interested in art?�

He nearly smiled, she could tell,
but then he scowled again, like he had remembered a distinct distaste of
something. �I was in the Second Division for about fifty years before you came,
and you should know, after seeing the things we see, appreciating the beauty in
life becomes that much more important. Off-duty I would wander aimlessly,
sometimes for hours, until I found something that was deserving of being
preserved. Drawing, painting, writing, at times I find myself wondering what I
would have become without those outlets��

She could understand what he
meant all too well. She had her martial arts, but it was becoming more apparent
that that was doing nothing to relieve her stress anymore. The boredom recently
only compiled that, and this was the first time she felt somewhat relaxed in
what seemed like ages. He had found his outlets, and she was looking for hers
again. �I know what you mean.�

He gave her that strange, amused
half-grin. �I know you do. I shudder when I think of what you and the princess
have seen, being right at the top. I saw enough from my level to last me a
lifetime. By the time this happened, I was ready for the transfer.�

�It�s too bad in a way,� she stated
offhandedly as she raised her glass to sparkle in the lights. �I would have
much rather had someone like you as my lieutenant.�

His near-constant scowl melted
into a sad smile, and she nearly dropped her drink at the almost palpable pain
she could see in his visible eye. �We Soul Reapers can do a lot of things, but
we can�t change the Past.� He finished his drink and smoothly slid out of the
booth as he brushed the wrinkles off his shirt with his sleeved left hand. �I
hope we can do this again, Soi-Fong. Your company was a welcome change.� He
bowed his head slightly in farewell and she nearly broke the table speeding out
of her seat, even her mask of a scowl broken enough to show her slightly panicked eyes.

Had she done something wrong? Did
something she say offend him? What had she done for him to leave so suddenly?
For her limited experience in the field, she had thought they were having a
good time. A quick look at the clock on the wall showed her that time had gone
a lot faster than she had initially thought. How did I spend that long
here without knowing it?? That had only happened before with Yoruichi!

�I�I�ll see you around then,� she
said quickly, and he nodded in his usual brisk manner and walked away, his long
kimono-like sleeves swaying with his steps.

The feeling wouldn�t leave her,
she knew something had to be wrong. She didn�t know what, and she knew doing
something like this was considered wrong, but she was the captain of the Second
Division, stealth was her specialty. That, and she had to know. Before she even
knew what she was doing she had cloaked her reiatsu and was slipping through
the shadows after him.

When he came to his home she was
rather surprised to see it like Orihime�s old apartment back when she was a
teenager, it was a house for the most part. Ichigo made sure his subordinates
had nice places to stay in their downtime it would seem. That, or being a Soul
Reaper for as long as he had told her he was, he was bound to have a fair
amount saved up. The Living World�s prices were laughable compared to Soul
Society, it wouldn�t be hard for him to rent it himself.

Since she couldn�t afford to be
seen, she sent her gigai away back to Urahara�s shop and floated silently up to
the main window. He clicked the lights on and she almost gasped. Paintings hung
on every wall, some images, some fine calligraphy. Canvases laid with captains
in some of the most realistic settings she had ever seen were among them, so
detailed they made pictures look like sad imitations.

A painting of Yoruichi was among
them, her bronzed body shining in the setting sun as she stood among bloodied
bodies and her short purple hair blew in the wind while the destruction
simmered around her. The ground was broken in places and debris littered the battlefield,
but she alone stood in the middle with her head heavenward. She looked�absolutely
incredible.

Every painting told a different
story, with the same indescribable skill. Some were the most precious things
she had ever seen, while others characterized their objects amidst real
situations, yet even in the destruction the beauty of the person could still be
seen. Jyushiro, Retsu, Shunsui, even Shinji, Love, and Rose. It wasn�t limited
to just captains either, and she felt each painting pulling her in like she was
actually a part of the background. Calligraphy was held on the walls too, and
the writing was nothing short of beautiful. He surrounded himself with these
incredible works of art, and before her eyes she saw him reach behind his head
to the collar of his shirt and yank it off with his left hand.

It was strange, it was the first
time she had ever seen his right arm out of its sleeve, and it was completely
black. It went all the way up to his shoulder, like a long glove, before she
saw it went onto a flap with straps that went across his chest and under his
left armpit. As she watched, she saw him tear the straps open and her eyes
widened when he wrenched his right arm from his body and threw it against one
of the walls angrily as his carefully molded scowl warped into a look of unequaled disgust.

Where his right arm should have
been was nothing but a stump of flesh, going only a few inches down his shoulder. He had
his fair share of scars on his chest too, a few nasty ones leading to the stump from the top of his right shoulder, but the most noticeable ones were actually stab wounds, one on his abs and the other dangerously close to his heart. Something had happened to him alright, something had changed his life beyond anything she could have initially thought. He didn�t have a right arm, it was a prosthetic. Everything clicked into place at once, and she had to put her hand
to her mouth to keep herself from gasping. It all made sense now.

He�wasn�t left handed.

Screw the rules, she didn�t know
what the boundaries were in these kind of relationships anyways. She had to
find out what, or who, had done that to him.

Then she would kill them.

~~~~~~~~~~

Author�s Notes: Second chapter up! Just to explain something to
anyone who reads the reviews, yes, iaijutsu would be hard to do from over the
shoulder, but now you know why he can�t hold the sheathe in his off-hand and if
a giant cleaver blade can hang on a belt thinner than its own handle without
any discomfort to the wearer (you know who I�m talking about) a katana in a
sheathe secured tightly enough to the wearer�s back to perform the skill I�ve
given him isn�t impossible, and since it�s the Bleach universe, that makes it possible.
It would just be difficult in the real world (here), but it�s not impossible
either. I just thought I should add that in case anyone had questions.

Anyways, wow, thank you for all
the reviews for the first chapter! That was really, really nice to see. I hope
to continue making a story interesting enough for your comments so please, tell
me what you think!

I hope you enjoyed the chapter!
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That Dreaded Word