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Romance Ain't Dead	By : valentine Category: Bleach > AU - Alternate Universe Views: 2013 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. This story does not generate profit.

Chapter List
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Chapter 2
These Jagged Shards
~Three years ago, The Library- Royal House in Seireitei~
October was coming fast upon the horizon; trees were beginning to melt and burn as they surrendered to the chill of Autumn. October also meant, for those in their last year at the Academy, that they had to endure the tedious and fruitless task of completing a placement year in which they served the community. It was usually something students looked forward to….no, it was something usualstudents looked forward to, but Hitsugaya Toshiro was not the usual student. Having been accepted to the academy at an exceptionally young age, Hitsugaya excelled in every class and was set to be one of the youngest graduates in history.
Then, why, why, did he have to take a placement year? He had seen battle before, whilst training alongside his teachers in the real world and in Seireitei! Every student at the Academy regarded the placement as the last long holiday they had before graduating so, to the mind of an easily-irritable genius, it was just a waste of time. Not only that, but his reputation as a star pupil had landed him one of the most needlessly strenuous of all the placements; he would act as a royal guard. When word had spread throughout the academy about where he would be staying, Hitsugaya had endured many jibes and comments over the fact that he would be one of the only people in Seireitei to lay eyes on Haiiro no Hime. It was infuriating and boring work to him, regardless of whom he had to be guarding and, as Hitsugaya took his first step into The Library on that cold October evening, he let out a deep sigh of malcontent; what an unproductive year this was going to be.
"Hitsugaya-san!" A male servant ran out onto the veranda of the Library to greet him. They nodded curtly to one another before Hitsugaya noticed the poorly-hidden look of panic on the boy's face.
"Is everything alright?" He asked and folded his arms. The servant rubbed his head and gave an ill-convincing smile.
"Yes, yes!" He exclaimed, "I suspect you will be wanting to…erm…"
"Meet with the Household." Hitsugaya finished the man's sentence for him; he spoke at such a slow and idle pace. The servant let out an airy laugh, his shoulders shaking up and down, growing nervous under the glare of the new guard.
"Her Highness is still in class." Hitsugaya raised an eyebrow; it was passed seven o'clock in the evening, was it usual practice for royals to have lessons so late in the day? "I will show you to your living quarters and we will inform you when the princess arriv- finishes! When she finishes her class." He finished feebly and indicated for the guard to follow him.
A few hours later, Hitsugaya found himself sat on the roof of his quarters, a mug of tea in his hand, taking in the sight of Seireitei in twilight. It was peaceful here and quiet, that's how he liked it. The Library was less to his liking; a grand, ancient building, probably one of the most beautiful in Seireitei and certainly the most ostentatious Hitsugaya had ever seen, it towered around him and suffocated him in pretentious tradition that he had no value for.
As he adjusted the weight of the katana on his back, he became aware of a commotion happening in a room below. Hitsugaya leant forwards and looked beyond the courtyard in the middle of the square of buildings, into a room on the ground floor opposite him. He could see officials running back and forth in the room, servants hurriedly running this way and that. The young genius raised an eyebrow and leant further forwards with curiosity; what had shaken the royal house this late in the evening?
"Where is she?" He heard a shout come from the room, "why does she keep doing this?" Were they…talking about the princess? Curiosity getting the better of him, Hitsugaya put down his mug and proceeded to jump into the courtyard. He landed lightly and looked around to make sure no one was there, before he walked over, as quietly as he could, to the room where all the noise was issuing from.
"It's your fault; you're too lenient!"
"If her father finds out…if YAMAMOTO finds out! We're all done for."
The young guard was crouching beneath a window, listening in, with his back against the wall, he slithered up a little to cock his head back and look into the room. It seemed to be a study, or a library in the Library, with bookshelves lining the walls and computers everywhere. In the room were several royal officials as well as servants, all flushed red with frustration.
"Who're you?" Hitsugaya turned back to the courtyard in alarm as someone spoke in the half-lit darkness. Golden light flooded the garden with a dream-like glow as he appraised the hooded figure in front of him. She wore a cloak and hid her face beneath the hood but Hitsugaya could see, as he was trained to, that she was clutching a katana beneath her robes. Hitsugaya got to his feet.
"I am the new royal guard-" He stopped as she laughed and began to remove her hood
"They get younger every year," she spoke so softly, so diplomatically, as her hood slipped from her head to reveal something Hitsugaya was not quite prepared for.
"We are the same age, your Highness," he replied, not entirely focused on the conversation as he took in the sight of her. The Princess really did have eyes the colour of rain; grey and shimmering, they glistened in the candlelight. "Did you sneak out?" He asked suddenly and the Princess smiled a little, Hitsugaya took this as a "yes". "Not one to follow the rules?"
"No," she replied slowly and tilted her head at him, "there's even a rule that says royals aren't to make eye contact with shinigami. If we're not going to follow that one then why stop there?" Even Hitsugaya gave a small smile; he had figured his placement would see him bowing down to the orders of a bratty and temperamental princess and he was relieved to find that this was not the case. They stood for a few moments in silence; eyeing each other up, examining one another, waiting for the other to make a move.
"Your Highness!" The Teenagers jumped as an official ran out of the building behind them. "Where have you-"
"She came to speak with me," Hitsugaya spoke suddenly and the official, who had completely ignored the white-haired boy, turned to him. "The Princess came to deliver me my orientation, I was just escorting her back to her quarters." The official, a small but lanky man with round glasses, who had a constant look of panic, looked between the princess and the shinigami student. Both looked innocent enough.
"That is all very well, Hitsugaya-san," as the man spoke, the princess mouthed Hitsugaya's name to get his attention and nodded her head in thanks, "but the princess is not to be seen alone by any member of Seireitei-"
"I apologise," the princess spoke suddenly and held up a hand to silence the man, "I am busy tomorrow so wanted to get the meeting over and done with. It won't happen again." And the way she said it, with a slight emphasis on her last sentence, made it sound as though she wasn't making any promises. Her grey eyes locked on his teal ones with a look, almost challenging him, before she turned on her heel quickly and walked away. The official had barely time to take anything in before he looked from Hitsugaya, to the princess and back again before he realized he should follow the royal and jumped into action. As she walked away, Hitsugaya watched as the shine of her chestnut-coloured hair caught the lamplight and shimmered. The princess turned back to him, whilst her servant was shouting at her about abandoning her post, and shot Histugaya a smile.
They were, for want of a better word, infatuated from that moment onwards. The need to hang on to their titles, to respect their obligations, kept them at a distance…for a while.
Unknown to the rest of the world, a week following the Princess' seventeenth birthday, they slept together. It was unlike anything Hitsugaya thought himself capable of; he abandoned all notions of duty and law because, to his dismay, she was his weakness. Following that night, the two tried to stay away from each other, knowing that pursuing anything would be more trouble than it was worth. But, with apparent disregard for their stations, lust got the better of them. The desire to know one another, to test one another, to see where they would break silence, kept them both locked in a battle of words and lust. She: the authority-hating, rule-breaking, breathtaking royal and he: the handsome, ambitious genius with no time for her unnecessary title. To him she was not a princess and she was grateful to him for that.
Over the course of the year following her birthday, the two were spotted on rooftops, drinking tea and talking until the sunrise. Servants claimed to have seen the two duelling in the training grounds a few times, or that they had taken meals together in private quarters. It was clear to all who saw them that the charms of the Princess had gotten the better of the cool-headed, standoffish, soon-to-be-shinigami. And almost a year after that, they had to admit that they were in love.
The Princess and her Guard kept their relationship professional whenever it suited and Yamamoto, nor the royal house, had any idea that the two were involved in anything bigger. It was, eventually, the biggest regret of their young lives for they did not look further into the future to see where the love could lead them.
Thinking about it now, as he walked towards the Library with an air of unease, Hitsugaya could not help but feel guilt. These jagged shards made up the memories of her and trying to piece them together was painful. Remembering how he had hurt her, how he had left her crying on her bedroom floor, was unbearable. Hitsugaya appraised the building that loomed in front of him; how could he survive around her? How could he bear the guilt of what he had done to her? The young captain bowed his head and soldiered on.
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Romance Ain't Dead