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A Shadow of What Was	By : katami Category: Bleach > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 49594 -:- Recommendations : 3 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Author's Notes: Happy Friday! And thank the gods it's here and this week of a thousand insanities can end. I beg your indulgence with this annoying, plot necessary chapter. Darn plot.

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Kuchiki Byakuya was not a happy man. He was late. Again. It was only a few minutes late, but it was enough to annoy the uncompromising noble. What was worse was that this tardiness was becoming more and more common. He found it irritating in the extreme.

Twenty years without a reliable vice captain were beginning to wear on him. He had never realized how much he had come to rely on Abarai until the man was gone. Renji had been course and unrefined, and slacked on his paperwork; but he had also kept excellent control over the 6th's training regime and had done enough paperwork to at least keep Byakuya organized and the 6th running smoothly. And while Byakuya honestly couldn't claim to be fond of the man, he would admit that Renji had been good at his job. Better than Byakuya had realized, really.

His scarf fluttered, drawing attention to a small stain on the silk and making Byakuya frown. His latest attempt to replace Renji was an annoying and clumsy woman more interested in fawning over him than doing her job. He would have the woman replaced at the next captains' meeting. She was his third attempt at replacing Abarai, and better than the last two, which was perhaps the worst thing about her. He was beginning to think he ought to speak to Abarai about taking Izuru as his vice captain and letting the Quincy take over a vice captain of the 3rd.

It was no secret that the Quincy regularly trained and fought with the 3rd. Arguments over the matter of the Quincy had been settled years ago when the young man had thoroughly trounced several of his most vehement detractors, who had also enjoyed sparring sessions with Abarai and Kurosaki once they recovered. After that, no one had doubted the Quincy�s right to stand with the Gotei 13.

The Quincy would make an excellent vice captain for the 3^rd. He already worked closely with them, was comfortable with the 5^th and 10^th, and from what Byakuya knew of the man, he was clever and well-organized. It would take only a few months for him to learn the remainder of the job, while it would take Byakuya years to find and train a new vice captain. And that was if he ever found someone. Izuru would have been perfect for him; the man knew the job and from what Byakuya had seen, he was organized and industrious. A perfect vice captain if ever there was one.

He schooled his features, trying not to let his annoyance show, before stepping from the veranda and into Jyuushiro's tea room. He paused as he noticed Hisagi of the 9th already sitting with the 13th Division's captain. Jyuushiro smiled warmly at him and motioned for him to join them.

He had been having tea with Jyuushiro for centuries, since his days as the other man's vice captain. It had become a sort of soothing ritual for the two of them, and the other captain was one of the few people Byakuya counted as a friend. Jyuushiro was also one of the few people he didn't have to worry about his family objecting to him socializing with. Not that he listened to them. Just that they annoyed him less when they weren't objecting to his life.

"I hope you don't mind if Shuuhei joins us?" murmured Jyuushiro.

"Of course not," he murmured to Jyuushiro, taking a small measure of amusement from Shuuhei's shock at his easy acceptance. Jyuushiro was forever trying to smooth the way for the younger captains. He seemed to have an innate skill at it; he was able to dispense advice that coming from anyone else would have resulted in a challenge, but was accepted with heartfelt thanks from him.

Byakuya glanced around for Shunsui, wondering where the other man was; he could usually be found with Jyuushiro. Especially since quarterly reports were coming due and Jyuushiro�s aides were the only people capable of turning away Nanao.

�Shunsui got caught on his way here,� murmured Jyuushiro with a smile, as if reading his mind. �Nanao mobilized all of the 8^th to watch for him. Something about being determined to get some work out of him."

Byakuya smiled. Nanao would have been a wonderful vice captain, but she would never leave the 8^th and he didn�t think the captain commander would let her. Someone had to keep control of Kyouraku and Nanao was the only one capable of doing so. Although Jyuushiro could manage it fairly well.

�How is the new vice captain working out, Kuchiki-san?� asked Hisagi, clearly searching for a topic.

Jyuushiro chuckled, and Byakuya shot the other man a disdainful look. �He�ll be replacing her within the month,� announced Jyuushiro. �Or did you miss the stain on his scarf?�

Hisagi stared between the two of them, clearly a little startled by the easy interplay. It wasn�t that surprising though; they had known each other for centuries and been friends since before the Academy. Byakuya had never been allowed to run with Jyuushiro, Shunsui, Yoruichi, Isshin, and Kisuke; the Kuchiki heir was far too proper to ever be allowed to associate with such hooligans according to his family and tutors. He had known Yoruichi, Jyuushiro and Shunsui at least casually though, their heritage being deemed appropriate.

Of course, then he had gone and married a woman from the Rukongai and thrown his family into lamentations of doom and despair.

�Has the 9^th found a vice captain yet?� he asked idly.

�No, there hasn�t been time yet. Renji keeps saying I should try and talk Ikkaku or Yumichika over, but they won�t leave the 11^th." Or each other. Byakuya wasn't sure entirely about the relationship the two younger Shinigami shared, since he didn't like to pry, but he knew it was deep. Yumichika and Ikkaku were best friends and likely soul mates. "I have the work split between myself, my third seat, and my fourth seat, but even then we aren�t getting everything done. It's getting to be a mess."

"I'm just grateful Nanao put things in order for me. Although personally, I think it was just her attempt to try and keep Shunsui from escaping here every chance he got," murmured Jyuushiro. He and the 8th Division captain had been lovers on and off since their school days; it was only in the last four hundred years that they had become hopelessly committed to each other. Although even Byakuya would admit they were good together.

"I was thinking of having a word with Abarai about taking Izuru. He could have Ishida step in as vice captain," murmured Byakuya, smirking faintly as both Jyuushiro and Shuuhei stared at him with amazement.

Reiatsu crackled across their senses and all three heads shot up, Jyuushiro and Byakuya frowning as their minds tried to argue with what they were sensing. The reiatsu was rough, untrained and wildly fluctuating, but also impossibly familiar.

"Kisuke?" breathed Jyuushiro, his eyes wide and disbelieving.

"My name is Mizuno Kisuke. Most of you knew me as Captain Urahara Kisuke. I am being held by two members of Aizen Sousuke's former Espada who wish to defect and seek asylum from Soul Society. As a sign of their good will, they stopped Aizen from seizing me. They wish to treat with emissaries from Soul Society to discuss a peaceful surrender, during which time they will release me into Shinigami custody. We await your reply."

Storm-cloud grey eyes met brown, both wide and uncertain. "That...that couldn't have been...Urahara-taichou?" breathed Shuuhei.

"It was Urahara's touch, rougher and unrefined, but the flavor of the energy... How?" whispered Byakuya, staring at Jyuushiro. If anyone could figure out what the former head of the 12th had done, it would be Jyuushiro. He was one of the only people to ever be able to decipher the other man.

The pale-haired man was just shaking his head, clearly baffled, unable to even figure out where to start. Not that Byakuya blamed him. It should have been hundreds of years before Urahara was reborn, and even then he shouldn't have been able to remember his old life. He shouldn't feel like or be his former self. Not surprising it would be Urahara to completely bypass the system. They should have expected that. Urahara had always viewed the rules as rather flexible things. The question was how he had done it? And why?

"We should go. There's going to be a meeting. There has to be. If even a fraction of that message is true...,"began Jyuushiro, trailing off as hell butterflies fluttered in and Sasakibe's voice called them for an emergency meeting.
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A Shadow of What Was