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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: We once again curse the Quincy for not wanting to communicate properly! I swear they are going into therapy at the end of this series just as a punishment for planting ideas in my brain and then refusing to flesh them out with dialogue.

As always, reviews are appreciated and many thanks to all the people who read this story, especially Affie and Rysha who always make me chuckle.

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Ryuuken sighed, wondering how he had let Isshin talk him into sitting out in the cold to watch the Shinigami base. That was right, he had gone odds-and-evens with the other man, forgetting that Isshin cheated only slightly less shamelessly than Kisuke. Damned Shinigami.

Still, it had been an interesting night. The Shinigami had been scurrying around like rodents for hours, although after all the excitement in the park he couldn't blame them. That had been amusing. He had even managed to get a few shots off hidden under his son's power. It had been particularly satisfying sending an arrow into Kurotshuchi, not enough to kill the son of a bitch - unfortunately. But enough to hurt and remind him that no man toyed with the Quincy lightly.

Since the park there had been a steady stream of lower ranking Shinigami exiting the base. The flood had ebbed to a trickle only a short while ago. Ryuuken was about to leave, screw Isshin and his surveillance. If he wanted to freeze his ass off he was welcome to, but Ryuuken had had enough. There was nothing else happening tonight and he had work in a few hours. He just stood to leave when he noticed the faintest brush of reiatsu and a shadow where there shouldn't have been one. Someone else was leaving the base, but they were sneaking out.

"Quite the exodus tonight. Where are you off to, Kuchiki-san?" he asked, Hirenkyakude carrying him to within a meter of the escaping Shinigami. He smirked as the small woman startled, letting his smirk widen a bit. It was nice to finally be surprising her; it meant things were back the way they were supposed to be. He snuck up on Shinigami; they did not sneak up on him.

The girl frowned at him before straightening her robes, it was a gesture he was intimately familiar with, having seen both Isshin and Kisuke doing it when nervous. "What are you doing here, Ishida-san? I was told you left hours ago," she said huffily, clearly not pleased with having been snuck up on.

"I did leave. We are outside your base. Hardly my fault if Shinigami patrols are ineffective," he replied, thoroughly amused.

"An oversight that I will see is corrected at once," she growled. She was a pretty little thing in the moonlight, all shadows and light. Her skin glowed in the soft light and her dark eyes sparkled with untold mysteries. She looked enchanting, like some fairy of darkness and light come to life.

"You still haven't said where you're off to so late, Kuchiki-san. Or are vice captains taking patrols now?" he asked, baiting her.

"I was going to the Kurosaki clinic, if you must know," she sighed, shoulders slumping and weariness filling her bearing. Ryuuken felt his attention sharpen. She didn't look injured and even if she was the base had healers. There was no reason for her to visit Isshin.

"Were you hurt earlier?" he demanded sharply.

"What? No! I'm fine. And how do you know about what happened earlier?" she demanded, weariness slipping away as she began to demand answers from him.

He felt his smirk widen and chuckled faintly as she noticed it and cursed. "Fine! If you must know I need a place to sleep. Ichigo's reiatsu is...unsettled and with the battle and all that's happened... There are also five other highly tense captains hanging around. It makes things uncomfortable. Most of the lower ranking Shinigami are probably staying with friends. I don't have any human friends anymore, but Kurosaki-san probably has a spare bed or two, so I'm going to stay with him," she announced with annoyance.

Ryuuken sighed, feeling his amusement slip away. "Don't bother. Kurosaki's is all the way across town and Isshin is no doubt asleep by now. I have a spare room you can use and my home is only a few blocks away," he murmured, not sure what moved him to make the offer other than that fact that this woman was important to his son. And there was something in the forlorn cast of her face that spoke to him. Kuchiki looked like her whole world had tumbled from it's axis in the space of a few short hours and Ryuuken knew that feeling - and wouldn't have wished it on anyone.

Kuchiki looked torn for a moment before weariness won out and she nodded. "Thank you, Ishida-san, that is most kind." Ryuuken felt his lips twitch into a tiny smile and motioned the young woman in the direction of his home, rather amused with the idea of a Shinigami spending the night. Uryuu would never believe it.

They walked quietly side by side until the end of the block. "Was the battle this evening difficult?" he asked, as if he hadn't been spying.

"It wasn't pleasant. Several members of our party were injured."

"You claimed the prize, however," murmured Ryuuken.

Rukia's eyes snapped to him, and there was something both amused and considering in her gaze. "Why do I get the feeling that you know more about this than you're admitting, Ishida-san?

Ryuuken chuckled, unable to keep the superior smirk from his lips and not really wanting to. "Because you've had twenty years of dealing with Quincy, Kuchiki-san. We always know more than we let on," he murmured smugly.

"I am beginning to think Renji has a point about the Quincy - you're all arrogant bastards," she retorted with a smirk of her own, earning a soft chuckle from Ryuuken.

"Only Shinigami would mistake skill for arrogance," he teased, thoroughly amused.

"I'm also beginning to see Hitsugaya-taichou's point about gagging all Quincy." Ryuuken laughed, unable to help himself.

"My dear Kuchiki-san, you have no idea. Uryuu is the very spirit of tact and decorum compared to his grandfather or me."

"I've heard Uryuu mention his grandfather a time or two, usually with Renji and alcohol involved," she said, her voice brightening as she grew to like conversation and the man she was sharing it with. Ishida Ryuuken had always been this distant, foreboding figure from Uryuu's past, never a real person with feelings and motivations of his own.

"My son was quite fond of Souken. He-he had a large hand in raising Uryuu," murmured Ryuuken softly.

"You weren't fond of your father, Ishida-san?" she probed gently, watching him with those dark eyes that seemed both soothing and inquisitive. Ryuuken sighed, not sure he wanted to talk about Souken or his own less than amiable relationship with the man.

Kuchiki seemed to sense his reluctance for she seemed to draw in upon herself and murmured softly, "Forgive me for prying, Ishida-san."

"No. No, it's fine, Kuchiki-san. I simply haven't spoken of my father in a number of years and we were never on the best of terms to begin with. Souken was a much better grandfather than he was a father.� He paused, not sure what else to say, not wanting to say anything. His feelings on Souken were still a tangled mess of reluctant affection and bitter resentment that Ryuuken wasn�t sure he would ever be able to sort out.

"We are here," he murmured, grateful to reach his front door so he could abandon the topic. He quickly unlocked the door and escorted Kuchiki inside. "May I offer you something to drink? Water, tea... I believe there is a bottle of wine from my secretary somewhere," he murmured, opening the refrigerator as Kuchiki settled politely in his living room.

"Anything stronger?" asked Rukia, smirking faintly as Ishida's head whipped around to regard her with shock for a moment before an amused smirk twitched onto his lips.

"I have an excellent Glenn Livet as well as some cognac and perhaps a bottle or two of bourbon somewhere."

"The Glenn Livet is fine," murmured Kuchiki, watching him quietly as he fixed her a glass before pouring one for himself. "Why do you hate your son?" she blurted out as he turned back to her.

Ryuuken felt himself staring at her, blinking in shocked surprise. "I don't hate Uryuu," he said quietly once he had regained himself. "I love my son. A great deal, Kuchiki-san. I wouldn't have helped him regain his powers if I didn't," he said wearily, settling heavily in chair and wishing he had just once been the father Uryuu deserved.

"I haven't always agreed with that choices he's made..."

"Renji is a good man," she interrupted quietly, needing to defend her oldest and dearest friend.

"I am aware of that," murmured Ryuuken, something close to a smile touching his lips. "But Abarai Renji will still be a young man in two hundred years when my son is dead. Uryuu abandoned his life to fight your war and his reward shall be aging and dying while his lover barely changes. Would you want that for your son, Kuchiki-san?"

Rukia stared at him, having never ever consider such a thing. Uryuu was nearing forty but he still look no older than twenty-five - he was aging though. And far faster than a nearly ageless Shinigami. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize...none of us did..."

"I doubt even Uryuu has thought about it," murmured Ryuuken quietly. "I'm more familiar with these things than he is."

"How is that?"

"I'd have thought it would have been obvious. I was once, in my youth, friends with several Shinigami.�

�Medical conferences?" she asked, one elegant eyebrow arching and her voice teasing.

Ryuuken smiled and chuckled softly. "I did sew them up a time or two after patrols." Rukia's laughter joined with his and Ryuuken couldn't help but notice that she had a nice laugh, soft and pleasant on the ears. "That was ages ago though, we've all moved on."

Silence fell between them, both of them taking a sip of their drinks, Rukia choking slightly on the first mouthful. Her sputtering drew a smile from Ryuuken. "Strong stuff," she panted, taking another gulp, this time without incident.

"It has its charm. I can get you something else if you'd prefer," he offered with a smirk.

"No, this is fine," purred Rukia taking another sip, her dark eyes locking with his. Ryuuken saw the subtle challenge lurking in them and couldn't help but be amused.

"What of you, Kuchiki-san? I know you are vice captain of the Fifth and that Kurosaki and my son went to Soul Society once to retrieve you, but little else."

"There is little else to know, Ishida-san," she murmured, taking another sip of her drink.

"I doubt that. I seem to recall a Kuchiki Byakuya being mentioned a time or two. Also that there was some scandal associated with the name," he purred, watching her stiffen.

Her gaze fell to her glass and her voice sank to a whisper. "I was adopted into the Kuchiki family after Nii-sama married my sister." Ryuuken sensed there was more than a story lurking behind her words, there was a wealth of pain as well.

"I take it you did not fit in well with the Kuchiki clan?"

"My sister and I were born in the Rukongai," she whispered, almost as if ashamed of the admission.

"And nobles don't marry commoners," he muttered, a dark resentment stirring in him. He remembered his own arranged marriage and Kisuke's bitter umbrage at the Shinigami's class system. Kuchiki's dark eyes met his, filled with surprise.

"Nii-sama loved my sister a great deal...she was...unworthy

"What makes you say that?" he asked gently

"Because she was his world while he was just...an auxiliary to hers. He...he didn't deserve that." Dark eyes filled with unshed tears met his and Ryuuken nodded quietly, they tossed back their glasses at the same time and Kuchiki poured them both another and then another after that.

~*~*~*~

There was a brass marching band warming up in his head, his eyelids had been glued shut, and something had crawled into his mouth to die. Ryuuken remembered the feeling of being hungover, but the last time he had experienced it had been ages ago. Likely it was the bachelor party Kisuke and Isshin had thrown him, but he couldn't quite get his brain working to recall.

"Rise and shine, Ryuu-kun!" came a horrible voice that seemed designed to shatter his eardrums and echo around in his poor battered skull. He growled something that he thought was 'Fuck off and die' but it might have been anything really since his mouth did not seem to be communicating with the rest of his body.

He rolled over, trying to escape Isshin's voice - and fell two feet before landing heavily on the floor. He had fallen off the couch, his brain finally supplied as Isshin cackled at him. "Did somebody have a party last night? And you didn't invite me? I'm hurt, Ryuuken. Mortally wounded," taunted Isshin, hand going to his heart, although his volume didn't decrease a single bit.

"If you don't shut up, you will be," snarled Ryuuken, managing to get to his knees without his stomach rebelling - although the thing that died in his mouth seemed to have brought friends which had died in his stomach.

"Jeez, Ryuuken, what did you do last night?" asked Isshin, noticing just how badly he was doing.

"I was drinking, you jackass!" he snapped, pain fraying his temper. And where the hell was Kuchiki? If he was dying, she should be in agony too.

Isshin got him a sports drink from the fridge while Ryuuken managed to pull himself up so he was sitting on the couch, a flash of white on the coffee table catching his eye.

Had to return to base. Thank you very much for the bed. I had great fun last night, Ishida-san. Thank you again, Kuchiki Rukia

The paper was plucked from his fingers and replaced with a bottle. Isshin read the note, noticed the twin glasses and began howling with laughter. "You....You...under...little...girl...forty kilos wet!" choked out Isshin, holding his sides as tears streamed over his cheeks and the laughter continued.

He was going to kill him, thought Ryuuken. As soon as his head stopped pounding and he murdered that miserable brat Kuchiki, Isshin would die.

"Shut up," he hissed, his tone silencing Isshin but not taking the merriment from his eyes. Ryuuken tossed the bottle at the former Shinigami's head, nailing him, before stalking off to seek some aspirin, a shower, and then Kuchiki. No forty kilo, Shinigami girl was going to drink him under the table!
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A Shadow of What Was