Adult-FanFiction.org : Bleach

That Dreaded Word	By : Platinumsabr Category: Bleach > Het - Male/Female Views: 11538 -:- 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
- 1
- 2
That Dreaded Word

There was only one reason the
hard, romantically-inept Soi-Fong reduced herself to going on these outings.

Two now, since her beloved
Yoruichi-sama had had a child with the exact same free spirit and beauty that
she admired. Even after becoming a captain herself, she never felt like she had
attained the same respect that the purple-haired Shihouin had attained so
easily, her title aside. The betrayal of long ago was something she could let
go, she simply couldn�t hold on to it after seeing her mentor after the
hundred year interval. The time when she came into the Second Division was one
not kind to women other than those of noble status, and she was constantly
picked out of the rest because of her ability to shine even in the face of her
supposedly superior male counterparts.

Even with all of that, her savior
had recognized her, chosen her out of all the others she could have. She had
admired her the first time she had laid eyes on her, and worked as hard as she
could to be what the bronze-skinned woman needed at her side. She was
everything she aspired to be: kind, beautiful, and most of all, stronger than
anyone she had ever seen before. She didn�t know her family, she knew Yoruichi
Shihouin. She had been installed in the Second Division at the earliest
possible age, had grown up working twice as hard as the rest, all because her
eyes never left the image she had seen that day of the elegant noble in
magnificent garb being carried near her unworthy self.

The only possible outcome had
come by naturally. She had fallen in love with her. She had grown up with every
male around her as her enemy, the men constantly muttering behind her back, the
attacks against her for putting them to shame even though she was a woman. She
hated them, she resented them, and she resented the fact that her Yoruichi-sama
put up with having them in her presence. Her shining light, the only figure in
her life that had ever shown her any kindness, was the only one that could
awaken the love she held within her, even if she too was a woman. Those years
at her side were the happiest she had ever known

Then, the darkest times of her
life came.

She was left behind, betrayed by
the only person she cared about.

After that power had become her
only goal. Surpassing that woman was all that mattered to her. Subordinates
were tools, they were not to be shown kindness. She
had been shown kindness, and where had that landed her? Orders were orders, she
didn�t care anymore. She had trained like mad, beat her fists bloody and raw
more times than she could remember, and for her effort, she had eventually been
awarded the title of captain. She would be better than her in that too, she
swore it. She had her hatred, and she would surpass her former superior even if
it took a hundred years.

And even then, it hadn�t been
enough. Her hatred had burned brighter than the sun, forced her to achieve
peaks she had never aimed for before, and that hatred had ignited like a
nuclear explosive when the former captain had appeared before her again. She
had taken the title of captain from her, and still within moments of their
fight the woman had incapacitated her entire force. Those hundred years of
torture, of forcing her body to grow stronger, had lashed out against that foe,
and her confidence in her abilities let her hatred blind her. In the end, she
had been beaten once again, and her true feelings were revealed.

She didn�t hate her, she had
never hated her. She had hated herself. She had hated that she had been
so weak that the person she cared for most had left her behind. The only thing
she had ever wanted�was to be taken along. Even if she was a captain, she was
still a regular human being, one with just as many emotions as the lowest
unseated officer.

She could leave that guise of
hatred behind, burn the resentment in her heart without any hesitations. She
was back, that was all that mattered. Those hundred years couldn�t be ignored
though, it changed nothing. Yoruichi had been, and still was, the only person
she was ever kind to, and that wouldn�t change. She was surrounded by
incompetents, and she much preferred to do things herself than leave it to
anyone else, especially her lieutenant. How he hadn�t died
yet never ceased to amaze her, even if it was also incredibly annoying
at the same time.

Then�things started changing.

One boy.
It only took one boy, and Soul Society was turned right side up and upside
down. Things were never the same after he came along, and after the war that
became even more obvious. People changed. People she had known for years were
suddenly feeling, suddenly expressing themselves, getting
into relationships. Growing. He had changed
them, showed them that feeling wasn�t bad, that true power came from displaying
those emotions and not being afraid of standing up for blatant injustices. Then
that boy became a man, and loved like any man, and eventually turned that love
into a lifelong commitment with the woman he had fallen for. His example seemed
to reignite something in those around her, helped them remember their humanity,
their desire of companionship and love in a different sense than what they had
been experiencing previously. It started as a trickle, those closest to him
affected first, before like a great dam had given way it flowed through the
ranks of Soul Society.

One man, it had only taken one
man, and time seemingly started moving again in the world frozen in the Past, a
world where she as a woman couldn�t stand out.

She had always suspected, but
when she knew that Yoruichi was living with Kisuke in the Living World, that
hammered the final nail in the coffin of �friendship.� She would never be more
than a friend to her, but a best friend was better than nothing. She only
wanted to be near her.

What was more, the men around her
didn�t look down on her anymore, the Soul Reapers in Soul Society started
acting more civil, started catching up to the Living World they were supposed
to protect. She watched, day after day, as the women around her glowed under
the praise of the loved ones, as the emotion known as �love� started making
itself more and more known throughout a society once ridden with rules,
regulations, and apathy.

Another generation came forth, a
rarity for Soul Society. Not just the high ranks, but even the middle and low
ranking Soul Reapers, everyone was taking leaps of faith, becoming unburdened
of the callousness that kept them from loving openly instead of behind the
scenes. The trickle had become a flood in just a few short years. This next
generation wasn�t afraid, it held respect for authority and the military
environment to which they were born into, but they weren�t afraid of their
emotions.

The next generation grew up. Her
platinum-haired princess, the small baby to whom she had been named godmother,
grew up before her very eyes. They too loved, and they too found love. Worse,
some even managed to get one of the few left of the previous generation that
had been fighting the change to accept it. Byakuya Kuchiki of all people, had remarried at last.

Of course, she knew she wasn�t
exempt from the plague that had infected Soul Society. She found herself
smiling when she didn�t mean to, found she could laugh around certain people
even though she never had before. She could let her eyebrows out of the scowl
they had been in for over a hundred years and feel�normal. She was still
Soi-Fong, commanding officer of the Second Division and overall
stick-in-the-mud, but she could feel herself being affected. The flood was
eroding the rock she wanted so desperately to remain. Hell, if Byakuya
Kuchiki had crumbled, what did that say of her chances?

She found herself becoming
curious. What would a man treat her like if she was in a relationship?
Would she glow the way all of her friends seemed to when they talked about
their loves? Would she look the same way they all did when she looked into her
love�s eyes? Would she blush like they did when they�kissed? She was a virgin, and happy to say so, but she couldn�t help but
wonder after hearing all of them talk about their lives behind closed doors.

She actually started looking at
men, and finding herself appreciating those she found attractive. She
was actually able to find men that didn�t totally repulse her, and ones she
even started fantasizing about. She found herself becoming uncomfortable in
ways she had never been uncomfortable before when looking at particularly
appealing physiques, and more and more she found that a man�s body could be
admired like the others had told her. All from afar naturally, she wasn�t about
to let anyone know she too was falling victim to her�feminine�desires. She had
thought those had died a long time ago, and for a while she had even questioned
their existence altogether, but they were slowly worming their way to the
surfaces after centuries. Still, curiosity wasn�t a large enough reason for her
to risk her body to the carelessness of a one night stand.

Thankfully, the intimidation
factor of all the beautiful females in one place had left the upper area of the
bar they were in relatively deserted, and the ones that did come up were
quickly put in their places by the band of precious metal around many of the
women�s fingers. Not like any of them had been overly good-looking anyway, but
maybe she held a different standard of beauty than the others. It wouldn�t
surprise her if that was the case.

Now, she was getting
ever-increasingly agitated with the table conversation that seemed to all but
revolve around that damnable �L� word. She was glad that the Association had
decided to have a girl�s night, it had been far too long, but if she heard one
more story about starry-eyed infatuation or heated physical contact she was
going to start hitting something, or someone. That was pretty much the only
good her current lieutenant amounted to, a giant punching bag. She was curious
about �love� but in all honesty she didn�t care if she never changed for the
rest of her life. She was content where she was, and she felt no need to go out
and look for love.

If this �love� thing was so
great, it was going to have to hit her in the face for her to believe it!

Not to mention she was still
rather annoyed that she was sitting at a table with women younger than her and
yet she didn�t fit into the conversation even though she was supposed to
be an adult too! She was lifetimes their senior even in some cases! It hadn�t
bothered her until recently, but she was starting to notice the difference in
physiques between her and the others at the table. Out of all of them, even
Nanao and Rukia now, she was the one that looked the most like a kid! She was
one of the shortest of the bunch, and for some reason she found herself
becoming self-conscious in the face of the finely developed bodies around her.
Even those of the next generation looked more like women than she did! Just a few
decades ago that wouldn�t have bothered her, but over time she felt like she
was the only one being left behind.

She was proud of her strength,
confident in her speed, she had been given the rank of
captain for a reason! Yet she couldn�t help but feel like an awkward teenager
in puberty compared to those around her. She had seen the changes some of the
others had gone through, and absentmindedly wondered
if that would ever happen to her. Toshiro Hitsugaya was one of the most
noticeable of that group. For goodness sakes he had looked younger than her and
now he was�gorgeous. She allowed herself to define him as such in her own mind,
but she would never say it.

Who knows what they�d do to me
if they found out I actually look at guys now. She wasn�t worried about
jealousy though, in fact Rangiku would probably just
smile widely and thank her for the compliment. That woman was one she would
never understand, but she could applaud her balance of fighting and social
skills. Even she had to admit she was a pretty amusing drunk, as long as her
inebriated rambles weren�t focused in on her.

So she stayed like she had, her near constant brooding look still on her face as
she sipped her sake. Not even the alcohol was making her look at the
conversations in a new light, it wasn�t even doing its
job and making it somewhat enjoyable! She had been highly misinformed about the
effects of sake apparently. She couldn�t even feel a buzz, and she was still in
a very coherent state of mind. For someone that didn�t drink that often, she
was annoyed at her own tolerance to the alcoholic beverage. The one time she
actually wants to have something make her forget the night�s events, and
her body�s intense physical training makes that impossible.

Go figure.

Overall, she wasn�t in a very
charitable mood anymore, and the only reason she had been close to charitable
before was because of the two women sitting on either side of her. Even the
presence of her mentor and godchild couldn�t fix her mood now.

A warm arm wrapped around her and
she blushed instantly. Physical contact outside of bloody battles was still
rather new for the hard Second Division captain.

�Y-Yoruichi-sama?�

The bronze-skinned woman smiled
at her. �Come on Little Bee, loosen up! We�re here to have some fun remember?
Remember fun?�

She almost said no, but she had
to admit playing with Kin when she was a child had been the most fun she�d had
in ages. Right now though, the word was on the tip of her tongue. She knew
better than that, so instead she nodded as she took another drink. �I am,� she
lied smoothly. The sake was good for something at least; lying in the face of
her former superior would have been all but impossible otherwise.

�Riiiiiiiiight,� Rangiku slurred.
�You look like you�re having a blast. You know what your problem is?
You�re too pent-up!�

Soi-Fong turned a rather
outrageous shade of red, despite the fact that her previous thoughts that had
been dangerously close to those borders. �E-Excuse me!?�

Nel turned to her with a confused
expression. �You know, pent-up: frustrated, tense, uptight, hot and bothered��

�I know what she meant!!� The
Second Division captain cut off embarrassedly. The former Espada had simply
gone into the explanation like it was nothing! What goes on in the corridors of
her own mind and what could be spoken aloud were things she took very
seriously, likely because she wasn�t used to certain words leaving her mouth.
�Love� for example.

Yoruichi looked at her critically
as she rubbed her chin exaggeratedly. �I think they�re on to something. You
really do need to get laid!�

She almost
spontaneously combusted right there. �Y-Yoruichi-sama!?!�
She seemed appalled her idol would actually agree with that assessment. Why did
they insist on barging into her life like this?? They had even turned her
mentor against her!

�Well come on then, when�s the
last time you�ve tangoed?� Asuka questioned with her ever-present grin on her
face. Soi-Fong merely started sputtering while all of her pale flesh that
wasn�t hidden under her clothes turned a very dark shade of red, probably from
both embarrassment and anger. Asuka�s eyes widened. �You�re kidding,�
she breathed in disbelief. �Aren�t you like, two hundred or something!?�

She contemplated putting her foot
in the blue-haired hybrid�s face just like she did�repeatedly�with her
lieutenant, but thought against it in the end, no matter how tempting it was.
In any other setting, she probably would have with little thought, but seeing
as the conversation had been on others previously it wasn�t really her place to
get too upset. That didn�t mean she had to dignify it with an answer. It was
simply the girl�s personality that made her talk like she did. Still, she was
in no mood to put up with it anymore, and the others seemed interested in her too
now, which meant she should leave. Right then.

She was running to the stairs and
was so preoccupied she didn�t see that someone else was also coming up.
Thus, she was surprised when she ran into the brick wall that was suddenly in
front of her.

�Ow! Dammit, watch where you�re
going, jackass!� She cried as she rubbed her poor nose.

When she looked up she froze
solid.

The man had long jet-black hair
that went down into bright blond tips, and an eye-patch that covered his right
eye and went behind his head into the tie for his ponytail, which in itself was
almost to the middle of his back. He was a good head taller than her, but that
wasn�t surprising since she was barely five feet tall. His face looked like it
had been carved from stone, and his eyebrows were scrunched into a scowl so
much like her own. He was wearing an odd shirt with robe-like sleeves that went
far below his hands and he had two hard plastic art canvas carriers over his
shoulder. An mp3 player hung around his neck and his round earphones hung on
their wires beside it. She didn�t see that very often. Even with his odd
apparel that wasn�t what stood out. What stood out most was his one visible
eye.

It was violet. Not the dark hue
so deep it was almost black like Rukia�s, but a bright purple reminiscent of an
amethyst in sunlight. Ice blue specs of pigment speckled through the
breathtaking color and she found herself staring at that eye and wishing his
other was uncovered. She quickly shook her head as she snapped to awareness.

What the hell was that!?

She looked at him again and his
scowl was still firmly in place, but now that she had stumbled back he could
get a better view of her. She watched in fascination as his eye widened in
surprise, and continued to widen as he took in the other females at the long
table off to the side, and unlike the others that had come up it didn�t seem to
be because he was in awe of their beauty. To her surprise, he bowed his head to
her, then to the group, though she noticed his gaze
lingered on Kuukaku for longer than the others. She didn�t know why though.

That was when she felt it. Reiatsu. He wasn�t a normal human, and apparently he knew
who they were, at least who some of them were. There was no reason for him to
bow his head otherwise. The alcohol must have been affecting her more than she
realized, because that was the only explanation she could come up with for not
feeling his reiatsu the moment he stepped in the door.

�Excuse me. I was told there was
still a table available up here.� His voice was a calm,
biting tenor, calculating and hard, but still gentle enough to pass for
respectful. He didn�t seem to mind that she had crashed into him moments
earlier, and for that she was thankful.

So now it was between leaving,
going back to the table full of women that wanted nothing more than to continue
teasing her about her love life, or showing them all up�and getting them off
her back�by going and sitting down with the admittedly handsome man that had
just walked up the stairs. Maybe they would even jump to conclusions, and at
the moment she really didn�t care if they did.

For her, the decision was
obvious.

�There is. Would you mind if I
joined you? I�ve had enough of my former company to last me a lifetime.� Or
two, she finished inwardly, throwing a particularly hateful glare over at
the mentioned company.

He shrugged and rolled his eye as
he adjusted his canvas carriers with his left hand, though not even that could
be seen because of his insanely long robe-like sleeves. The way he held himself
reminded her a lot of herself. It was disconcerting.
Still, he was handsome enough to shut the others up and that was what mattered,
even if she really didn�t care about anything romantic. She was a stuck rock in
the river of love and that was perfectly alright with her.

�Fine with me.�

She held out her right hand in
the friendliest manner she could muster. �I�m Soi-Fong.�

He looked down on her
outstretched hand warily before shaking his left out of his sleeve and putting it
forward. �I know.� Confused, she took back her right to shake his hand with her
left and cocked an eyebrow at him, wordlessly expecting his answer. �Gwydion.�

Her eyebrow got higher. �Not
Japanese is it?�

That violet eye she had been
staring at narrowed. �Does it matter?�

This time it was she who
shrugged. His name had just been unexpected, that was all. It was just as odd
as the rest of him. �No, no I suppose it doesn�t. Just
commenting.�

�A pleasure, I�m sure,� he said
as he bowed slightly again. She had to admit, it felt nice to be around someone
who showed her the proper respect, despite her almost pubescent appearance.

�For some reason, I get the
feeling the pleasure is all mine.�

She didn�t know why she said
that, it had come out of her mouth before her brain had given it the command.
It was one of those things that would have never usually escaped her iron hold
on the line between thoughts and speech.

His mouth edged up into the kind
of half-smile she gave every so often, and for some unknowable reason she felt
her skin heat up. Like her, he didn�t seem accustomed to smiling. �Well, let�s
go.�

She nodded wordlessly like a
small child and followed him to one of the empty booths in the corner of the
second level they were on, which allowed her to look at him more closely
without him seeing her doing it. The shirt he was wearing was black, but the
long kimono-like sleeves were a dark brown, and his black jeans hung tightly
onto his body though the legs were looser than most. He was clearly muscular,
but his loose clothing hid that well. If it was anyone else looking at him she
doubted they�d notice, but since physical fitness was a good part of the Second
Division, she could spot physique better than anyone.

From what she could tell, he was
skinnier than she had first thought, which was kind of unnerving seeing as how
she had equated him to a brick wall when she had run into him moments earlier.
Usually if guys were built like that they showed it off a bit more, and in some
dark corner of her mind she wondered why he didn�t.

It�s not like it�s a shame or
anything! No!! No no no no no no!! She must have
rattled her brain when she ran into him.

He sat down as he removed his
carriers and she slid into the other side of the booth, inexplicably nervous.
She had thought it was a good idea at the time, but she didn�t have any
experience one-on-one with a man other than fist to face. What have I gotten
myself into!?

She sat there for a while,
nervous, fidgety, and it erked her that she was acting that way. He had barely
acknowledged her existence since he had sat down, and was doodling on a napkin
with a pencil he had pulled from nowhere. Under any other circumstances she
would have appreciated the silence, but she actually wanted to get to know the
walking oddity a bit better. That required conversation.

�So�are you an artist?� At least
her tone was somewhat normal, she didn�t know what she�d do if it cracked like
a boy in puberty.

That violet eye turned up to
regard her and she shivered in her seat. She almost punched herself right there
for that one. �I used to be. It�s mostly a hobby now,
I�m not as good as I used to be.�

�I guess its true what they say
about left-handed people then to some degree, you are more creative aren�t
you?�

He flinched slightly and inwardly
her eyebrow raised. What was that for?

�I guess so. What about you?�

She blanched. She had never been
in a conversation like this before. She was in the Living World, not Soul
Society, what was she supposed to tell him!? �I-I�m ambidextrous.�

He gave her that half-smile again
and chuckled lowly. �Haven�t heard that one before, must come in handy.�

She grinned smugly. It did feel
nice to be complimented outside of work. �Yeah. You�ve
got an mp3 player too, don�t tell me you�re an artist and
a musician?� Knowledge of the Living World wasn�t very important, but at that
moment she thanked Ichigo for the music players he had given all the captains
at Christmas with everything she had. It saved her the embarrassment of not
knowing what the tiny device around his neck was.

She watched in confusion as his
solitary eye saddened. �Actually, I used to be one of those too. Art and music
used to be big parts of my life, just�not for a long time now. What about you?
What do you do in your off time?�

Off time?
She had no off time. Her job was her life, with the exception of the
Association outings. Her evenings were dull, and most of the time she spent
them training anyways. �Martial arts,� she said hesitantly. It was the truth at
least.

He gave another of his small
laughs. He really didn�t seem used to smiling or laughing at all, almost like
he was forcing them. She had more years under her belt than many thought, and
she knew enough to know it wasn�t just because of her. If anything, he was
forcing him for her, not because of her. �Ambidextrous
indeed.�

She was about to go on when the
beeping of her cell phone�and many of the others� at the table nearby�alerted
her to a Hollow emergence sometime in the near future, and as luck would have
it, she heard his cell phone start ringing as well. She was on an Association
outing, but she wasn�t about to abandon her duty, regardless of if it was her
down time or not. She checked it just to keep up appearances, but she truly
didn�t want to leave for reasons even she couldn�t figure out.

�I have to go. Emergency
at work.� She slid out of the booth and stopped. It seemed she really
couldn�t leave without some way of continuing the encounter. Having someone
away from work to talk to didn�t sound like a bad thing, even if it was a man.
�Do�do you come here often?�

�Pretty much every night, I enjoy
the music here. I�ve gotta go too, so this was nice timing.�

She let out the breath she didn�t
realize she�d been holding. �Good. Maybe I�ll see you around then.� And as she
rushed down the stairs, she still couldn�t figure out why she had said �good.�
It wasn�t like she was emotionally attached to the man or anything,
she had just barely met him!

Once outside, she quickly
swallowed a Soul Candy and with instructions given to the fake soul, she rushed
off to the coordinates listed on her phone. After this stressful night, she�d
enjoy the opportunity to beat up on something. She bounced gracefully from
rooftop to rooftop, her white haori drifting in the wind behind her. She
doubted she�d need her sword for any of the ordinary Hollows or Menos that
showed up, and if she did then it�d be over quickly anyway.

Imagine her surprise when she
arrived at the scene only to find another Soul Reaper battling the three Menos that
had already appeared. Well, she hadn�t been in the biggest hurry. Whoever it
was wasn�t wearing the traditional shihakushou either. Instead of the regular
black haori, this person had on something similar, yet distinctly different.
The tightness of the chest reminded her of Ichigo�s Bankai, yet it was still
shaped like a haori, with twin tails of fabric down the front like a button-up
shirt and the same parted look at the back. The sleeves were long and hanging,
almost like traditional Miko garb, but these ones nearly reached the man�s
knees, completely hiding his arms.

His zanpakutou was slung over his
back and had yet to be unsheathed, but it didn�t look like he was having too
much difficulty dodging the attacks of the giant Hollows. When he moved he looked
like a swath of ink, his entire body like a shifting cloak of night. His long
black hair shone in the moonlight and the ponytail looked unsettlingly
familiar, but all she could think of as she watched the fabric sway with the
man as he moved was she had never seen anyone better described as a God of
Death.

She was about to jump into the
action when he shook his hanging sleeve up around his left arm and she saw the
hand signs he started making. He was using hand signs, which meant he was, or
had been, part of the Second Division! Kidou could be
called upon in only a few ways, and only the Second Division used the
ninja-esque hand signals instead of the incantations. It helped on stealth
missions, and stealth was the majority of the Second Division. But what was
more was he was doing them with one hand!

One of the monsters fell to its
knees, immobile, when he pointed his hand at it and he quickly dodged the
attack from the nearest one beside it. She was now increasingly curious as to
who the man was, she couldn�t remember any Second Division members being
reassigned to Ichigo�s division recently, so she jumped from the rooftop and
swiftly shot her hand through the mask of the third and final Menos. As it
disintegrated and she fell to the ground, she got a close up look of the man
drawing his sword in a slash too fast to follow and destroying the one frozen.
It was almost a blur even to her, but to others it would have been nigh
impossible to see. His iaijutsu was incredible.

His eyebrows were in a tight furrow,
just like she always had hers, and his jaw was set tightly against his skin.
But what caught her off guard, what she hadn�t been expecting, was for the
blonde tips of his hair to catch the moonlight at the same time his eye-patch
came into view. His violet eye was hard and unfeeling, and she was so surprised
she didn�t follow through on her next attack. She didn�t need to though, with
the same unsheathe slash he had done before the next one was easily
annihilated. Outside of herself and Byakuya Kuchiki she had never seen a
colder, more calculated obliteration as what she had just witnessed.

The oversized parts of his
clothing billowed in the early winter winds and his parted bangs hanging down
either side of his head followed suit. If not for the pale flesh of his face
and his blonde tips he would look like a blanket of darkness, but that violet
eye, that shining purple iris shone in the dim light of the moon. �Hello again
Captain, thank you for the assistance.� His tone was much harder than at the bar.
This was clearly his working persona, one that just like hers, didn�t change
much outside of work apparently.

While her mind was buzzing with
questions, she couldn�t doubt that her senses hadn�t been at their finest no
matter what she thought thanks to the sake. She had felt his reiatsu earlier,
but for some reason it had never occurred to her that she was talking to a
fellow Shinigami. �I�was on my way here anyways. It would be a wasted trip if I
did nothing.�

He gave a soft hum of
understanding and reached into his haori to pull out a napkin. The pale hand
looked strange coming out of so much material, but she took the item
nonetheless. �I had meant to give this to you earlier. Call it a memento.�

She unfolded it and nearly backed
into a wall when she saw that the doodle on the napkin was none other than her,
and it was so highly defined the pencil sketch wouldn�t have looked out of
place even on a canvas. It was mostly just an outline, but they hadn�t had much
time together and for him to be able to do this in that amount of time was
nothing short of incredible. �Thank you.� It was her own time, so she could
allow herself to act this way even if she had just been working. It was a
technicality. She wasn�t used to receiving gifts, even ones as seemingly simple
as these, and she knew a thank-you was usually called for after one had been
given.

Another hmm and a nod of
his head was all he gave her, and then he turned to leave. �You and I have a
lot in common, Captain. I hope we meet again.�

Something clicked in her
ever-so-slightly inebriated mind and she nodded solemnly. Now she knew why his
stance looked so familiar. It had bothered her ever since she had met him, but
now she knew why he acted so much like her. It was a trait only those of their
kind shared.

�You have the same eyes as me,
Gwydion,� she stated matter-of-factly, and gave a sad smile when he stiffened.
Her intuition was rarely wrong in these kinds of situations. �The
eyes of the betrayed.�

He gave her that strange
half-smile again before he flickered from sight.

She had found an unusual man
alright, and now that she knew he was a Soul Reaper, she knew she could find
out more information about him easily. Her life had been boring since the
Winter War, Second Division life in general had been boring since that last
huge uprising, but now it seemed like the gears had started moving once more.

Her life had finally gotten
interesting again.

She couldn�t wait.

~~~~~~~~~~

Author�s Notes: I was contemplating waiting to release the first
chapter, but then I thought what the heck. This story is set in the same
universe as What The Eyes Can�t See and A New Window,
though as you can tell it�s Soi-Fong centric. So if you haven�t read those it
is a strong suggestion that you do so. Iaijutsu is the art of drawing the
katana for a near instantaneous killing attack either before the opponent has
the chance to draw their blade or for an even faster counterattack if the
opponent is attacking. I know it was used in the filler of the anime a while
back, but I didn�t like the way it was used by the Arrancar and it fit my new
character nicely. You�ll see why soon. And in case you're doubtful of the hand-signs being used in Bleach, Soi-Fong used them in The Diamonddust Rebellion so I figured since it could be used for barrier Kidou then it could be used for regular Kidou as well. You might remember that Urahara paralyzed Rukia with a gesture during Ichigo's first encounter with a Menos Grande, and she called it a binding spell despite his complete lack of words, and he was part of the Second Division at one time. Just explaining that so people don't think it's a random Naruto insert.

I hope this was enough to get you
interested and I�d really appreciate feedback!

By the way, thank you all for the
awesome reviews on A New Window!! Wow, that was really encouraging! I�m still
hoping for 150 just because I�m like that in some weird way, but that�s in no
way whining, instead, I�m incredibly grateful that you all have even made that
a reachable goal!

Thanks so much for continuing to
support me and I hope that you all get enough out of my writing for it to
continue being enjoyable! If you�re happy, that makes me happy, LOL!

I hope you enjoyed the first
chapter and feedback is always welcome!
- 1
- 2
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

That Dreaded Word