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[Bleach] Pea's Challenge #6: Tank!Kaien vs. Byakuya...
...at shogi.
(From The Nuclear Family-verse.)
---
Byakuya doesn’t protest or try to find a way out of visiting his old schoolmate and childhood acquaintance, nor does he especially look forward to the visit. He goes because it is something he should do. As the head of the House Kuchiki, such social obligations are not to be dreaded or approached with eagerness; they simply are.
“Now remember,” Rukia had warned him before he departed, even as she occupied herself with preparing to feed a squalling infant, “Kaien-dono is very different now and you’re not to make him feel self conscious about it. It’s taken him long enough to be able to accept visitors.”
“Of course,” he’d said, and wondered if it was motherhood that had made Rukia bossier than he remembered her being or if it had happened over the years and he was just then noticing.
“Good.” She’d beamed. “Last time I was there he told me he was looking forward to it.”
He is calm when he arrives at the latest location of the Shiba home, now amended for the disability of its eldest occupant., out of carefully cultivated habit; it is rare that he can be persuaded to be anything other than calm, and few are the people who can do it. His brother-in-law is one; his nephew, when reaching for dangerous things to put in his mouth, is another.
Kaien, however, is exuberant. Despite being a skull in a tank. “BYAKUYA!” He bounces in his tank excitedly, sending a stream of bubbles up to the top of the water. “Great to see you, man! How’s everything going? You still stiff as ever? Just kidding, you don’t have to answer, I can tell you are. Nice that some things don’t change.
Byakuya bows-well, a little stiffly, to be honest. “You look well.”
And he does. It’s a little surprising, considering Kaien’s entire body is now a talking round thing smaller than Byakuya’s head, but he really does look all right, considering the circumstances.
“I am,” Kaien says. “A little lonely sometimes, but I’m making an effort. Tell your sister that, okay? I know she’s going to interrogate you later.”
Rukia, at least, is something Byakuya can talk about. So they do, and Kaien is his old obnoxious self, and Byakuya’s almost enjoying this despite himself until Kaien invites him for a game. “You want to what?”
“Play shogi!” Kaien says cheerfully. “Like we did in the old days. I bet I can still beat your ass.”
“You cheated.”
Kaien snorts. An interesting sight on a skull. “You always said that.”
“You always DID it.” Byakuya hates the sound of his own voice. He sounds petulant. He hasn’t sounded petulant since…well, since Kaien was alive. The first time.
“Fine. Then let’s play. Prove you’re better. I can’t cheat now, can I? Since you have to move the pieces for me. There’s a set in the drawer over there.”
Doing as he asks is less of a headache than arguing with him, or so it seems. Once the game begins, Kaien seems determined to prove that assertion wrong. “HEY. Don’t move that piece there, move it the other way! Now you’re the one who’s cheating.”
“It is a better move.” He won’t accept anything less; if Byakuya is to win this game, he will do it through his own skill, not through any failing of his opponent.
(562)
(From The Nuclear Family-verse.)
---
Byakuya doesn’t protest or try to find a way out of visiting his old schoolmate and childhood acquaintance, nor does he especially look forward to the visit. He goes because it is something he should do. As the head of the House Kuchiki, such social obligations are not to be dreaded or approached with eagerness; they simply are.
“Now remember,” Rukia had warned him before he departed, even as she occupied herself with preparing to feed a squalling infant, “Kaien-dono is very different now and you’re not to make him feel self conscious about it. It’s taken him long enough to be able to accept visitors.”
“Of course,” he’d said, and wondered if it was motherhood that had made Rukia bossier than he remembered her being or if it had happened over the years and he was just then noticing.
“Good.” She’d beamed. “Last time I was there he told me he was looking forward to it.”
He is calm when he arrives at the latest location of the Shiba home, now amended for the disability of its eldest occupant., out of carefully cultivated habit; it is rare that he can be persuaded to be anything other than calm, and few are the people who can do it. His brother-in-law is one; his nephew, when reaching for dangerous things to put in his mouth, is another.
Kaien, however, is exuberant. Despite being a skull in a tank. “BYAKUYA!” He bounces in his tank excitedly, sending a stream of bubbles up to the top of the water. “Great to see you, man! How’s everything going? You still stiff as ever? Just kidding, you don’t have to answer, I can tell you are. Nice that some things don’t change.
Byakuya bows-well, a little stiffly, to be honest. “You look well.”
And he does. It’s a little surprising, considering Kaien’s entire body is now a talking round thing smaller than Byakuya’s head, but he really does look all right, considering the circumstances.
“I am,” Kaien says. “A little lonely sometimes, but I’m making an effort. Tell your sister that, okay? I know she’s going to interrogate you later.”
Rukia, at least, is something Byakuya can talk about. So they do, and Kaien is his old obnoxious self, and Byakuya’s almost enjoying this despite himself until Kaien invites him for a game. “You want to what?”
“Play shogi!” Kaien says cheerfully. “Like we did in the old days. I bet I can still beat your ass.”
“You cheated.”
Kaien snorts. An interesting sight on a skull. “You always said that.”
“You always DID it.” Byakuya hates the sound of his own voice. He sounds petulant. He hasn’t sounded petulant since…well, since Kaien was alive. The first time.
“Fine. Then let’s play. Prove you’re better. I can’t cheat now, can I? Since you have to move the pieces for me. There’s a set in the drawer over there.”
Doing as he asks is less of a headache than arguing with him, or so it seems. Once the game begins, Kaien seems determined to prove that assertion wrong. “HEY. Don’t move that piece there, move it the other way! Now you’re the one who’s cheating.”
“It is a better move.” He won’t accept anything less; if Byakuya is to win this game, he will do it through his own skill, not through any failing of his opponent.
(562)