Bleach Drabble (364-365)
A quickie update before I go off for the afternoon... forgive the rushed nature of the pieces...
364.
Title: Best Laid Plans
Rating: PG
Pairing/Character/s: Kira+Hinamori
Word Count: 516
Warning/s: Spoilers for the SS arc.
Summary: Kira does his best for Hinamori.
Dedication: pyrefly- haha it was hard to choose from your prompts because while I would have pounced on the Shuumi, I realized you wanted… other people’s takes on it. ^^;; So. This is me trying something new for you, hope it’s…okay. Somehow. It figures the only other pairing out of the group I felt like I could write was…taken. ^^;;
A/N: The prompt was: “Something cute and fluffy. Prefer current over Academy years. Perhaps your take on what Kira and Hinamori are going through while Hitsugaya, Renji & co. are in the human world.” Um… I think I got at least half of that. -_-;;
He visits her every day with a smile and a small basket of fruit, asking towards her health while filling her in on all the latest developments of seireitei’s news and gossip.
She smiles at him and laughs sometimes. She graciously accepts the fruit and talks to him like there isn’t a million miles in between them anymore, like they’re just two classmates catching up on old times.
It’s in those moments of looking into those young, sweet eyes that he remembers liking so much, when he finds himself wondering--if he’d become the sort of man he’d planned on being-- whether or not she would have chosen him.
He’s become something far different from what he’d wanted to of course, so the question is obsolete in terms of possibility. He knows it. But he still wonders sometimes, whether or not he ever could have won her, if there had been any sort of chance he could have had at beating Aizen-taichou out for her affection.
If he’d become the man he’d wanted to.
For the longest time, she’d been the girl he liked best out of all the other girls. Cute and sweet and smart and strong.
He still likes her very much, really.
But all the same, he’d never gotten to become the sort of man he’d planned on being, and that has probably made all the difference in the world.
That’s probably why he never could have competed with Aizen-taichou, ever.
He’s far too removed from the person he’d really wanted to be.
And she’s very different now too, from the way he remembers her. She’s still cute and sweet and smart and strong of course, but there’s something else there now too. Now, now she’s sad too, bitter too, suddenly lost and far older looking than she should have been.
He supposes, that she hasn’t quite turned out into the girl she’d wanted to become either.
They’re both very different. Miles away from the people they’d envisioned themselves eventually turning into, back when they were fresh out of academy and full of their youthful ideals.
Now he comes to see her every single day, sitting at her bedside and telling her all the latest news in seireitei. He peels her fruit and smiles and hopes that he can help a little, with what she’s going through. She sits in her bed and does her best to smile back, looking out the window when there’s silence between them and thinking whatever sad, lost thoughts it is she’s thinking.
He’s there for her every step of the way.
And while he hasn’t quite turned out to be the person he’d planned on being, while he’s still a long way off, he’s at her side. Every day he’s there, with a smile and an apple and the funniest story he can remember hearing today.
It’s all he can think of to do.
Maybe one day, he’ll be able to be the man he wanted to be for her.
But for now, he’ll just do what he can.
He’ll do his best.
He peels her fruit.
END
365.
Title: Simple Forgiveness
Rating: PG
Pairing/Character/s: Byakuya, Kuukaku, Yoruichi, Ganjyu
Word Count: 994
Warning/s: Spoilers for the SS arc.
Summary: Sequel to #341 (“A Simple Revival”)- Byakuya has always admired the Shiba.
Dedication: fanartist- haha your drawings feed me, I suppose. I loved the one for “ A Simple Revival,” so thank you!
A/N: I’ve been told I focus on thugs too much. Well… there’s only a couple in here. :P I’m weaning myself slowly? ^^;;
He’s surprised when a bottle of sake is set down in front of him, and looking up, he can’t quite hide his reaction when he sees Kuukaku there, grinning down at him.
“Yo, Bochamma,” she greets, winking before plopping down at his side. “How ya feelin’?”
“Fine,” he says, guardedly. Then, “Thank you, Kuukaku.”
“No problem.” She forgoes pouring and just takes a swig out of the jar, before passing it to the shinigami beside her.
He doesn’t take it.
There’s silence for a moment, and Byakuya doesn’t know what to do because his childhood friend is sitting beside him once more, even after all the destruction his family had done to hers.
For the longest time, she’d believed that his sister was the reason behind her older brother’s death.
And Byakuya had nearly killed her last remaining brother, not a week ago.
He feels no animosity from her.
Only from himself, towards himself.
His brow furrows and he doesn’t know what to say.
She says it for him. “The big idiot is fine,” she sighs, like it’s the most normal thing in the world. “You held back, Kuchiki-sama.”
He looks at her, and for a moment, there is something like unguarded regret in his eyes. “I would have killed him,” he admits, part of him wanting her to take that and hate him for it, if only to distract him from the deep feeling of self-loathing he experiences whenever he remembers Shiba Ganjyu’s face, whenever he goes back to that moment in his head and recalls how the young man had looked at that moment, the two of them standing and staring at each other from across the bridge.
“What stopped you?” she asks, knocking back another swig of sake. “Loyalty?”
“No,” he replies, honest. “I would have killed him without a second thought, even knowing who he was.”
“But you didn’t.”
She says it like it’s that simple. Like she doesn’t blame him at all for ignoring familial and friendship bonds in the face of his blind, misguided justice.
He can’t let himself think it’s that easy.
He remembers Shiba Ganjyu’s face on the bridge as the young man had placed himself in front of the sixth division captain, afraid and fighting for a cause he no longer believed in, but doing it anyway because he was the only thing standing between someone important to him and certain death.
Byakuya thinks a part of him, looking into Shiba Ganjyu’s eyes at that moment, had longed for that sort of courage for himself.
Because Byakuya also hates himself a little bit, for not being able to do for Rukia, what Ganjyu could so easily did for Yamada in the split second it took for Byakuya to take one more step forward.
Kuchiki Byakuya has always admired the Shiba. Every single one of them. They all have something he fears he will never be able to find within himself, no matter how hard he searches.
“You raised your brother well,” he tells Kuukaku, taking the sake finally and sipping at it.
“Yeah well, it wasn’t easy,” she admits. “He ain’t no genius.”
“He’s very courageous.”
She grins. “That might be attributed to the fact that he ain’t so smart, ya know.”
He feels the corner of his mouth turn up at her easy humor, the one he remembers being much more frank than any other in his childhood. He always appreciated as well, the honesty of the Shiba. A rare trait for one of the four great noble families.
“I’m sorry,” he apologizes suddenly, not quite sure for what.
“Not to me you’re not,” she tells him, snatching the sake jug out of his fingers. “You’re not sorry one bit.”
He winces.
Her expression softens. “Tch. Still just a brat I see. Try forgivin’ yourself for once, huh?” the middle sibling snorts. “And get your damn poker face on will ya? Or this is gonna be like candy from a baby.”
He blinks. “What is?”
She winks at him then, and reaches into the front of her top.
He averts his eyes, politely.
“There!” she announces, finding what she was looking for. She slaps down a deck of cards between them. “You know the game, I believe.”
He looks at her, vaguely bewildered, and wonders what it is about the Shiba that makes forgiveness so simple. “I…”
“Don’t worry, I know it’s too damn easy with just two people,” she tells him, waving dismissively. “But shouldn’t be long before…”
“Yo!”
He turns at the sound of Yoruichi’s voice as she appears beside him suddenly, grinning and with yet more sake in her hands.
“Yo,” Kuukaku greets in response, dealing her in.
As well as two other places.
Byakuya, genuinely confused, asks, “Are we expecting…”
“It’s for those two missing idiots,” Kuukaku clarifies.
“And for a little challenge, Byaku-bo… because we all know how good that poker face of yours is,” Yoruichi finishes, taking a seat and a swig of whisky. She grins. “Say, we’re old enough now we’ve got some actual cash on us, huh?”
“Yeah?” Kuukaku asks, eyeing her old friend. “Whaddya got in mind?”
Yoruichi picks her cards up and winks at Byakuya. “Loser buys dinner. How’s that sound, Bochamma?”
He puts on his poker face and picks up his own cards. “That’s fair.”
At that, the two women look at each other and burst out laughing. “Ain’t changed a bit, has he?”
“Nope! Maybe a bit more handsome though.”
Despite the perfection of his stone-faced technique, some things will never fail to make his cheeks turn pink.
He blushes, and Yoruichi and Kuukaku fall over snickering at him.
As they laugh shamelessly at his expense, he sighs internally and looks at the two untouched hands of cards on the ground between them.
He can’t help but wish a little, that those two loudmouths were here to help him out.
Because Kuukaku and Yoruichi together are still as frightening as he remembers.
END
Edits please!
364.
Title: Best Laid Plans
Rating: PG
Pairing/Character/s: Kira+Hinamori
Word Count: 516
Warning/s: Spoilers for the SS arc.
Summary: Kira does his best for Hinamori.
Dedication: pyrefly- haha it was hard to choose from your prompts because while I would have pounced on the Shuumi, I realized you wanted… other people’s takes on it. ^^;; So. This is me trying something new for you, hope it’s…okay. Somehow. It figures the only other pairing out of the group I felt like I could write was…taken. ^^;;
A/N: The prompt was: “Something cute and fluffy. Prefer current over Academy years. Perhaps your take on what Kira and Hinamori are going through while Hitsugaya, Renji & co. are in the human world.” Um… I think I got at least half of that. -_-;;
He visits her every day with a smile and a small basket of fruit, asking towards her health while filling her in on all the latest developments of seireitei’s news and gossip.
She smiles at him and laughs sometimes. She graciously accepts the fruit and talks to him like there isn’t a million miles in between them anymore, like they’re just two classmates catching up on old times.
It’s in those moments of looking into those young, sweet eyes that he remembers liking so much, when he finds himself wondering--if he’d become the sort of man he’d planned on being-- whether or not she would have chosen him.
He’s become something far different from what he’d wanted to of course, so the question is obsolete in terms of possibility. He knows it. But he still wonders sometimes, whether or not he ever could have won her, if there had been any sort of chance he could have had at beating Aizen-taichou out for her affection.
If he’d become the man he’d wanted to.
For the longest time, she’d been the girl he liked best out of all the other girls. Cute and sweet and smart and strong.
He still likes her very much, really.
But all the same, he’d never gotten to become the sort of man he’d planned on being, and that has probably made all the difference in the world.
That’s probably why he never could have competed with Aizen-taichou, ever.
He’s far too removed from the person he’d really wanted to be.
And she’s very different now too, from the way he remembers her. She’s still cute and sweet and smart and strong of course, but there’s something else there now too. Now, now she’s sad too, bitter too, suddenly lost and far older looking than she should have been.
He supposes, that she hasn’t quite turned out into the girl she’d wanted to become either.
They’re both very different. Miles away from the people they’d envisioned themselves eventually turning into, back when they were fresh out of academy and full of their youthful ideals.
Now he comes to see her every single day, sitting at her bedside and telling her all the latest news in seireitei. He peels her fruit and smiles and hopes that he can help a little, with what she’s going through. She sits in her bed and does her best to smile back, looking out the window when there’s silence between them and thinking whatever sad, lost thoughts it is she’s thinking.
He’s there for her every step of the way.
And while he hasn’t quite turned out to be the person he’d planned on being, while he’s still a long way off, he’s at her side. Every day he’s there, with a smile and an apple and the funniest story he can remember hearing today.
It’s all he can think of to do.
Maybe one day, he’ll be able to be the man he wanted to be for her.
But for now, he’ll just do what he can.
He’ll do his best.
He peels her fruit.
END
365.
Title: Simple Forgiveness
Rating: PG
Pairing/Character/s: Byakuya, Kuukaku, Yoruichi, Ganjyu
Word Count: 994
Warning/s: Spoilers for the SS arc.
Summary: Sequel to #341 (“A Simple Revival”)- Byakuya has always admired the Shiba.
Dedication: fanartist- haha your drawings feed me, I suppose. I loved the one for “ A Simple Revival,” so thank you!
A/N: I’ve been told I focus on thugs too much. Well… there’s only a couple in here. :P I’m weaning myself slowly? ^^;;
He’s surprised when a bottle of sake is set down in front of him, and looking up, he can’t quite hide his reaction when he sees Kuukaku there, grinning down at him.
“Yo, Bochamma,” she greets, winking before plopping down at his side. “How ya feelin’?”
“Fine,” he says, guardedly. Then, “Thank you, Kuukaku.”
“No problem.” She forgoes pouring and just takes a swig out of the jar, before passing it to the shinigami beside her.
He doesn’t take it.
There’s silence for a moment, and Byakuya doesn’t know what to do because his childhood friend is sitting beside him once more, even after all the destruction his family had done to hers.
For the longest time, she’d believed that his sister was the reason behind her older brother’s death.
And Byakuya had nearly killed her last remaining brother, not a week ago.
He feels no animosity from her.
Only from himself, towards himself.
His brow furrows and he doesn’t know what to say.
She says it for him. “The big idiot is fine,” she sighs, like it’s the most normal thing in the world. “You held back, Kuchiki-sama.”
He looks at her, and for a moment, there is something like unguarded regret in his eyes. “I would have killed him,” he admits, part of him wanting her to take that and hate him for it, if only to distract him from the deep feeling of self-loathing he experiences whenever he remembers Shiba Ganjyu’s face, whenever he goes back to that moment in his head and recalls how the young man had looked at that moment, the two of them standing and staring at each other from across the bridge.
“What stopped you?” she asks, knocking back another swig of sake. “Loyalty?”
“No,” he replies, honest. “I would have killed him without a second thought, even knowing who he was.”
“But you didn’t.”
She says it like it’s that simple. Like she doesn’t blame him at all for ignoring familial and friendship bonds in the face of his blind, misguided justice.
He can’t let himself think it’s that easy.
He remembers Shiba Ganjyu’s face on the bridge as the young man had placed himself in front of the sixth division captain, afraid and fighting for a cause he no longer believed in, but doing it anyway because he was the only thing standing between someone important to him and certain death.
Byakuya thinks a part of him, looking into Shiba Ganjyu’s eyes at that moment, had longed for that sort of courage for himself.
Because Byakuya also hates himself a little bit, for not being able to do for Rukia, what Ganjyu could so easily did for Yamada in the split second it took for Byakuya to take one more step forward.
Kuchiki Byakuya has always admired the Shiba. Every single one of them. They all have something he fears he will never be able to find within himself, no matter how hard he searches.
“You raised your brother well,” he tells Kuukaku, taking the sake finally and sipping at it.
“Yeah well, it wasn’t easy,” she admits. “He ain’t no genius.”
“He’s very courageous.”
She grins. “That might be attributed to the fact that he ain’t so smart, ya know.”
He feels the corner of his mouth turn up at her easy humor, the one he remembers being much more frank than any other in his childhood. He always appreciated as well, the honesty of the Shiba. A rare trait for one of the four great noble families.
“I’m sorry,” he apologizes suddenly, not quite sure for what.
“Not to me you’re not,” she tells him, snatching the sake jug out of his fingers. “You’re not sorry one bit.”
He winces.
Her expression softens. “Tch. Still just a brat I see. Try forgivin’ yourself for once, huh?” the middle sibling snorts. “And get your damn poker face on will ya? Or this is gonna be like candy from a baby.”
He blinks. “What is?”
She winks at him then, and reaches into the front of her top.
He averts his eyes, politely.
“There!” she announces, finding what she was looking for. She slaps down a deck of cards between them. “You know the game, I believe.”
He looks at her, vaguely bewildered, and wonders what it is about the Shiba that makes forgiveness so simple. “I…”
“Don’t worry, I know it’s too damn easy with just two people,” she tells him, waving dismissively. “But shouldn’t be long before…”
“Yo!”
He turns at the sound of Yoruichi’s voice as she appears beside him suddenly, grinning and with yet more sake in her hands.
“Yo,” Kuukaku greets in response, dealing her in.
As well as two other places.
Byakuya, genuinely confused, asks, “Are we expecting…”
“It’s for those two missing idiots,” Kuukaku clarifies.
“And for a little challenge, Byaku-bo… because we all know how good that poker face of yours is,” Yoruichi finishes, taking a seat and a swig of whisky. She grins. “Say, we’re old enough now we’ve got some actual cash on us, huh?”
“Yeah?” Kuukaku asks, eyeing her old friend. “Whaddya got in mind?”
Yoruichi picks her cards up and winks at Byakuya. “Loser buys dinner. How’s that sound, Bochamma?”
He puts on his poker face and picks up his own cards. “That’s fair.”
At that, the two women look at each other and burst out laughing. “Ain’t changed a bit, has he?”
“Nope! Maybe a bit more handsome though.”
Despite the perfection of his stone-faced technique, some things will never fail to make his cheeks turn pink.
He blushes, and Yoruichi and Kuukaku fall over snickering at him.
As they laugh shamelessly at his expense, he sighs internally and looks at the two untouched hands of cards on the ground between them.
He can’t help but wish a little, that those two loudmouths were here to help him out.
Because Kuukaku and Yoruichi together are still as frightening as he remembers.
END
Edits please!