Simple Like Tea

Chapter 12 - The Price

Byakuya lay in his large bed, wondering if, perhaps, he had set in motion a chain of events that would no longer allow him to sleep alone. The thought of bedding a woman besides Hisana still stung, and it bothered him that it stung. He was one of the elite, but he was also a man. Shouldn’t he have felt some glimmer of desire by now? Shouldn’t he have felt some spark of sexual frustration after years of celibacy? He tried to conjure images of strange women in erotic situations, but all the women turned to Hisana as soon as he focused on their faces.

He was simply not interested in other women.

Not just sexually, but romantically. Romantically, he had been dead before his wife breathed new life into him. He had found that, while being able to speak eloquently before an assembly of soldiers was useful in his line of work, he stumbled over unfamiliar terms of endearment and grew flustered when complimented on anything besides his work. Hisana had laughed, not unkindly, when he had tried clumsy metaphors and poor poetry to convey his feelings for her or try to let her know how beautiful she was. He had never thought of himself as a man of many failings before he married, but having discovered those failings with her had been surprisingly easy.

Sitting up in his bed, he looked at the undisturbed pillow and the neatly folded blanket to his left. He still slept like he was sharing a bed with her, he realized, though the bed and the room were new, additions to the house since after her death. His quarters were arranged for a bachelor, but his bed was the bed of a married man waiting for his wife to come in after her bath. The thought was painful.

Not that his impending marriage would be anything like what he had shared with Hisana. He would share his bed for procreational purposes. His life would remain his own. Nothing would have to change. Things like love and fidelity would be unimportant. He tried to imagine being married to her while she carried on an affair with his lieutenant. He tried to imagine knowing and not caring. He tried to imagine the gossip that would surely spread, and tried to imagine himself pretending not to hear it. Pretending not to care who heard it. Pretending.

Suddenly finding himself battling an all-consuming rage, he pulled on the first article of clothing his hand landed on and stormed out of his room. He was accomplishing nothing here, sitting in bed thinking about useless drivel. He was running out of time. He had to go to the real world and investigate some more. See if there was anything more he could do to speed events.

He had to do anything but sit and think about all the things he would never have again, with a woman he would never see again, and the happiness he would never feel again.

**

Byakuya stood outside the teahouse, watching her move. She was graceful, with a ready smile that radiated calm. When she went to the kitchen and thought no one was looking, she would rub her temples as though to rub away a headache. But always when she turned around again she would have that smile. Byakuya felt guilt weigh heavily down on him. It had to be done. There was no other way.

He watched until the last customers began to shuffle out, not paying them any attention. In his spiritual form, none of them would see him. He watched her exchange words with the young teenagers, both looking flustered and fidgety. Suddenly, she turned around and looked directly at him. Byakuya’s face showed nothing. Inside, he felt another pang of guilt.

After an eternity, the teenagers left and the girl opened the door. “You may as well come in now. You must be tired from standing there all day.” She didn’t wait for him to follow, but left the door open behind her as she stepped back into the shop and began switching off the lights. Byakuya followed silently, hoping she would not take him upstairs again. The shrine of her grandparents still made him uncomfortable.

When only one lamp was left lit, she pulled out a chair and seated herself with her back facing him, as though waiting for him to join her. Suppressing his relief, Byakuya made himself walk slowly to join her.

“Tea, Kuchiki-sama?” she asked as soon as he sat, making a move as though to get back up but Byakuya looked at her sharply and she froze mid-motion.

“No.” He remembered how unsettling it had been the last time she had made him tea. “No tea, thank you.” It had been good tea. But still, the last thing he needed tonight was the sneaking suspicion that this girl knew more than she should.

She sat back down, folding her hands demurely in her lap and staring at the tabletop. Her bun was pulled extra tight, he noticed suddenly, so tight her face seemed strained. He took in the sight of her, dressed in a dark gray kimono with wind patterns on the sleeves. Extra care seemed to have gone into her appearance today. A clear sign of nervousness. The longer the silence stretched between them, with no tea to keep their hands busy, the more palpable that nervousness became.

“Kuchiki-sama,” her voice cracked and she cleared her throat, blushing and still avoiding his eyes. “I have made my decision.”

Byakuya resisted the urge to grip his zanpaktou. “Your decision is?”

“I want the information you have about my mother.” She placed her hands on the table, spreading out her palms flat on the surface stiffly, as though unclenching fingers that had just been very tense. “I am willing to pay any price for it.”

Byakuya released a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. It was done. He had her where he needed her now. All he had to do was take the next step. “Perhaps one day is not sufficient time to make this kind of decision. Do you need more time to rethink?” Byakuya couldn’t stop the words from tumbling out of his mouth. His conscious demanded he say them.

But the girl was shaking her head fiercely, lifting her chin up and finally looking at him. “I don’t need more time. I can’t accept the alternative. I have no choice.”

“The alternative.” He looked out the large bay windows of the shop at the quiet street beyond. The street that Abarai must have walked down to come see her every night. “You are unwilling to give up Abarai Renji. Perhaps that has overridden even your desire to learn of your mother’s whereabouts.” He had used both the carrot and the stick to try and lead her to this choice, but he had hoped against hope that it would be the carrot and not the stick that sealed her fate. It would have been easier for him that way. No matter now. The silence that followed his statement was confirmation he hadn’t needed. He would accept his fate if she would accept hers. “Very well.”

He pulled an envelope out of the folds of his captain’s jacket and placed it on the envelope. He had to do it. There was no other way.

“Shortly after your mother gave birth to you, she began working as a hostess in a club in Tokyo. She remained there and lived in the boarding house with the other hostesses for close to three years. When she took a loan from some questionable sources that she was unable to repay, she fled and obtained new documents, including a new name. She returned to Karakura Town and got a job as a clerk in a store, where she met and married Ueno Hideki less than two years later. They have two children, a boy and a girl. Their address and telephone numbers are in this envelope. Your mother’s new name is Ueno Sayuri.”

The girl stared at the envelope as though it had been the one speaking to her. Her eyes were wide, her lips pursed tight, her hands shaking on the tabletop. “Ueno… Sayuri…”

Feeling more and more uncomfortable by the minute, Byakuya leaned back in his chair, hoping she didn’t see the way he removed his hand from the paper as if stung. “Reiko-san, there is the small matter of the price of this information.”

She nodded, still staring at the envelope, and he wondered if she was even listening.

“You are to come with me to Soul Society, as my bride and the new head of the Kuchiki House.” Finally, she looked at him. Her eyes seemed to go wider and her lips parted in shock. He hadn’t seen this much emotion from her even when she had cried.

“Kuchiki-sama!” she shot out of her chair, knocking it over and stood over him, indignation and fury radiating out of her; her eyes, however, were wild with fear. “How can I leave everything here behind and go with a strange man, a man I have no knowledge of as his bride? Your request is outrageous! And indecent!” From the look on her face, she didn't know which was worse: that he had asked her to leave her life life behind or that he had been indecent. Byakuya's eye twitched. Indecent!

“With all due respect, Reiko-san, it isn’t a request. This is the price of the information I gathered regarding your mother. We had an agreement, and if you choose to violate the terms of that agreement, I will extract payment by any means necessary.”

Her face drained of all colour, and she began to fall. In less than an instant, Byakuya was supporting her weight, awkwardly holding her to his chest where she sagged against him. Her shoulders began to shake. Feeling more uncomfortable that he could ever remember being, he realized she was crying. How could she go from outraged anger and fear and accusation to this deflated submission in less than an instant? Her ability to fall easily from one to the other troubled him and made him even more uncomfortable. He wondered if she was faking it to garner sympathy and grew even more uncomfortable. This girl was going to kill him before he ever married her! He held as still as he could, silently hoping she would pull herself together. He was a fool for not expecting this kind of reaction. He felt like a fool for not knowing how to comfort her. The realization made him want to kill somebody and he cursed the elders for forcing him into this situation. What had to be done had to be done.

After what felt like an eternity, she finally gathered her feet under her and stood on her own. As soon as he was sure she was able to stand without help, Byakuya released her and bent over to pick up the chair she had toppled. With a hand on her shoulder, he pushed her down into it, then walked to the kitchen area of the store. He glanced at her over his shoulder, but she was slumped in her chair, her eyes looking at nothing, her face red and wet with tears. Every once in a while, her shoulders shook with a hiccup.

One by one, he opened the cupboards, and in the third one he found the glasses. He filled it with water and carried it back to the table, placing it in her hand and guiding her to drink. After a few sips, she pushed his hand away, her eyes lucid again, but she avoided looking at him.

“You will not tell me your reasons, Kuchiki-sama,” her voice was flat and lifeless. It wasn’t a question, but the silence that followed was heavy with the expectance of an answer.

“My reasons are political,” he responded quietly, sitting back in his chair across the table. “The marriage will be political. It will disrupt your life, but there are more important things at stake.”

She smiled as though at a sad joke. “Political. I see.”

“Reiko-san, I will give you one week to complete your arrangements here. Then I will come for you. Please do not try to flee, or Abarai Renji will be called to account for his actions here with you, and punished accordingly. Also, shinigami will be forced to hunt you down to ensure you do not compromise the secrecy of Soul Society.” She looked at him then, an angry look that clearly spoke of how offended she was by the suggestion that she would escape. Inside, Byakuya heaved a sigh of relief. She would cooperate. “Abarai will be relieved of his current duties in three days. I have no doubt he will return here as soon as he can. What you choose to tell him can harm him, while what you might choose to omit may spare his feelings. How much you decide he should know, I will leave to your discretion.”

He stood up to leave, and this time when she rose, the shock was mirrored on both their faces. Byakuya quickly smoothed his features again, but the similar expression of calm and the tiny smile of triumph that appeared on the girl’s face a moment later told him that she had seen his surprise. Worse, she was pleased to see that he had been thrown off. With as much grace as he could ever hope for in a nobly born lady, she turned to the doorway to see him out, and he followed in a stupor. At the door, she turned with that triumphant smile still in place, and bowed politely. “I will await your return, Kuchiki-sama.”

Byakuya nodded, the merest inclination of his head in acknowledgement – and grudging respect – before stepping out into the night. He began to walk slowly, and he wondered if she had possibly misunderstood, or thought there was some way she could extract herself from the situation. How could she have possibly collected herself again so quickly? Byakuya looked over his shoulder at the teahouse.

The girl stood at the window, both hands pressed to the glass, watching him leave. The smile was gone from her face, and her features were painted in defeat. He couldn’t tell from where he was if she was crying again or not, but it made no difference he told himself. What had to be done had to be done. He wondered if she really would tell Renji the whole truth. He doubted she would. Of course, some sort of explanations would have to be made when the fukitaichou attended the wedding and saw none other than his own pet human girl at the altar with his captain. Whatever she decided to tell him, he hoped it would relieve Byakuya of the need to speak with his lieutenant about such a delicate and private matter. It would be indecent.

With surprising effort, Byakuya turned away from the teahouse, berating himself for turning around. He shouldn’t have looked back, he told himself. But even as he told himself, he knew there was no way he could have resisited.




TBC

AN/ I'M SO SORRY! *bows frantically*

I have been so so bad at uploading, but our internet provider's been down for a while. I thought of posting chapters 11 and 12 in one chapter, but I just couldn't, it was too much happening for just one chapter. I hope it'll be easier to read this way. Like I said, a lot happens here, and I hope the story is still enjoyable. Please keep reading, and thank you for your very kind reviews. I still don't know how the story will end, but since we're into double-digit chapters now, I worry it might drag on for too long. I'll try not to let it, I promise. In the meantime, again, please keep reading. Thanks again!