Simple Like Tea
folder
Bleach › Het - Male/Female
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
20
Views:
7,042
Reviews:
68
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
Bleach › Het - Male/Female
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
20
Views:
7,042
Reviews:
68
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Bleach, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
A New Home
Reiko is mine.
Chapter 7 - A New Home
Reiko lay in her bed, staring at the ceiling and waiting for sleep to come. The day had passed without further incident. She had managed to make up for her late opening by carrying out a flawless service. Chiyo and Senji had seemed to forget all about her oversleeping by the time the last customer of the day left. She had asked them to clean up downstairs while she went upstairs with her bills in hand to finish her accounting ledgers. They had been gone for hours before her books were in order and she had felt at ease again. She needed the structured order of her life to remain the same if she was going to function. Every waking moment was spent in the service of the teahouse. It left no room for anything else in her life.
She had no friends and hadn’t had a lover in years. She was no blushing virgin, she had taken men to her bed in the past if they had been good looking or if they had been very nice to her. Since her o-jii-san’s death, she had slept with one man here in this little apartment, some three years ago now; the experience had left her feeling so unsatisfied and disappointed, she had decided no company at all was better than more of the same. Then she had gotten distracted, and the time that might have been spent meeting someone and falling in love or listening to men who were good looking be nice to her was dedicated to other things, things like cleaning and book-keeping and dusting the porcelain. Things that she had thought she would never do when she was a teenager who thought getting a tattoo was the coolest thing ever.
She rolled over to her side and sniffed absently at the sheets. They still needed to be changed, she noted. Blinking at her wall, she realized with a small sense of sadness that Renji had been the first person she had spoken to for no reason other than to talk since that disappointing man she had slept with. He had spoken to her, and had been attentive when she spoke back. Despite her initial impression of him, he had been respectful to her; clumsy and awkward but utterly respectful. He had blushed sometimes, too, and that had been… cute.
Reiko smiled to herself. Now she was being silly. Thinking someone like him was cute. All bright red hair and tattoos, that one was, with a sword he carried around to fight terrifying beasts that she would have wet herself trying to stand up against. Someone like him would have thrown himself through a window into the fiery pits of hell before allowing himself to be called ‘cute’.
Her mind conjured up the image of him with that delicate porcelain cup in his fingers, looking agitated over his failure to convey his pleasure with her tea. He had blushed when he had shyly admitted he had always thought all tea tasted pretty much the same. In between her long strings of questions about his world he had asked her about hers, and had been fascinated by her answers as much as she had been fascinated by his. Such a kind heart he seemed to have behind that unwelcoming scowl that had crossed his features easily enough for her to know that he wore it more often than not. A dangerous man to think cute.
Still, he had been cute. He had been sweet and his awkwardness had been downright adorable. She giggled to herself, almost jumping at the sound of it – she hardly recognized herself giggling like that – when she instead jumped at the sound of something clicking against her window. Sitting up, she looked in the direction of the sound, then heard it again. She padded barefoot to the window and slid it upwards to peer down the street. Renji stood outside, a small rock in his palm poised as if he were getting ready to throw it at her window. He started at the sight of her, then managed a weak smile. “Gomen, Reiko-san. I know it’s late, you must have been sleeping.”
“No, I wasn’t sleeping,” she returned his smile, and he blushed and looked away. Cute… “I’ll come down and let you in,” she said, then slid the window shut and turned around. She was in her sleeping yukata, but it wasn’t exactly indecent. It would have to do. She grabbed a hairtie to put her hair up and rushed down the stairs.
Flicking on a small lamp near one of the tables on the way to the door, she smiled at the slouched form of the subject of her musings. “Tadaima…” he murmured as he stepped inside, then looked surprised that he had said it.
“Okaeri,” Reiko breathed in response. They looked at each other for a while in silence, then Renji smiled again, less weak this time.
“I’m home.”
“Welcome home, Renji-kun.”
**
When Byakuya read over the reports from Renji’s visits to the real world again, he knotted his brows in an unusual display of frustration. Renji had been going to the real world every night for the past sixteen days, and all the reports were almost identical. Hollows. One night, a minor arrancar. More hollows. Nothing else.
He set the papers down on his desk and looked at his hands. Since Rukia’s wedding, his lieutenant had been subdued, somewhat quieter, and his temper had been shockingly serene. When his lieutenant first started disappearing after his shifts, Byakuya had assumed it was to go drinking with the other lieutenants, Kira and Rangiku and the rest. But when Renji was showing up to work on time looking refreshed instead of hung over, Byakuya found himself immediately suspicious of where he was going.
Then the reports started appearing. Renji was going to the human world every night, to gather the information Byakuya requested. The Senkai gate records confirmed that Renji was indeed going to the real world. But where? Was he really out fighting hollows? Did he find it therapeutic enough that it would explain his subdued manner and his calm temper?
It couldn’t be. Renji had been fighting hollows for years. His temper had never benefited from it. He had always been respectful to Byakuya, but the way Renji was walking around speaking quietly and spouting wisdom left and right was unnatural. Just the other day, he had eyed his captain in concern and politely offered that work wasn’t everything, and maybe Byakuya should consider taking some time off to visit Rukia and Ichigo in the real world where they were currently staying on their honeymoon. Byakuya would have gaped had he been a lesser man, but all he had done was blink at Renji and inquire about his health. Renji had blushed, something uncomfortable for Byakuya to have to see with all that red hair, and hastily assured his captain he was fine.
What was he hiding? The fact that he was hiding something was painfully clear, but what? And why go through the trouble of hiding it?
Byakuya thought again about Genichi and the rest of the elders, sitting happily in their gardens, fanning themselves and talking about the new onsen they wanted to put on the Kuchiki grounds. They thought they had him now, and that he was simply trying to decide between Unohana and Soi Fong. They may get impatient and make the choice for him if he dawdled much longer. Obviously, reading Renji’s reports was no help. He had hoped that the need for him to go to the real world himself would be minimal. He hated the real world, hated the way humans seemed to lack finesse and dignity, hated how they always rushed about to do things so that there was no art in doing anything anymore. Even if he did find a woman spiritually aware enough to see him, she would be some kind of dazed simpleton like that Inoue girl, or some kind of stubborn delinquent. Grinding his teeth, he gripped the reports fiercely thinking about the choice he had to make.
He served the Gotei 13, but he also served the Kuchiki clan. Sometimes the two duties seemed at odds, the way they had when Rukia had been sentenced to death. He somehow doubted Kurosaki Ichigo would be saving the day this time and do the unpleasant bits for him. He had to make the choice himself.
It was either go to the real world and find himself a wife that would fit the requirements of the elders and yet be someone they would never have chosen themselves, or let the elders push him into a marriage that would achieve their goals, thereby threatening the fragile stability of the Gotei 13 and soul society’s balance of power. And then there was that other hidden element he was certain they had stumbled upon. Whatever it was, he doubted it was noble. He couldn't risk the chance. He had to find some accursed human woman, and he had to find her soon.
All he could do was grind his teeth again.
TBC
AN/ Continued thanks for the continuing reviewers, and brand new thanks for the brand new reviews! This chapter was easy for me to write, obviously because it's not-so-much action and more functional really to establish where everyone is and what they're doing. Err, rather what they're thinking. Lots of thinking in this chapter. And a bit of a time leap, in case it's not perfectly clear, between Renji coming to visit and Byakuya reading all those reports 16 days later.
Now that my exams are over, and I can afford to sit on my thumb until the fall, I'll sit down and write better chapters, I promise. And I absolutely am determined to see this story to an end, even if it's not clear to me at this time. Next chapter, things get smoky. Read it next week!
Chapter 7 - A New Home
Reiko lay in her bed, staring at the ceiling and waiting for sleep to come. The day had passed without further incident. She had managed to make up for her late opening by carrying out a flawless service. Chiyo and Senji had seemed to forget all about her oversleeping by the time the last customer of the day left. She had asked them to clean up downstairs while she went upstairs with her bills in hand to finish her accounting ledgers. They had been gone for hours before her books were in order and she had felt at ease again. She needed the structured order of her life to remain the same if she was going to function. Every waking moment was spent in the service of the teahouse. It left no room for anything else in her life.
She had no friends and hadn’t had a lover in years. She was no blushing virgin, she had taken men to her bed in the past if they had been good looking or if they had been very nice to her. Since her o-jii-san’s death, she had slept with one man here in this little apartment, some three years ago now; the experience had left her feeling so unsatisfied and disappointed, she had decided no company at all was better than more of the same. Then she had gotten distracted, and the time that might have been spent meeting someone and falling in love or listening to men who were good looking be nice to her was dedicated to other things, things like cleaning and book-keeping and dusting the porcelain. Things that she had thought she would never do when she was a teenager who thought getting a tattoo was the coolest thing ever.
She rolled over to her side and sniffed absently at the sheets. They still needed to be changed, she noted. Blinking at her wall, she realized with a small sense of sadness that Renji had been the first person she had spoken to for no reason other than to talk since that disappointing man she had slept with. He had spoken to her, and had been attentive when she spoke back. Despite her initial impression of him, he had been respectful to her; clumsy and awkward but utterly respectful. He had blushed sometimes, too, and that had been… cute.
Reiko smiled to herself. Now she was being silly. Thinking someone like him was cute. All bright red hair and tattoos, that one was, with a sword he carried around to fight terrifying beasts that she would have wet herself trying to stand up against. Someone like him would have thrown himself through a window into the fiery pits of hell before allowing himself to be called ‘cute’.
Her mind conjured up the image of him with that delicate porcelain cup in his fingers, looking agitated over his failure to convey his pleasure with her tea. He had blushed when he had shyly admitted he had always thought all tea tasted pretty much the same. In between her long strings of questions about his world he had asked her about hers, and had been fascinated by her answers as much as she had been fascinated by his. Such a kind heart he seemed to have behind that unwelcoming scowl that had crossed his features easily enough for her to know that he wore it more often than not. A dangerous man to think cute.
Still, he had been cute. He had been sweet and his awkwardness had been downright adorable. She giggled to herself, almost jumping at the sound of it – she hardly recognized herself giggling like that – when she instead jumped at the sound of something clicking against her window. Sitting up, she looked in the direction of the sound, then heard it again. She padded barefoot to the window and slid it upwards to peer down the street. Renji stood outside, a small rock in his palm poised as if he were getting ready to throw it at her window. He started at the sight of her, then managed a weak smile. “Gomen, Reiko-san. I know it’s late, you must have been sleeping.”
“No, I wasn’t sleeping,” she returned his smile, and he blushed and looked away. Cute… “I’ll come down and let you in,” she said, then slid the window shut and turned around. She was in her sleeping yukata, but it wasn’t exactly indecent. It would have to do. She grabbed a hairtie to put her hair up and rushed down the stairs.
Flicking on a small lamp near one of the tables on the way to the door, she smiled at the slouched form of the subject of her musings. “Tadaima…” he murmured as he stepped inside, then looked surprised that he had said it.
“Okaeri,” Reiko breathed in response. They looked at each other for a while in silence, then Renji smiled again, less weak this time.
“I’m home.”
“Welcome home, Renji-kun.”
**
When Byakuya read over the reports from Renji’s visits to the real world again, he knotted his brows in an unusual display of frustration. Renji had been going to the real world every night for the past sixteen days, and all the reports were almost identical. Hollows. One night, a minor arrancar. More hollows. Nothing else.
He set the papers down on his desk and looked at his hands. Since Rukia’s wedding, his lieutenant had been subdued, somewhat quieter, and his temper had been shockingly serene. When his lieutenant first started disappearing after his shifts, Byakuya had assumed it was to go drinking with the other lieutenants, Kira and Rangiku and the rest. But when Renji was showing up to work on time looking refreshed instead of hung over, Byakuya found himself immediately suspicious of where he was going.
Then the reports started appearing. Renji was going to the human world every night, to gather the information Byakuya requested. The Senkai gate records confirmed that Renji was indeed going to the real world. But where? Was he really out fighting hollows? Did he find it therapeutic enough that it would explain his subdued manner and his calm temper?
It couldn’t be. Renji had been fighting hollows for years. His temper had never benefited from it. He had always been respectful to Byakuya, but the way Renji was walking around speaking quietly and spouting wisdom left and right was unnatural. Just the other day, he had eyed his captain in concern and politely offered that work wasn’t everything, and maybe Byakuya should consider taking some time off to visit Rukia and Ichigo in the real world where they were currently staying on their honeymoon. Byakuya would have gaped had he been a lesser man, but all he had done was blink at Renji and inquire about his health. Renji had blushed, something uncomfortable for Byakuya to have to see with all that red hair, and hastily assured his captain he was fine.
What was he hiding? The fact that he was hiding something was painfully clear, but what? And why go through the trouble of hiding it?
Byakuya thought again about Genichi and the rest of the elders, sitting happily in their gardens, fanning themselves and talking about the new onsen they wanted to put on the Kuchiki grounds. They thought they had him now, and that he was simply trying to decide between Unohana and Soi Fong. They may get impatient and make the choice for him if he dawdled much longer. Obviously, reading Renji’s reports was no help. He had hoped that the need for him to go to the real world himself would be minimal. He hated the real world, hated the way humans seemed to lack finesse and dignity, hated how they always rushed about to do things so that there was no art in doing anything anymore. Even if he did find a woman spiritually aware enough to see him, she would be some kind of dazed simpleton like that Inoue girl, or some kind of stubborn delinquent. Grinding his teeth, he gripped the reports fiercely thinking about the choice he had to make.
He served the Gotei 13, but he also served the Kuchiki clan. Sometimes the two duties seemed at odds, the way they had when Rukia had been sentenced to death. He somehow doubted Kurosaki Ichigo would be saving the day this time and do the unpleasant bits for him. He had to make the choice himself.
It was either go to the real world and find himself a wife that would fit the requirements of the elders and yet be someone they would never have chosen themselves, or let the elders push him into a marriage that would achieve their goals, thereby threatening the fragile stability of the Gotei 13 and soul society’s balance of power. And then there was that other hidden element he was certain they had stumbled upon. Whatever it was, he doubted it was noble. He couldn't risk the chance. He had to find some accursed human woman, and he had to find her soon.
All he could do was grind his teeth again.
TBC
AN/ Continued thanks for the continuing reviewers, and brand new thanks for the brand new reviews! This chapter was easy for me to write, obviously because it's not-so-much action and more functional really to establish where everyone is and what they're doing. Err, rather what they're thinking. Lots of thinking in this chapter. And a bit of a time leap, in case it's not perfectly clear, between Renji coming to visit and Byakuya reading all those reports 16 days later.
Now that my exams are over, and I can afford to sit on my thumb until the fall, I'll sit down and write better chapters, I promise. And I absolutely am determined to see this story to an end, even if it's not clear to me at this time. Next chapter, things get smoky. Read it next week!