Sunset in Heaven

Chapter 17

Ichigo sighed. It wasn't the kind of slacking off that he was expecting at all. Rukia dragged him to the Kuchiki manor and then while they waited for Renji, she had decided to also make him wait because a Hell Butterfly came to her. It was from the Shinigami Women's Association that she was in and there seemed to be a sudden meeting. She refused to let Ichigo go back to their Barracks and told him to wait patiently in the living room because the meeting wouldn't last long, or so she said. But it had already been almost an hour and she still hasn't come back.

A quiet footstep made Ichigo look up and he saw, to his annoyance, Byakuya wearing not his usual Taichou uniform but a black floral kimono. The teen was annoyed not in Byakuya per se but at the fact that he found the Taichou rather... stunning. Well, Byakuya had always been stunning, but somehow, it was different today. The raven's hair was loose and without the kenseikan. And judging from the dripping tips, the noble had just finished his bath.

"What are you doing here, Ichigo Kurosaki?" Byakuya asked. For two weeks now, the teen had been trying to make Byakuya call him Kurosaki-taichou, but it seemed the noble liked calling his name fully, especially since the teen pointed out that he disliked it. It seemed Byakuya's sole happiness was seeing Ichigo's scowling face. Well, it's not that Ichigo could blame him. After all, he had never called Byakuya in a respectful manner either despite the noble's cold protests.

"I'm waiting for Rukia." He shrugged. "She received an emergency call from the Shinigami Women's Association and told me not to leave until she comes back."

"I see." Both of Byakuya hands were folded over his chest, inside the sleeves of his kimono and making him appear overly formal. He then turned to a corner where a servant stood silently and unmoving. "Prepare us some tea and some cookies. And bring in the bottle of sugar cubes." Ichigo looked up and their gaze met. "Rukia told me you prefer overly sweet tea. She always talks about a lot of things." Byakuya answered coldly to the inquiring look that the teen was giving him.

Ichigo nodded before he furrowed his eyebrows again. "Is that bad? You look like you don't mind it at all though, that she talks a lot."

"I didn't say it's bad." Byakuya sat in front of Ichigo in a very formal way and closed his eyes. "But oftentimes, she speaks of a certain Taichou who keeps on making her worry by overworking himself. Although I don't know who that Taichou is, I'll make sure to cut him up into tiny little pieces if he ever made Rukia worry again." Then he opened his eyes and his cold glare was received by the teen, who gulped. That seemed to satisfy the noble's ego.

Ichigo was just so thankful that the servant chose that moment to arrive, together with the tray of tea and cookies. Ichigo thought he'd kill Rukia if she comes back, because of two reasons. First was the fact that she made her Taichou wait for her for a long time in somebody else's house. And second, she kept talking to Byakuya about her worries for the orange-haired teen. And the said teen didn't even agree to her assumption that he was overworking himself! He was merely doing his job and he was happy doing the paperwork, something that would make all the other Taichous arch an eyebrow to. The paperwork took his mind away from everything else, and... he could converse animatedly with his inner spirits while doing the mindless task. It was way relaxing.

It was a good relaxation for him to hear the scroll of the ink pen on his paper while he listened to Shiro and Muramasa's daily banter. It seemed Zangetsu was much too happy to have another zanpakutou inside Ichigo's inner world because Shiro rarely bugged him now. The Hollow's sword almost always aimed at Muramasa nowadays, who was always easily provoked, much to Ichigo's surprise. He thought that Muramasa was a calm zanpakutou like Zangetsu, but it seemed he was far too wrong. The guy was as much of a stubborn and cunning fighter as Shiro, and the latter liked it that way.