That Wasn't Supposed To Happen

Interruptio in bibliotheca

After leaving the bathhouse, nothing eventful had luckily happened.

When Byakuya went to the dining hall to get some much needed coffee, he came across Hina and Sakura who he promptly ignored, having no need for idle conversation. So, he just made his coffee and went to the library where he would spend the rest of the day alone. Undisturbed. Just him and some much-needed silence.

Unfortunately, that's not what happened, even if it should have been what happened. After all, that girl had been gone for almost a week now, Makoto only for a day or two and he had just talked with Chihiro. There was no reason for anybody to bother him and it's not like many people even came in the library at all.

So, when the library doors opened out of a sudden, he got annoyed. What was interesting, however, was the person standing there: Taka. The raven-haired boy looked the same as this morning, though he did look a bit more alive in a way.

Byakuya ignored him and went back to reading the mystery novel in his hands, getting a bit annoyed when it was revealed that the murdered killed for love of all things. Byakuya couldn't grasp how the writer thought that this could be a good motive, it was truly idiotic. Romance was nothing but an unneeded burden and Byakuya was quite happy that he would never have to experience it.

Eventually, Byakuya put the book down and stood up. He went back to one of the many shelfs in the library and picked another mystery novel, hopefully one that wasn't as idiotic.

After walking back towards the table where he was reading before, he saw Taka picking a book from one of the shelfs. Byakuya opened his book and began reading again, using one of his hands to push his glasses back up.

A few moments after that, he heard a chair move and saw that Taka was now sitting next to him. Just his luck.

Taka seemed to be reading a book on motorcycles of all things, though maybe reading wasn't the best word. He was just staring at the front of the book, lost in thought.

Pathetic.

"You know that to actually read a book, you need to open it, right?" Byakuya said, making no effort to hide his annoyance.

Taka didn't respond. Instead, he kept looking at the book as if it would solve all of his problems.

Byakuya couldn't help but scowl at being ignored by someone like him.

"You're not even going to answer me? God, you really are as pathetic as that grandfather of yours," Byakuya said, his annoyance once again clear.

Taka still didn't respond, though he did twitch at that last sentence. He can work with that.

"Really, still not talking? And here I thought you cared about your family name... well, what little is left, that is. How utterly terrible must it be," Byakuya mocked, a smirk on his face.

A hint of anger could be seen on Taka's face, even if his eyes never moved away from the book in front of him.

"...Don't talk about my family like that," Taka said faintly, his voice coming out hoarsely.

A faux look of surprise appeared on Byakuya's face. The smirk stayed.

"Oh my, so you can still talk. I almost thought that it disappeared with the death of your boyfriend," Byakuya responded, the last word coming out mockingly.

Taka's eyes moved away from the book and he was now looking right at Byakuya. Some of the lifelessness in his eyes now disappeared, instead fuming anger was clear in them. This only made Byakuya's smirk grow.

"Mondo was not my boyfriend!" Taka fumed, now displaying the most emotion Byakuya has ever seen the other boy show. That was easy.

"But you wish he was, right?" Byakuya asked calmly, his smirk never leaving his face.

Taka took a deep breath before answering. It didn't help much to calm his anger. Some more of the lifelessness had now disappeared and had, once again, been replaced with anger.

"...I don't see how that is relevant," Taka said in response, fists clenched.

"Looks like somebody is avoiding my question. Are you that pathetic that you can't even answer a simple question like that or," Byakuya said, his smirk growing. "Are you scared to admit your feelings? It's not like he can reject you anymore..."

At that, some of the anger seemed to fade, which admittedly surprised Byakuya a bit. Taka's eyes once again moved back to the book, some of the lifelessness returning in his eyes. Byakuya's smirk shrunk a bit at this development.

"Well, answer me. Or did you lose your voice again?" Byakuya asked mockingly, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"I... don't have to answer that," Taka said after a few moments, fists now unclenched and now touching the cover of the book. There was now more sadness than anger in his eyes.

At this, Byakuya got a bit annoyed again.

"Oh, so you are scared. You know that hiding behind lies isn't going to do you any good, right? After all, we know what happened to Toranosuke when he tried doing that," Byakuya said, trying to keep the annoyance out of his voice.

"...I am not like my grandfather," Taka said in response, now looking at the ground. Byakuya saw that some of the anger had now returned.

"Really?" Byakuya responded with fake surprise in his voice. "With how you are acting now you could have fooled me. You are certainly displaying the idiocy he did."

The anger had now almost fully returned and Byakuya's smirk grew.

"I am not the same as my grandfather. Now, goodbye. I have need to keep getting antagonised by you," Taka said through gritted teeth, trying and failing to keep the anger out of his voice as he stood up, the book in his right hand.

"Well, goodbye then. If you can't manage the truth..." Byakuya trailed off with a smirk, watching how Taka's anger only grew.

Taka left the library soon after that, some of his anger having faded, yet no lifelessness having replaced it. As he walked out, Byakuya's smirk grew a bit once again.

Looks like it worked.