Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Beneath You ❯ Sneak ( Chapter 12 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

AN: Alright. That's about it. Enjoy and review if you like.

Junichi crept from his Captain's office with a slip of paper in his hand. On the paper was detailed instructions for his next task. He was to go find the room containing the squad's robes, take a few stacks to the laundry room the next building over, and wash them. After that, he was to find her weapons room and retrieve a sharper short sword. All that... in half an hour.

As soon as the door was closed, Junichi bolted down the hall and outside, running toward the furthest building with full speed. He would not disappoint her. He would not fail her. Oh Gods, he would not fail her. Considering that he was terrified of her, he would rather lose an arm than face her wrath. Any day of the week.

"Hey man, where are you going?" Oomaeda called to him as he passed. He didn't get an answer, so to every witnesses' surprise, he started to run too. Once he caught up to Junichi, he repeated his question.

"I have to go find the room with the robes," he answered between breaths. He gripped the paper tightly in his closed fist as he manuvered around a cluster of trees. The moving duo met up again and he continued, "I'm pretty sure it's this way."

"Yeah, it is," Oomaeda confirmed, panting heavily. "Lucky for me, we're almost there. Then we can stop running."

Junichi disregarded the last comment and asked, "what is the Lady Captain's policy on me leaving squad grounds?"

"Lady Captain? When did we start calling her that?"

Slowing to a walk, he replied, "I think it shows more respect. And it sounds better."

"Did you call her that to her face?"

"Yeah. She was okay with it."

"Wow."

Continuing to walk toward the tan building and finally climbing its steps, Junichi asked again, "when can we leave squad grounds? What is the time period?"

Oomaeda tilted his eyes to the sky as he searched his nearly vacant mental banks for the answer. "I think curfew is midnight unless something special is going on. That's pretty much the standard time for all the squads. And trust me, she's pretty strict about it so don't break curfew."

"What happens if you do?"

"A beatdown. And she does them publicly, in front of the whole squad. She doesn't care. Just don't break curfew."

Grabbing the handle and sliding the door open, Junichi gazed upon the stacks upon stacks of folded black robes. Feeling discouraged, he unwillingly grabbed an armful and hoisted his load from the floor. "Can you give me a hand?"

Oomaeda nodded and lifted a stack for himself and followed him out of the room. "Next door we go!"

"How did you know where I was going?"

"Remember, she said that you will be taking over my duties for a week. Of course I know what you are doing."

"Oh. Well anyway, I'm going to go see somebody after I'm done with my chores for the day. It's been four days since I was transferred, and it's getting harder and harder to not see my friends back in the Thirteenth."

"Go for it."

Junichi smiled to himself. "You better believe I will."

"So who are you going to see?"

A pause. "Just someone I grew close to, that's all. A close friend."

Oomaeda laughed heartily as he interpreted the vague answer. "A lady, huh? I see what you mean; I'll cover for you. Go ahead."

"Right now?"

"Yeah. Go."

"Thanks," Junichi beamed, plopping the stack of robes in the lieutenant's already full hands. "I owe you."

"I know."




Rukia twirled around her room, a rose hugged against her chest as she danced. Her loose hair flung about her, the black locks fluttering everywhere while she pranced around, her unusually good mood echoing off the walls. She hummed low in her chest, the tune sounding familiar to her, inducing nostalgia to return her to younger days. "I never thought I'd ever feel this way..." she sang, continuing to swirl in her flowing dress. The fabric fanned around her while she spun, the printed flowers seeming to frolic with her. "You took my breath away, and I'm sure it will never return..."

A knock on the door didn't break her song, and she sung the next line as she turned the knob. "My head spins when we go to the moon... we won't be floating down anytime soon..."

"Hey Rukia," Junichi said, holding out a bouquet of roses and bowing low. "For you, my lady."

The song died in her throat when she saw him, and didn't reach out to accept the gift. "Why are you here?"

He stood up straight and handed her the flowers. "I wanted to see you. It's been a few days since I left, and I thought that you'd want to see me just as much. It was hard, but I'm here."

"Oh," she replied unenthusiastically, taking the roses from him. "But I thought that you would still be trying to settle in with your new squad. To be honest, you came at a bad time."

"Why --"

Footsteps entered the room behind her and a familiar voice sounded, "are you ready to go?"

She turned around and gave him a feeble smile. "Yeah, just give me a second."

Jyuushiro looked over her head at her guest. "Why are you here?"

"I came to see Rukia. Why are you here?"

"We are going on another date. And I think it's time for you to leave."

Junichi shook his head defiantly. "I'm not going anywhere."

Rukia turned once more, this time to Junichi. "Well, we are about to go on a date. We have reservations, actually."

He focused his green eyes on hers. "So you two are really dating, huh? What about the day I left? That kiss didn't mean anything to you? Didn't our conversation mean anything?"

"What is he talking about?" Jyuushiro asked, never moving his eyes from the other male. "What kiss?"

Rukia whirled around again, placing her small hands on his chest. "Don't worry about it. I was a little emotional from the news, and we kissed. It meant nothing."

"Nothing?" Junichi cut in. "Really... it meant nothing. Somehow I don't believe you. Now, why is that?"

"I don't know!" Rukia snapped, throwing a warning look over her shoulder. "It doesn't matter if you believe me or not. I'm with Jyuushiro now, and that stupid kiss didn't mean anything to me. It shouldn't have happened anyway; there will never be anything between us."

He smiled at her, folding his arms over his chest. "I can't believe you are saying this. Especially since I'll hear the real story the second he's gone."

"Get out!" Jyuushiro said, jutting an aggressive thumb toward the door. "You aren't in this squad anymore, so I don't want to see you on these grounds anymore. Besides, I'm pretty confident that Captain Soi does not know you are here. So I'd advise you to go right now. I don't want any trouble from you."

"You don't? Well, I'm not sure you get to make that decision," Junichi said, balling his hands into fists. "But you know what? I'll leave. But I assure you; it's only because I have things to do for my Captain. And Rukia, don't think I'll give up this easily. You can pretend all you want, but we both know that kiss meant something. When you're ready to talk, you know where to find me."

Rukia didn't reply as he retreated toward the door. Once he was gone, she turned to Jyuushiro with a falsified smile. "Now that he's gone, we can go. We should hurry; the restaurant can't hold our reservations if we're late."

He smiled back at her, his expression fabricated as well. "Alright then. Let's go."




Junichi shook his head while he thought about what just happened. He couldn't figure out why she had made such a turnaround in her feelings toward him. It had only been a few days and yet, she had forgotten about him and the moment they shared. He was baffled, but not discouraged.

He continued to walk, but his peripherals told him to stop. He paused in his stride and took a quick look around him. All he saw were buildings and tall trees between them; all sights that were familiar to him during his tenure in the Thirteenth Squad. But while nothing seemed to be out of place, he felt he was being watched. He scanned everything around him once more, didn't see anything, and then resumed his walking. 'I'm just being paranoid,' he thought to himself, and rounded the corner to exit the squad's grounds.

The two pairs of eyes that were watching him glanced at each other, and one of the spies spoke. "Why was he here?"

"I don't know. But does it matter? And I feel like an idiot hiding in a tree to watch some guy."

"He's not just some guy. He's a guy that shouldn't be here."

"But he is. So what?"

"Then we need to make sure that he doesn't come back. And I think I've got a plan."

A groan. "This isn't going to be good. I can feel it."

"Shut up and listen. Here's what we're going to do..."




"Get in here!" Captain Soi shouted. Her lieutenant ran into the training room, where his superior was stretching in preparation for her daily training session. "Where is he?"

Oomaeda began to tremble as he watched her remove her white robe to reveal her fighting outfit below it. She started to rotate her bare shoulders and he shook even more. He could feel the pain already. "Where is who?" he squeaked.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "The new guy. Where is he?"

"Oh, Junichi..." he gulped. "He's... somewhere. Probably finishing off the list of chores you gave him."

"He should be finished by now. I wanted to spar with him today. I need to see where his skill level is."

Oomaeda nodded as she talked, and replied, "well, he should be back soon. I ran into him a little earlier and he told me he was lost. So I helped him a little bit, and he's finishing up. But if I see him, I'll tell him to come see you. Is that okay?'

She continued to look over him, not sure of what to make of his story. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, she gave him a quick nod. "All right. But he better be back soon. I don't want to have to look for him."

"Yes... Lady Captain," he agreed, cautiously trying out the new title. He expected a cross reaction, but nothing happened. She merely turned away from him and kept stretching. He heaved a heavy sigh and left the training room quietly. Once he was outside, he said a silent prayer, thanking the divine Gods that she did not discover his lie. His gratitude left him in a humbled mood; but he realized that he could never lie for Junichi again. It would be bad for his health.


AN: Alright. Now that I have reached this point, things will be very interesting. Something important will go down next chapter, and it will only get better from here. I hope. I've got this thing all planned out. Updates should be faster, though I think I'm getting these chapters out pretty quick. Let me know what you think. Review if you want to. Onward and upward!