Cold Fire

Chapter IV – Fade to Black

It was with intense concentration that a certain dark-haired captain practiced his kanji. The swift, purposeful movements of the brush, the ritual of dipping the tip into ink, the transformation of the blank scroll into a delicate black-and-white picture… Indeed, Byakuya often found himself in a meditative state of mind when writing.

Completing the final stroke, the captain gazed down at the finished product. Naturally, his work was flawless, every line was exact. Yet it lacked something… Byakuya was brought back to the time when Rukia had been practicing her kanji; the strokes had been rough and had required much correction, after all, Byakuya could not allow a Kuchiki to be sloppy. However, despite the crude brush strokes and shoddy craftsmanship there was something special woven into the kanji, feeling. The captain's work was indeed unblemished and exact, but it lacked feeling.

Feeling mildly disgruntled, Byakuya pushed the paper away and took a deep breath. He was sitting at his desk looking about as casual as he dared, in his most comfortable kimono, which was actually an old shihakusho that was no longer fit for duty. Despite his normally uptight appearance, Byakuya enjoyed the chance to sit down and unwind every once and a while (of course his idea of relaxing was practicing penmanship, so he's not exactly what you'd call laid-back).

Pale hands automatically fiddled with the cord that pulled Byakuya's raven hair into a ponytail. The captain was famous for his signature hairstyle (let down with the special hair ornaments that announced his nobility), yet secretly he preferred having it pulled back. Despite having an intimidating attitude and about as much charisma as a stuffed shirt, Byakuya was a pretty normal guy. Uptight and deadly in battle yes, but pretty normal otherwise. And ever since he had met Ichigo, you could say that he had let his hair down a little bit (figuratively of course).

As he adjusted his ponytail, the captain found his mind wandering to the cumbersome matter of a certain Kurosaki Ichigo. Byakuya's life had always been very precise before the matter of the boy, crisp, clean, all rules and traditions, minus the complicated matter of emotions.

Enter Kurosaki Ichigo, a bright streak of color that shattered the perfect black-and-white world Byakuya had worked so hard to create. Ichigo had stomped right in, crudely scrambling and breaking Byakuya's beliefs with not a care to the world. Their fight had been an awakening for the captain, and it was due to this revelation that Byakuya had been able to repair and nurture a better relationship with Rukia. While it felt very strange to think it, Byakuya was decidedly grateful to the substitute soul reaper for saving Rukia. Though he still insists on calling me by my first name, thought the Kuchiki, What cheek for a 15 year-old boy, I had been around for hundreds of years when he was born…

Sighing and muttering about youths these days, Byakuya put away his tools and began to get dressed for duty. He carefully put on his captain's coat over his uniform, attached his Zanpakuto to his waist, and painstakingly did his hair. After looking himself over in the mirror, Byakuya slid open the door and began to make his way down to the 6th company headquarters.

It was one of his rare days off, yet Byakuya felt responsible for his company and decided it would be best to check in for an hour or two. As he pondered the pile of paperwork that was probably waiting for him on his desk he failed to notice a certain orange-haired someone coming around the corner.

Ichigo who was not paying attention to his surroundings just about clashed with the captain head-long. Muttering an oath Ichigo stumbled back and Byakuya saw he was going to fall down if he didn't regain his balance. Without thinking the captain had thrust out his arms and grabbed the other by the arms, steadying him quickly.

"Oh, thanks Byakuya," said Ichigo, looking a bit surprised at the captain.

"Kurosaki…" Byakuya blinked, taken aback by the sudden apparition of the object of his thoughts. He had thought that the boy had gone back to the real world after the issue with Rukia had been solved. To see him so all of a sudden was rather unexpected.

"Nii-sama," addressed Rukia hesitantly, in the suddenness of the moment Byakuya had not noticed her standing next to Ichigo.

Rukia explained Ichigo's presence in the Soul Society and Byakuya gave permission for him to stay at the Kuchiki mansion. After excusing himself Byakuya strode off, thinking about what this new arrival would mean.

Later that Evening –

After dinner (which Ichigo was rather late too, not to Byakuya's surprise), the captain lead the other to his room which was very close to his.

They walked together in silence which normally didn't bother Byakuya, after all he was a master of being quiet, but for some reason it felt slightly more awkward than normal. Byakuya quickened his pace, in hopes of making the uncomfortable journey as short as possible.

"There's your room," directed Byakuya curtly, stopping suddenly and gesturing at the door of a room. And with that, the captain made the way to his own room, not even looking back.

As soon as he opened the door to his bedroom, the captain let out a small sigh, he didn't understand the Kurosaki boy. And for that matter, himself; for some reason it bothered him to be around the other. He couldn't just dismiss the boy like he did others, and yet it was hard to acknowledge him for some reason.

"Aggravating…" grumbled the captain quietly, picking up a brush and turning his attention to the mass of paperwork he had picked up at headquarters.

He didn't get to sleep until very early the next morning, yet as he slipped into the grip of sleep all he could think of was the troublesome matter of a certain orange-haired teenager.

"I don't understand you, Kurosaki Ichigo…"

TBC –

A/N: Geez, I'm really sorry for the long wait here, the best excuse I have is the annoying issue of school… I did my best to sound like Bya-kun, he's so apathetic and it's kind of hard to get his character down, so please tell me if you like him or not!

I double-spaced the text here, so hopefully it should be easier to read, I always hate big clunky paragraphs.

In other news, I just finished the 23rd episode of Neon Genesis Evangelion!! (It's so amazing and angsty! ) I wrote a little KaworuXShinji oneshot a little while ago and just posted it so please read!!

R&R if you want more chapters, thanks for reading!