Title - There for Each Other Chapter Four
Disclaimer - Don't own any of the characters, I just lock myself in my room and make them bend to my muse's will.
Rating - Doesn’t start out at M but it will find its way there, we’ll just start out with T for now.
Word Count -5,125
Warning - There is het in here (Lisa/Love & YoruHara) but this will be yaoi so there are some overtones, if that bothers you (or vise versa).
Summary - It began with a stranger rescuing a stranger and went on from there. Love & Rose's story from Academy, Soul Society & beyond. There will be angst, UNF to the max, meddlesome YoruHara with help from a certain raven-haired be-spectacled visored - & let's throw in a Kuchiki!
Another Rescue
Perhaps in the eyes of a noble the two mammoth trunks weren’t much in the way of belongings, but to a man like Aikawa (who owned only the clothes on his back) the room was soon full of Rōjūrō. There was a stiff indifference in the handful of men transporting the trunks past him, all of them wearing uniforms the most brilliant hue of violet Aikawa had seen, even in nature.
The mattress they’d provided the students was insane. Aikawa had once or twice rested in town -- on beds even -- and they hadn’t been much of a step up from the ground in comfort. There was even a pillow, which was an item he’d never seen before today. He was stretched out in his alcove, staring at the ceiling and not finding it as entertaining as the usual stretch of sky he was accustomed to, when Rōjūrō returned from wherever he’d been for several hours.
Aikawa had just gotten used to the pair of very large bound wooden trunks when Rōjūrō’s presence literally filled the room, his reiatsu enough to get the other man’s spiritual pressure to take notice. The blond’s otherwise silent entrance would have gone undetected if it hadn’t been for the edge to his reiatsu and the fact that he was upset enough to have sh*tty control. “Uh-oh,” Aikawa said as he opened his eyes and looked up to see the look on his roommate’s face.
If looks could kill.
When the noble simply moved over to his trunks and started manhandling them as if they weighed nothing Aikawa sat up and turned toward him. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Came short and sharp. “Everything’s. Fine.”
Aikawa couldn’t help but feel that everything was far from fine, he was even starting to sense nuances to the golden-haired man’s mood, he was really starting to enjoy the growing skill with his reiatsu. “Huh…really now?”
With a mumble about the incompetence of the attendants that had moved his trunks he took one of them and turned it on it’s side, making it taller than it was wide, as if it should have been that way in the first place. “Yes!” He turned and snapped. “Really!”
Holding both hands up in a supplicating gesture Aikawa shook his head, “Whatever it was I didn’t do it.”
At his roommate’s words and gesture Rōjūrō positively deflated, his larger-than-life anger left him all in a long sighing breath. “You’re right,” Rōjūrō threw up his hands and moved to flop down on the foot of Aikawa’s futon. “My father made sure that if I were to gain admittance to the Academy that none of my instruments would be allowed to be moved here.”
“sh*t we only got so much room,” Aikawa tried to joke but the look Rōjūrō shot him was anything but happy. “Sorry.”
“No,” Rōjūrō shook his head. “It’s you who must forgive me for snapping, I’m just frustrated.”
“Maybe your father will change his mind after a month or two of hard work?”
“Months!” Rōjūrō gave a loud groan of exasperation and fell over from his sitting position, laying at angles to Aikawa. “Don’t say that.”
“I was tryin’ to make you feel better,” Aikawa admitted twisting a bit at the waist to catch the other man’s eye through the unbound strands of his golden hair.
“The effort is appreciated; I just don’t think I can be consoled about being totally cut off from music…my babies…” The blond grabbed Aikawa’s pillow and buried his head underneath it.
This time Aikawa just stayed quiet, listening as Rōjūrō grumbled nonsensical things into the pillow, every once and a while a word like ‘unfair’ or ‘callous’ would carry to his ear. He snickered a bit at the man’s behavior and then commented, “Too bad you can’t sing then.”
Out of the blue Aikawa felt something that had been soft while laying still on his mattress but had definite heft when wielded as a weapon, specifically a pillow swung at the back of his head. “Who says I can’t?!”
“Oi! I never heard you! How was I supposed to know?” Aikawa mumbled turning to aim a half-hearted glare at Rōjūrō.
The noble managed to look sheepish putting the pillow back in its proper place at the head of the bed. “Well I can…I have perfect pitch too,” He shot Aikawa a look that dared him to argue. “That’s actually a decent idea.”
“Gee, thanks,” Aikawa said with a soft shake of his head.
“That’s not what I meant,” Rōjūrō protested.
“Naw I get it,” He crossed his arms over his chest casually and looked away as if affronted. “I insulted you, you insult me.”
“I didn’t mean it at all the way you’re thinking Love; honestly…oh…I mean Aikawa sorrysorry…” Rōjūrō’s voice drifted over the other man’s shoulder, a muffled sound of dismay shortly after it. “Really…” He said imploringly. When he received no answer he made the sound again and Aikawa felt a hand on his shoulder. “Aikawa?”
“Hn?” Aikawa turned as if nothing were amiss, as he met soft purple eyes over his own shoulder and the pale knuckle of the noble’s hand the fingers there tightened. “I know…jus’ messin’ with you,” He let the smallest of grins grace his lips and he gently shrugged off the hand and got to his feet to leave the room.
“Where are you off to?”
“Gonna get to know this place on my own,” Aikawa paused at the doorway. “You wanna tag along?”
“I would love to…” Rōjūrō winced as he said it, and Aikawa wondered how long he would be able to mess with the noble about the inadvertent naming. “Um, how about I catch up…I’m going to change clothes.”
“Have it yer away,” Aikawa nodded and lifted his hand in farewell before leaving down the hall. The noble hardly looked like he’d worn the clothes on him more than a few hours, they were still as impeccable and crisp as they had when Rōjūrō had shown up at Shinō. As he wandered, his bare feet sounding on the hardwood floor of the hall Aikawa let his feet pick the direction since they were so good at it, mind recalling that even after shedding them in a bordello the blond had come out of it looking just as put together.
“Come on now stay together,” A voice caught his attention and he looked around catching sight of a gaggle of what could only be first year students like himself. Anyone he’d seen up until that point had either been in the students’ uniform or the faculty grey, and all of the some odd twenty collected in front of a large pink-haired student in blue and white or the one the dark-haired girl from the entrance exam, Lisa in white and red, wore the clothes that they had arrived in.
“Aikawa-kōhai,” Lisa called as her sharp spectacled eyes caught sight of the new student almost hidden around the turn in the corridor. “We’re just starting the orientation tour, join us!”
#
Rōjūrō carefully tucked in his obi and checked his reflection in the mirrored lid of his vanity trunk. Finding every layer and belt in place he turned to catch up to Aikawa. He was only just around the corner from his quarters when he ran right into a familiar chest. Strong capable arms curled around his narrow waist, pulling him closer as he tried to step back with an apology.
“No apologies,” Mira’s voice caught Rōjūrō’s attention and he looked up into his silver eyes full of laughter.
With a rueful smile Rōjūrō attempted to step back again only to have those arms tighten. “Mira.”
“Yadōmaru-senpai should be around here somewhere doing the first years’ orientation tour…” Mira said in an offhand fashion. “You should let Aikawa know.”
“That sounds like fun but Aikawa’s already gone to show himself around.”
“That’s too bad,” Mira maneuvered them back down the hall toward Rōjūrō’s new quarters. “Are you settling in all right?”
Noticing the direction of their steps Rōjūrō put on the brakes, “Just fine…I was just on my way to find Aikawa.”
“He’ll be back,” Mira cajoled, succeeding in herding the other blond into a less occupied off-shoot of the hall, the kōhai’s back flat against the wall as his senpai leaned over him. “Does he know how much of a deviate you are?”
The blush that had been creeping onto Rōjūrō’s face at his old crush’s nearness, came to a screeching halt and quickly receded at his words. “E-excuse me?”
“Aikawa. Does he know he has to worry about you molesting him in the night?” Mira teased.
Rōjūrō made a half-hearted attempt to push him away, his hand smacking into Mira’s shoulder only to be ignored. “You didn’t seem to mind.”
“What can I say?” Mira leaned in, his breath hot and shiver-inducing as it slid down the neck of Rōjūrō’s kimono. “You opened my eyes.”
Rōjūrō would always be happy to hold that title for Mira, the First Man so to speak. It would have had more meaning had the title stayed the Only Man, but after the younger man had widened his crush’s field of choice Mira had gone on to indulge as equally as he had with noble and commoner’s daughters.
The night had been magical, since Mira had held a place in Rōjūrō’s heart since he’d known what it was like to love someone outside of his family, but also eye-opening. There was a reason Mira had been the very last person Rōjūrō had kissed, let have the intimacy of lips touching, faces brushing, mouth devouring another’s breath…he had passed nothing else up between then and now however.
That tryst had also caused the demolition of the crazy pedestal Rōjūrō had made for the older boy, enabling him to return to the brotherly friendship they’d had.
Up until now apparently.
“I’m glad I helped you grow,” Rōjūrō murmured, making sure to meet the slightly taller man’s gaze so his point would carry across. “Except I’m no longer interested.”
“Don’t lie to me,” Mira placed a hand on the wall near his kōhai’s head, his body very soon pressing Rōjūrō’s into the wall. “Word is you’re still visiting Tani’s in the 38th.”
Since the most recent word was supposed to be kept a secret to avoid scandal Rōjūrō only hissed, “Why? Did Tani mention me while he was servicing you?”
A quiet but kind of unrestrained chuckle came from Mira and he closed the distance to speak against the upper part of the shorter man’s jaw. “Unlike you Tani knows better than to talk with his mouth full.” He moved to transfer the end of the sentence to the younger man’s lips, only to feel resistance in Rōjūrō’s entire body and spiritual pressure.
“Then how about I’m not interested in doing this again with you Mira,” Came out in a rushed whisper while lips recoiled from such a connection, lavender eyes earnest as silver sought them out in rejected bewilderment. “Please don’t make this any harder than it has to be.”
“I don’t think I could be honestly,” Mira confessed with a grin that put lecherous to shame, especially when it was matched with said hardness suddenly very obvious through both their hakama against a jutting hip.
“Mi-ra…” Rōjūrō murmured brokenly, fingers moving up to grip the taller man’s shoulders not managing to either push or pull him. “S-stop.”
“Oi!” Aikawa’s voice boomed in the smaller hallway catching both blonds’ attentions thankfully. He wasn’t looking very pleased, or doing a particularly spectacular job of controlling his reiatsu. “The lady said ‘no’ senpai,” He barked moving close enough to physically help Mira decide to move away if he had to.
“Love--I mean Aikawa I don’t--”
“Really?” Mira turned a little away from Rōjūrō, focusing on the level of his spiritual pressure, letting it rise, letting it push on Aikawa. “Do you even know what I’m doing to you?” He asked as the sudden spike in spiritual pressure quickly overcame the small bit Aikawa had accidentally let spill.
The air did that not-so-nifty trick of turning into sand while inside his lungs; it was much more abrasive for some reason. Aikawa quickly let his own reiatsu grow, now that he knew the trick to it he could just go until he reached…There went the sand. “Yamamoto guy said I had to know how to breathe here.”
“How about…” Mira lifted a hand. “Bakudō number one,” He pointed at the very center of Aikawa’s chest before finishing with, “Sai!”
Rōjūrō watched dismayed as the kidō wrenched his would-be rescuer’s arms back, binding them together in the small of his back. “Mira stop this please.”
Ignoring his kōhai Mira moved to grab Aikawa’s arm, just above the elbow, “Too bad all your reiatsu’s good for is bluster.” At this distance silver eyes easily saw how the other man’s muscles strained against the binding kidō. “Go ahead and try…get free…I’ll give you one shot--”
“Izuru-sama, I beg your pardon,” A familiar voice resounded in the larger hall behind them.
Mira spun to catch sight of Kisuke Urahara as the f*ckutaichō came into sight. “Urahara-f*ckutaichō.”
“Give him here,” Kisuke held a hand out toward Aikawa.
With a frown Mira pushed Aikawa at the f*ckutaichō who easily caught him when he couldn’t balance himself with bound arms. “Gomenasai.”
Both Rōjūrō and Aikawa remained silent in the face of the apology, the former glaring at his childhood friend while the later continued to try and brute force a binding kidō.
Kisuke let Aikawa lean back against him and as they both peered at the sneering Mira the f*ckutaichō whispered in his ear. “It’s a binding kidō, just try focusing your spiritual pressure here…” He said as he gently touched a sensitive spot on Aikawa’s inner wrist, then he surprised Aikawa by shoving him back toward his adversary.
Quickly Aikawa did as he was told; at the same time he pulled with his arms in time to free his hands. He continued toward Mira one large step eating up the space between them moments before Aikawa’s meaty fist snapped forward and caught the noble in what turned out to be his glass jaw.
“Oh!” Rōjūrō gasped as Mira crumbled to the floor.
“That concludes out impromptu hakuda lesson,” Kisuke said in a teacher-like tone as he moved toward the two, ushering the both of them with a hand in the small of their backs. “Don’t you two have a tour to attend?”
“Started already,” Aikawa explained.
Instead of pushing them toward the tour group Kisuke was already heading toward their quarters. “Well I’ll just have to get my captain and she can show you around, she has a uniquely detailed knowledge of the Academy compound.” He stopped them at their shoji and slid it open with his toe. “You both calm down…I’ll check on Izuru-kun, and go find Yoruichi and bring her back here.”
“A’rite,” Aikawa nodded as Kisuke pushed them both inside and closed the shoji behind them. As soon as they were alone, instead of chastising the noble, asking if he was all right, or even talking about what had just happened, “Oi, stop havin’ a fit every time you call me Love.”
“Wha…I don’t know what you mean,” Rōjūrō tried, still looking at Aikawa a little surprised, which was odd since the blond had seen his roommate fight.
“All I’m sayin’ is…you gave me the damn thing, of any one person…” Aikawa leaned forward and purposefully met lavender eyes. “I mean one person…shouldn’t you use it?”
“Really?”
Aikawa only nodded once then went on to ask, “What the hell was that binding kidō bullsh*t?”
The noble kindly let the subject be changed. “It’s a powerful skill…you can shape your reiatsu with words, make it do things like bind someone, harm someone…there’s shields too I believe…my mother’s a master at it.”
“She teach you anything?”
“No, I leaned a lot about the idea of it, but I’ve never said any incantations,” Rōjūrō turned and started toward his belongings, pulling open the trunk that was sitting on it’s side, unintentionally showing Aikawa the large mirror fit into the lid. If Rōjūrō stepped back far enough he could see his entire body in it, which he did, checking himself over for evidence of being roughly handled…not that Mira had gotten much rough handling in before he’d been interrupted. “Okaasan made me memorize the ones I was allowed to know.”
Deciding this kidō sounded like something he needed to learn Aikawa asked, “How long ‘til they teach me that here?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if they started this year…all it takes is rudimentary control of one’s spiritual pressure…in fact the simpler kidōs help some to fine-tune their skill,” Rōjūrō pushed the trunk closed again like a giant book.
“Ryota, the shinigami guy that told me about this place had a sword…they hand those out if you get into the ranks?”
There was a loud wrap of knuckles on the frame of the shoji before Kisuke slid it open and stepped back to allow Yoruichi to appear in the doorway with a ridiculously flourished bow that got him swatted by the princess. “You get your first sword in your zanjutsu lesson you don’t get to use it in a spar until second year,” Yoruichi gestured toward Kisuke who put a hand to the katana shaped sword sheathed at his side and partially unsheathed it. “Most people keep the sword they get…others get a feel for something different.” She pushed aside her captain’s haori to show the much shorter wakizashi-sized zanpakutō for a moment before letting it fall back into place.
“Domo for the tour,” Aikawa murmured to Yoruichi.
#
Although both Yoruichi and Kisuke had the semi-accelerated version of the six year curriculum that nobles were treated to if they had enough money, the tour the two of them made was detailed. Both of the new students still felt they would get lost if they navigated the Academy grounds but they were developing a sense of direction that would only help them when they needed it.
Most of the classes were in the upper levels of the central hub of the building, some of them would move around depending on the needs of the day’s scheduled lesson (say an advance hohō lesson outside where students needed shunpo space).
The first few weeks would be mostly lectures and reading, then tests on what was gleaned from those two sources. The following months would bring in some practical work but still mostly lectures and reading, with the exception (mostly) of hakuda.
Yoruichi covered little things like the central area of their dormitory where the public bath was, separated by sex but otherwise low on privacy unless one strove for it. There was the spot both Yoruichi and Kisuke had dubbed the, “Best Place to Lose Oneself,” which was a hill overlooking the kidō courtyard, underneath a spreading flowery tree. There was the kitchen and the dinning hall which wasn’t always utilized by everyone since the cafeteria delivered to personal quarters at a student’s request.
To go along with all of the common knowledge touring locations Yoruichi had a few not-so-common ones to go along with it. There were numerous shortcuts, hidden exits and even small dead spaces where things were still being concealed by unknown students that had come across it.
In one of those hidden crawlspaces was a surprise. “You didn’t tell me you were playing too!” Mashiro’s voice was unmistakable even if the bit of red showing from her Academy uniform hakama was a bit hom*ogenous. She rolled out of the tight space and didn’t even seem to notice Kisuke or Yoruichi before she was throwing herself into Urahara’s arms.
“Hara-senpai!” Became muffled as she tried to hug the blond into oblivion. “You get to hide now.”
“Maybe later Mashiro we’re giving Aikawa-kun and Rōjūrō-kun here tours of the Academy,” Yoruichi gestured to the younger students. “I’d say we were almost done unless you could think of something.”
“You’re pretty good at showing all the good stuff…and some of the boring stuff like the library,” Mashiro admitted making a face at the idea of the library.
“Oh how could we have forgotten the library,” Yoruichi turned to Kisuke who was pretended to be offended at his own forgetfulness.
Of course along the course of the day the two learned more than just the layout of the place. There was information about the classes, tips on getting on a particular teacher’s good side and for Aikawa basics that seemed common knowledge to everyone else.
There were questions of course, so many about shinigami and spiritual pressure, even some of the rules and mechanics of Soul Society, the World of the Living, Hueco Mundo, Heaven and Hell that Aikawa hadn’t had anyone to answer while spending most of his waking moments alone or avoiding trouble (i.e. people).
Mashiro accompanied them to the library and took over the talking part of the tour, her information on the day-to-day of the Academy inexhaustible, along with the girl’s voice. It took what Mashiro thought was a Kensei Sighting to distract the green-haired girl and send her very suddenly on her own way the opposite direction of the library.
“Damn that girl can talk,” Aikawa said aloud since no one seemed willing to say it.
“That she can,” Yoruichi said with a chuckle. “She definitely has her own opinion and is unafraid of voicing it to others…repeatedly…and at length…it’s almost like when Kisuke starts going on about his experiments.”
“Hey now,” Kisuke pretended offense again before opening one of the large wooden doors into the library, it’s size only dwarfed by the Seireitei Library and the Kuchiki Archive respectively. “You know good things come from them.”
“Sometimes yes,” Yoruichi admitted easily. “Sometimes,” She reiterated as their tour abruptly ran into the official one. “Yadōmaru-kun that can’t be you,” She suddenly said loudly.
The words threw the young senpai off her measured description of what the library might be useful for and even how to loan out a book. Spectacles flashed as the dark-haired girl noticed Yoruichi and surprised the first years that had seen her be nothing but professional, run in the library and throw herself into a hug with a noble in public. “Yoruichi-senpai!”
Yoruichi merely hugged the girl back, pressing a soft sisterly kiss to the top of her head before the girl remembered her manners and stood back. “You’re still observing any chance you get?”
“Always,” Lisa nodded; those that knew her understood that to mean the girl’s insatiable hunger for knowledge, either from books or from people themselves.
Being the youngest through Shinō so far had gotten the smart girl an opportunity to find a mentor like Yoruichi Shihōin. Yoruichi the princess that gave her friend’s tips on spying…outside of a tiny fury body (since the shape-shifting wasn’t really common knowledge). Lisa would be the first to tell anyone that Yoruichi’s larger form wasn’t any kind of hindrance on the princess’s skill either.
“We were just showing these two around,” Yoruichi gestured toward where Aikawa and Rōjūrō stood with Kisuke.
“Not me,” The blond shinigami objected. “I know how to get to all of Watanabe-sensei’s classrooms and fields…he was the only one that gave me sh*t.”
“He dropped half of them and picked up Yamamoto’s field,” The pink-haired student was taller than any of them, Aikawa watched him bring his hands together in front of him to bow over apologetically for interrupting.
They were introduced to Hachigen Ushōda, sixth year, who finished the tour guide malarkey about the library and let the students go explore the bookshelves, asking to meet at the exit in an hour to see the last stop of the tour, the medical wing.
Lisa continued while he was dismissing them with, “Hachigen works there so he can show them all kinds of procedures that’ll help keep them from doing dumb things in class.”
“How about you?” Kisuke asked, not being as in touch with his kōhai as his captain was.
“Our Lisa-kun’s already doing administration for the Academy,” Yoruichi answered for the loquacious girl. “Today was the first time a student clerk was allowed to work for Old Man Yamamoto.”
Lisa tried to distract any eyes from the blush on her face, partially covering it up by adjusting her glasses on her nose. “And I found out Minoru Iba would rather be a professor here than follow in his mother Third Seat Chikane’s footsteps into the Gotei.”
“She was the last one to know,” Kisuke showed that he was eavesdropping even from across the room and Yoruichi treated him with a kiss to the cheek. He clamped a hand over the spot and pretended to be scandalized, “Taichō! There are others watching!”
Yoruichi waved at him dismissing the idea that she should care about an audience, “Only gotei here is you and I…and Lisa, but she knows the value of keeping secrets about others…right?” She turned to look at Lisa who was only smiling, having easily learned one of Yoruichi’s basics lessons long ago. “See?”
“Also…I’m still just honorarily in the eighth,” Lisa reminded everyone listening. “I have to graduate first.”
“You ain’t much younger than Rōjūrō ‘nd me,” Aikawa protested, knowing that the girl was near their age but had to have been close to graduating from the Academy, meaning she had been where they stood at the beginning five or six years their junior.
“No I’m not,” Lisa aimed brilliant teal eyes at him, and it was the first time she let the glare of the lights not obscure their color while doing so. “But I’m still your senpai,” Came out more than a little authoritative and Aikawa couldn’t help the hint of a grin that touched his face, especially when something that could only be longing peeked out from behind the curiosity and the look shot straight to his groin.
“I’ll try ‘nd remember,” Aikawa nodded once and easily saw that Lisa hadn’t missed the mirror of his expression.
“Our little Lisa-kun,” Kisuke’s voice teased and with a tilt of her dark head, Lisa’s sultry eyes were gone behind the glass of her spectacles.
Right beside him Yoruichi put a hand on Aikawa’s shoulder, leaning in as the dirty blond and raven-haired duo drew nearly the library’s whole attention as their voices rose in volume. Aikawa himself was distracted and hardly heard the princess’s voice when she leaned in a little and murmured, “I want to talk to you.”
Proving he wasn’t at all fooled by the jovial discussion the library was being treated to about the size of the various endowments of both of them (mostly complicated technical names of brain parts), Rōjūrō’s lavender gaze trained in on the two as Yoruichi took Aikawa’s elbow to guide him into the bookshelves.
Both of them seemed to feel the curious stare and each looked back at Rōjūrō. Aikawa shrugged and continued walking as if letting the blond know he was clueless about what Yoruichi intended, the princess mouthing the words, “We’ll be right back.”
It didn’t ease the noble’s anxious curiosity.
“Yadomaru-kōhai!” Hachigen’s usually hushed voice actually rose to sound commanding and chastising all at once, just with the girl’s name.
Both Kisuke and Lisa dissolved into soft but unrestrained laughter, attempting to muffle their mirth with their hands or the long sleeves of their uniforms, as if it had been some inside joke of theirs.
“Oh damn,” Kisuke huffed and looked around. “Where--?”
Rōjūrō threw a single thumb over his shoulder pointing toward where Aikawa and Yoruichi had disappeared, “They’ll be back apparently.”
#
Aikawa let his eyes move back and forth over the books he passed, having enough knowledge to know what most of them said, even if his mind was occupied with the hand on his elbow, guiding him until they stopped in the dead-ended aisle. There were places to sit, a small table, and a view into the courtyard outside.
“First off, don’t think about it,” Yoruichi’s voice said very no-nonsense as soon as they were decidedly alone.
With a shake of his head and a small chuckle he shot back, “I have no idea what yer talkin’ about.”
“Lisa-kun is not available publically,” Yoruichi grumbled, now more irritated but thankfully not at Aikawa it seemed.
“The hell does that mean?”
“She’s betrothed to my…well he’s sort of a brother,” With a shake of her purple head she cast golden eyes toward Aikawa, catching his gaze. “Its part of a deal she made with her mother so she could be allowed to enroll at Shinō…She had to submit to the idea of her betrothal, they’ve been promised to each other since Sōjun’s younger brother died.”
“S’the guy she’s stuck with?” Aikawa asked belaying any laid back uninterested façade he’d put forward up until that point with his question.
“Whoever senpai marries will be very happy, once whoever it is gets used to being with a member of one of the four noble houses,” Yoruichi easily saw the questions Aikawa held back, she hadn’t missed one of his tells the entire tour. “There’s more than four of course but there’s only four really powerful ones.”
The princess gave him a quick run through of the four larger noble families (hers included), some of the smaller ones that still held clout (Ōtoribashi the first on that list), going on to explain that her behavior was atypical as far as one of the four noble houses’ usual power-players. “They can have fun, but you could never tell by looking at them,” Yoruichi smiled a little fondly, trying to forget the obligation she’d had to say something to him about Lisa. She went on to say, “My poor Otochan is as set against it as Lisa was, unfortunately he’ll do what he’s told.”
“He’s got a girl?” Aikawa surprised her by asking.
“Hm,” Golden eyes flashed with mischievous glee at the astute question. “How did you know?”
“Don’t,” He shook his head.
“Yes he does, sweet girl from a smaller less genteel noble family Matsuo Kokoa,” Yoruichi seemed pleased to think about the girl, Aikawa nodded as he realized that the princess before him was one of the only people on Lisa and this Sōjun guy’s side. Atypical.
“Message received,” Aikawa gave a nod of his head, almost a bow. “I won’t forget to lock the door.”
Yoruichi laughed aloud, her hand slapping into Aikawa’s back as she almost doubled-over with it. “Glad to hear it.” She took deep breaths to calm herself returning her topic to more tour-related things, mostly where to go next.
“There a music room here?”
tags: bleach, fanfic, het, yaoi
