Until Next Time

Chapter one

Byakuya's POV

"Despite my clear distaste for the idea, I have been told that you will be accompanying Jushiro to the world of the living. You will behave yourself, listen to him and not jeopardize the mission. You'll be meeting him tomorrow morning at first light so I suggest you have an early night. Dismissed" I nodded and bowed respectfully, as I should. I knew this would happen at some point, it was only a matter of time even though I'm not considered ready for any assignments.

As soon as I returned home I was handed a stack of papers to read before tomorrow. Not that I was bothered by it, it gave me something to do while I had freetime. While reading a few of the pages I gathered we were going to be investigating the hollow activity, which had increased suddenly in a certain town called Karakura. I'd not heard of it before. There were a few individuals that I would personally be keeping an eye on, because of the apparent rumor of their spiritual energy, meanwhile Jushiro would be dealing with the more advanced tasks. Whatever that meant was beyond me, not that it really mattered much. I expect it would be the more combat focused tasks since I'm still young, so I would be forbidden to do tasks like that at the moment. "Master Byakuya, Captain Ukitake is here to see you" I turned around to see Kaiya at my door with Jushiro in tow. "Thank you, I thought I would be seeing you tomorrow Captain" He smiled at me and laughed a little. "Indeed, but I thought I'd come and see how you're doing, after all it's your first assignment outside soul society" It amazes me how someone can be so considerate. "It shouldn't be too bad, after all I have you with me anyway just in case something goes wrong" He nodded and smiled again. "Don't let Gineri get to you, he's just worried is all, I know what he said to you earlier and it sounded worse than he meant it, honestly. Make sure to get a good night's rest, you've got a busy day tomorrow" He waved at me and took his leave, for once I decided to take someone else's advice and got into bed to try and get some sleep.

The next morning I woke up feeling exhausted, I also had a strange dream involving a girl, although I have no idea who she is which made it even more unusual. I did consider talking to my grandfather about it but it seemed more hassle than it was worth so I decided to just try and forget about it. The thing that was bugging me is that she was a soul reaper. I knew the vast majority due to my family and myself being one already, the fact we also seemed very close irritated me... Surely I must know her if that's the case. No matter. I have more important things to worry about right now. "Morning, don't look too happy now will you kiddo? It doesn't hurt to smile every now and then" Forcing a smile was an option but there was little point when it'd be obvious. "You know very well any teenager doesn't smile this early in the morning..." Jushiro looked at me and shook his head. "You're like your father, you know that? I know you probably hear that far too often... Anyway, we'd best be off" Too often isn't the word. I'm constantly being compared to him, regardless of the fact I know nothing about him. It irritates me actually. All I've ever been told is he was a good man who died with dignity, that's all, nothing about my mother either.

"I forgot to mention what I need you to do, as you probably read in the papers, you'll be keeping a close eye on individuals with high spirit energy. However there's only one I want you to focus on, there have been reports that hers is equal to that of some low rank soul reapers. So I've taken the liberty of enrolling you in the school, I hope you like homework Byakuya" School huh? Seems easy enough. "Are you sure I can pass for a student? Aren't there age groups here?" He chuckled and handed me a uniform. "Of course, it's a high school. You're about the right age to be in a second year class so don't worry about it. I've put information about the girl on your desk in your room, take a look over them and you'll start tomorrow. Oh and here- A key to the flat, can't have you waiting around for me every night now can I? There's also a gigai in your room for you to use while we're here" I took the clothes and nodded, retreating to my room to sort out my things. Gigai's without someone using them looked awfully strange. After quickly adjusting to the temporary body, I changed into some night clothes and started reading the papers. Once I saw her picture, I remembered my dream last night, she was the girl. Something's going to happen to her and she'll become a soul reaper. Currently I didn't feel like going to sleep, so I changed into something appropriate to go out in and left quietly. After all, I'm supposed to be supervised so I can't have Jushiro knowing I'm sneaking around this late. The town looked surprisingly nice during at this time, when we arrived it was still light so I card very little, but know I see how beautiful the world of the living can be.