Noble Love - Bleach (Kuchiki Byakuya x Oc x A bit of Various)

十一

Asa smiled at him. "No, you're not." she said. "I have to admit, it took me a long time to get back on my feet and continue that. But of course, I didn't abandon my duties as a Shinigami."

Her grandfather hummed with approval. "Good." he praised. He suddenly set his teacup down and crossed his arms over his chest. "Before you left Soul Society, you held the title Lieutenant of the 5th Division that was under Aizen Sousuke. Now that you have returned after succeeding the mission despite having that title passed on to Hinamori Momo, I had a thought of entitling you of the same rank. Or higher."

Her eyes widened for a fraction. "Why?" she asked.

"We do not know when will Aizen Sousuke attack Soul Society again." he explained. "Also, most of our Captains and Lieutenants were hurt and deceived by him, falling into his trap. In this situation, we must prioritise preparations for worse situations. To prevent this from happening again, we need a new addition to our list of Captains or Lieutenants who is strong and trustworthy. There are still many problems right now. It's not just about Aizen Sousuke."

"And your decision is...?" she questioned, trailing off at the end as she waited for him to complete the sentence.

"I've decided to make you as Captain." was his reply.

She stared at him in the eyes for a moment before closing hers. "I'm sorry, grandfather." she said apologetically. "I'm afraid I have to turn down the offer."

This caught the old man's interest. "Did I hear that right?" he questioned, to which he earned a nod as a reply. "For someone like you who has dignity, intelligence and are a hard-worker, you deserve to be recognised as one of the Captains of Gotei 13. And someone like you must have a reason to reject the promotion. Let me hear that reason."

"Don't get me wrong, ojii-sama." she began honestly. "Me not accepting the Captain position doesn't mean I have something against Gotei 13. It's just that I do not wish to be tied down to so many responsibilities that I won't be able to have time for Rukongai." A soft smile then flickered across her face. "I would like to see them again in the future, even if I am to be assigned to one of the thirteen Divisions."

Yamamoto was silent for some time, which worried his granddaughter whether she had offended him, and much to her relief, he heaved a sigh and said, "Very well. You may be my granddaughter, but I don't have the right to force you to do something that displeases you. But I still believe that you need to utilise your abilities somewhere. If I were to assign you to be the 3rd Seat, will that be alright for you?"

Asa smiled at him. "I think that's much better." she said.

"Then it's decided." he finalised. "I will discuss this with the other Captains during the next meeting, and let the Lieutenants have their say."

Asa then bowed to him, saying, "Thank you, ojii-sama."

He grunted to acknowledge that, giving her the cue to straighten herself up, before taking a bite on a red bean mochi. "I'm glad you're back, my granddaughter." he said lowly with a small smile.

The woman sitting opposite him smiled back at him. "So am I, ojii-sama." she said before taking a mochi for herself.

The following day, Asa was walking around Runkongai after distributing clothes to everyone, until she arrived at a small vegetable shop and went inside. The shop was full of fresh fruit and vegetables, and surprisingly, they were fresher than the ones sold in Seireitei. "Excuse me!" she called when the shopkeeper wasn't in sight.

Just then, an old woman walked out from the back room. "Can I help you?" she responded in a kind tone. She was taken by surprise when her gaze landed on the familiar woman across her. "Oh my! Asa-chan! Is that you?"

"Yes, it's me, Kanako-san." she said after giggling at her excitement.

The said woman laughed wholeheartedly. "Why, it's so great to see you again!" she chirped as she made her way towards the Shinigami. "All of us were worried when you said you would be gone for twenty years. You even nearly gave my poor husband a heart attack! We were so relieved that you came back in one piece. But we're even more relieved when you came back to visit us, which means you haven't forgotten about us!"

Asa gave her a closed-eye smile. "Of course." she said. "Everyone here had became a family to me."

The old woman nodded understandingly before her attention went back to the vegetables. "So how can I help you?" she asked.

With Kanako's help, Asa picked out the vegetables she wanted before checking out at the counter. She even gave the old woman extra money that was a month worth of food, as well as for the maintainance the shop. Kanako bowed and thanked her multiple times as she walked out while waving at her. On her way back to Seireitei with the bags of vegetables, Asa heard the sound of baby birds chirping. She looked around the empty street of the Rukongai, following the source of the sound. Soon, she found herself standing in front of a dirty box. Asa knelt down and opened the box. Whatever that was inside caused her face to light up, and a smile stretched across her face. She closed the box back and picked it up before continuing her journey home.

Back at the Sasaki Family Manor, once Asa had dropped off the vegetables in the kitchen, she took the box to the garden, where she cleared up the area beneath the house and began building a nest right next to one of the stilts, making sure that it was near the lake where koi fish were swimming about. After clearing up some mud, she wandered around the garden to pick up some branches and dried grass that were suitable for the nest. However, while building the nest, her butler came out of the house and gasped when he saw what was his Mistress doing.

"Asa-sama, please stop whatever you are doing!" he cried comically.

"Eh?" she responded confusedly, blinking owlishly at him. "Why?"

This only panicked Eiichi even more, as he noticed her robes were soiled at the hems and sleeves. "You are the Mistress of this household, and you shouldn't trouble yourself with such tedious work. Come, let's go inside so we can get you changed, and have the gardener handle this matter."

Asa was becoming more confused than before, because he made it look like it was urgent, as if she had a meeting to attend or so. "It's okay, Eiichi-san." she assured before going back to building the nest. "I'll be done in a short moment."

"But it cannot wait, Asa-sama!" cried the said man, who was becoming more exasperated than before.

"What cannot wait?" she clarified, but her attention didn't avert to him as she placed few more twigs in the nest.

"Kuchiki-sama is coming for dinner." was his reply that greatly surprised her.

"What?" she exclaimed. She got up too early and bumped her head against the wooden floor above her, forcing her to bend down and step out to look at the panicking butler. "Byakuya-san is coming over? I didn't know this."

"It came in at the last minute." he explained. "His servant dropped by right after you left to deliver the message. He said Kuchiki-sama will come at seven in the evening." Asa watched him dash into the house, and within a few seconds, he ran back out and stood at his original spot. "We have an hour before he arrives. We don't have time to waste, Asa-sama! I don't think the sight of you with soiled clothes will please him!" With that, he went back into the house, and his booming voice ordering servants around rang through the building.

A sweat drop appeared on the back of her head as she watched her butler panicking instead of her. "I-I see." was all she could say. 'He reminds me of those mothers who get excited and anxious about a guest coming to the house.' she deadpanned. She bent down once more, but this time, she was helping the ducklings to move into their new home. The ducklings waddled around the nest to inspect it before staying inside and began to doze off, showing her that they fell in love with it. Satisfied, Asa left the ducklings be and went inside the house to get ready.