Kuchiki Byakuya is cold and confident. (vibrant_display) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-11-17 15:55:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, byakuya kuchiki, rukia kuchiki |
Who: Byakuya and Rukia Kuchiki
What: Breakfast, the morning after Byakuya’s first dream.
When: Aaaaaaaaa bit ago! Beginning of November? Ish.
Rating: Low
Status: Complete!
It had been a long Halloween night in which Byakuya had tried to make sure (with frequent check-ins) that Rukia was all right and not in danger of being accosted, murdered, held for ransom, get run over, or any of 38923823 different things that could befall her if he didn’t keep a close eye on her and protect her, like he had promised Hisana he would do.
He had not handed out candy, the gates were locked up, and there was no trace of that ridiculous holiday at all, anywhere on the estate. If this is the way the holiday season started out, it was going to be a hell of a time at the Kuchiki mansion when Christmas rolled around.
He didn’t wait up for Rukia, sure that the bodyguards were keeping their distance enough that she was safe and still was allowed to have a good time. Sometime after midnight, he fell asleep, certain they would give him a phone call if anything did go wrong or if she showed any signs of not coming home. No calls woke him, and - when the dream started - he actually would have rather had that sort of call come in to wake him up.
Instead, he was younger, and practicing his sword skills when his grandfather...much the same as he was in this life when he was alive...came to visit him. That was a welcome development.
Then his grandfather had stated he had brought a friend, and Byakuya felt a boob bounce one side of his face off it. That was an unwelcome development, as soon as the shock and surprise wore off, and he swung his practice sword at a laughing were-cat bitch that dared touch his face in such a rude manner.
Thus began a whole round of bickering and him losing his temper after she stole the tie holding his hair back and issued a challenge to....he wasn’t sure what flash step even was, but he was set on beating her at it. He moved so fast, and yet it felt so natural to him. Even when he woke up, sitting up abruptly and eyes wide, the memory of the sensation of moving from one place to another faster than the eye could see, was burned into him.
He had to rest both hands on the bed to tell himself he was still stationary.
A deep breath and Byakuya got out of bed, his thoughts burdened by how real the dream seemed, of how tall his grandfather and that were-cat were in comparison to him. He got dressed and went downstairs for breakfast, looking sleepily disheveled. In fact, he wasn’t troubled looking, since he looked like his usual distant self as he sat at the table, staring straight ahead, waiting for the food to be served.
Thankfully Rukia didn’t have the problem of having those weird dreams yet. She had gone to the party with Orihime and then she came home to sleep. It had been a relatively quiet day, unless you counted her friend’s spazzing, which she barely did. She just ate some candy and had some cider and that it was it really. She had mostly ignored her brother, not because she wanted to but because well she didn’t think he’d approve of her going out.
Of course she wasn’t stupid enough to think that he didn’t know that she’d gone out. The next morning, she’d dressed and come down to breakfast. She sat down across from him at the giant table and stared at him. Wow. He looked.. like he hadn’t slept in a while, but she couldn’t be totally sure. Her eyebrows knitted together, but she didn’t know how to say something except..
“Good morning.”
He really didn't look like it had been good quality sleep at all. That is what getting some shape shifting cat woman's breast shoved in his face and losing his temper tended to do, when he was asleep.
For a long moment, it seemed as though Byakuya wasn't going to say a word, then his eyes moved and he looked over at Rukia, like he was inspecting her for any scuffs, scrapes, scratches, bruises, or any other signs of wrongdoing that had been done against her. There wasn't anything of the sort there, but he was simply doing his usual visual appraisal so he didn't have to find any culprits and have the family ninjas kill them.
They weren't really ninjas, but bodyguards. Whatever. Almost the same.
He blinked once, twice, and then said in an utterly flat voice, "Good morning, Rukia." Breakfast was served and it wasn't even traditional Japanese breakfast, but the whole spread of fruit, eggs, toast, pastries, and banana walnut maple pancakes, because he felt the need to indulge after that kind of nightmare.HE NEEDS CARBS.He reached over for the cup of tea while asking her, "Did you have an enjoyable Halloween."
Look. He's trying to make conversation. In his mind, it will probably be another failed attempt - he knew he was the worst conversationalist ever - but it was worth a try.
If he had just said to her ‘hey I dreamed about a cat-woman and she had boobs and put them in my face’ there would be absolutely no way that she could contain the horror and laughter that would come for her. She would absolutely know that he had lost his damn mind. Still though she wondered if he was getting the necessary sleep.
Thankfully she looked completely well. No bruises. No scrapes. And she actually looked like she wasn’t hung over and she looked like she had slept. She looked even better than him. So hmph. Ninja bodyguards. Obviously. But they hadn’t found her doing anything out of the ordinary either. Just hanging around.
She took some food for herself. Not quite all the stuff that he was having, but her plate was full. “Um.. yeah. It was nice enough. What did you do?” Besides spy on her.
Oh, he's getting geared up to talk to her about the dreams, but he is taking his own usual sweet time doing so, and formulating the best approach, because he has to keep up anal retentive appearances. Oh, and since she looked well, so no one needed to die. Byakuya approves of this. He even made a 'hm' sound of approval as he was chewing veeeeery slooooowly on a bite of banana pancake.
If anyone thinks it's funny that he likes bananas so much? Shut up. They are nutritious fruits and high in potassium. He will tell you so. In monotone.
Once he was able to speak - because one doesn't talk with their mouth full - he replied, "I finalized buying the house next door so that I can have it demolished. The neighbors threw too many pool parties." A pause. "On occasion, I could hear them."
Heaven's forbid other people live close enough to be heard.
"...then I retired for the evening." Another pause, as he sawed into his pancakes with a little too much force. He might even have an eye twitch. He is trying to keep that contained as well. "I believe I had one of those dreams that those on the network speak of."
See? He said it. He didn't say what it was yet, but he has to work his way up to it. He'll continue, after he's done slowly and methodically murdering his food with a knife and fork.
Watching him eat banana pancakes was amusing to her, only because she couldn’t think of him eating anything but cardboard pancakes. Like any kind of food with flavor might harm him in some way. Maybe she assumed a lot of stuff about her brother-in-law that she shouldn’t. It was still amusing though. She’d continue to be amused until she wasn’t anymore.
“So.. you’re buying out the house next to us and kicking them out because they had a pool party that was too loud?” she asked, without any judgment. She just wanted to know if that was what she was hearing.
When he started talking about the dreams though, she full out balked at hi. “Wait? Are you telling me that you think that you’ve had one of those bizarre dreams that crazy people have?”
He finished the slaughter and looked like he was focused on contemplating the mysteries of the universe, as he stared straight forward, chewing. Oh so slowly. And once he was done, he blinked. Once. Twice. And then he closed his eyes, like he was willing himself into a zen-like trance.
"Yes. But I paid them twice the property's worth and they agreed, immediately." Because they could get a bigger house with a bigger pool, and he can bulldoze it and put in a very huge garden, and not have noisy neighbors on that side of their estate. It makes sense to him. He is still attempting his zen state , as he further replied, "Yes. I believe I did. I can not recommend the experience. It was...."
It was distasteful and infuriating, being boobed and then beaten in a shunpo race by the were-cat.
"...nothing I wish to experience, ever again."
He began to eat the remainder of his pancakes, casting looks over at Rukia every so often, like he was studying her closely.
Rukia really wished that she was surprised that her brother had just bribed someone to pack up all of their things and move because he wanted them to. She just really didn’t get him at all. And fighting with him would do no good, because clearly he didn’t know how to be a decent person. She just sighed and shook her head, reaching for a piece of toast so that she could put some jelly on it.
She took a bite and thought about what he said. He’d really really lost it, hadn’t he? “And you’re telling me that you actually believe those people? Because I was sure that if anyone was going to say that it was ridiculous and obviously impossible, it would be you. Because you sound crazy.” Everyone did.
The home is meant to be a place of tranquility and relaxation, with occassional sedate social functions in which everyone minds their manners and no one speaks loudly, because that would be uncouth. He has no idea that his dream lieutenant was a loud mouth and some loud mouthed substitute shinigami would be loudly calling him by first name, in the familiar. When he does someday recall that, his inner eyetwitch will be most mightly, indeed. Outwardly? Not a damn difference. Well, not unless he had to go from a stare to a glower...but that would require effort to actually have an expression on his face.
After a long moment to think over the dream again, Byakuya replied, "I am aware that it sounds far-fetched. I do not know if I fully believe it in a broad sense, but I am aware that the quality of the dream is vastly different from any other dreams I have had, ever before. It is almost...tangible. I suppose it like lucid dreaming, without any semblence of control over the outcome."
He had made it a point to read up on possible reasons that it might be happening, after they moved there and he had read things on that network about it.
"You have not experienced it," he asked, without really asking. It was more like a statement of a fact, gathered from her response. He didn't appear to be peturbed by her saying he sounded crazy.
Rukia was not looking forward to getting those dreams at all, if she ever had one. Of course that one kid on the internet asked her if she remembered him. Like a crazy person. At least she knew why he looked like he hadn’t slept. She was willing to concede that he had some crazy kind of dream that he didn’t really understand. “I don’t envy you having all of the weird dreams. I haven’t had any weird dreams, at least none that I can remember,” she confirmed. Even though he hadn’t actually asked her.
She was just kind of glad that it was him that had gone crazy and not her. “It looks like you picked just the right place to move us,” she said sarcastically as she ate her breakfast.
Byakuya did get an eye twitch right then, when Rukia said that. It was so subtle, that it would probably only be observable under a microscope. At least she wasn't suffering from the same affliction that he now had and he hoped not. It was disconcerting.
He also wanted more than anything to rub at his eyes, but that wasn't an act one did in public, even if it would feel quite satisfying. He wasn't fully aware that he looked as tired on the outside as he felt on the inside.
"There was business to conduct and I thought the change of location might benefit us both," he said, before taking a sip of his tea. "It was not my desire to subject you to any strangeness or insanity. If you wish to be sent back, that can be arranged. It would go against my promise if I subjected you to any harm, be it physical or otherwise."
And that was as much as he wanted to think about Hisana, much less mention her name aloud. That was likely why he fell silent and was staring into his mostly empty tea cup, as though he was willing it to magically refill itself.
There wasn’t anyone in the kitchen but them. She really didn’t get him at all. There was no understanding when she looked at him. Even though she got that he missed her sister, it was still beyond anything that she could comprehend. Who didn’t want to rub their eyes just because she was there? He was so weird.
“I hate to break it too you, but you can’t actually prevent me from getting hurt. No one can do that. The world doesn’t work that way.” She didn’t say anything about going back home though. “You’d really let me leave and go back to Japan and not deal with this?”
It was really tempting. She kind of wanted to take him up on it.
Rubbing one's eyes was an indicator that they were tired, or bored, or fidgety, and he wasn't raised to do such things. It was unsightly. He had an image of capability to uphold, after all.
That was why he would do that in his office during his morning meetings and phone calls, when there were no webcams on him and the secretary had left the room. He would simply look bleary-eyed until then.
"I can make every attempt within my power to prevent it from happening," he said, finally setting the cup back down. "I am considering sending you home with some of the servants, if it will spare any of you from enduring such dreams. If there are signs of anyone under this room coming to any potential harm, then they will be sent back, immediately."
It must have been really tiring being him. She didn’t think she ever wanted to know what it was like to be him. How he could live like that, she had no idea.
She sighed and ate some more of her food, glancing over at the clock to make sure that she wasn’t going to miss class or anything. “I guess so. I’ll be fine though.” And that meant that if she ever had dreams, she was really not going to talk to him about it. And be sent back home? No way.
“Maybe we should all go back. Since we’re all at risk?” she offered with a shrug.
It was unbelievably tiring, but he never, ever wanted to admit it.
"I had considering that as well," he admitted, after a long pause. "I have too much business to attend to now, that I can leave in anyone else's hands. I must oversee it all. The first priority is that, should it happen, that it is not harmful to you. Should it become so, then I trust you will tell me."
He looked over at her for a few seconds, before directing his eyes forward again. They were half open, so that he looked like he was about to fall asleep.
"How are your classes," he asked, since he supposed he should try speaking a little bit over meals, even if he was only able to do that in small doses.
“All right. I’ll tell you if they become too mess up. I don’t think I’m going to have dreams though. that just sounds weird.” What could she possibly dream about? She glanced over at him and looked actually a bit worried about him.
“You might want to try to get a nap in, you look awful.” Well okay so maybe she was worried but still snarky about it.
“They’re fine. Boring and I don’t like them, but fine.”
"It is strange. I am not fond of it, already."
He woke up wanting to punch every black cat he saw, which was why there was going to be a ban on all black cats on the estate. They must be kept out of his sight, at all times. Or he would get the mother of all eye twitches.
He closed his eyes and looked like he might have fallen asleep sitting up, perfectly straight. Maybe Rukia was right. He might need the extra sleep. In fact, he felt like he hadn’t gotten any, at all.
"You can make it through them, and then begin your medical degree," he said, and he meant it to sound reassuring, but Byakuya's voice was it's usual flat, emotionless monotone. He stood up, intending to leave. There was a pause before he did that. "...I will give some serious consideration to your advice."
He meant her advice regarding the nap. Of course.
"Well maybe it will get better." That was the only thing she could think of to say.
She wanted to ask what he dreamed about, but she wasn't sure if he would say. Maybe he'd tell her one of these days.
"I will," she agreed with a nod of her head. "Sleep well if you do." She grabbed one more muffin so she could get up and go to class.
Byakuya wasn't sure that it would get better. Not considering how much he had read about it on the network, going back as far as he could stand over several months, to keep informed.
He made a low 'hmm' sound and nodded back at her, before he went to his office. Where he was going to do undignified things, like fold his arms on his desk and plant his face down on them. Mmmhmm.