Matsumoto's Party (Bleach Fanfiction) [Completed]

Chapter Seven: A black ribbon

“You helped with the party, so you deserve to go first!!!” She shoved the hat at you, not really giving you a choice on the matter. Sighing, you put your hand in the hat. Shuffling your hand around, you felt something smooth wrap around your wrist. Pulling your hand out, you found a long, thin, black ribbon there.

“A black ribbon? Rangiku, who’d you put this in for?” You asked. You had a strange feeling you already knew, though.

“Why, Captain Kuchiki, of course!”

Your eyes widened. Captain…Kuchiki?! Why him?! Glancing over your shoulder to him, you saw him stand and walk to the closet. He didn’t seem too happy, but, then again, you could never really tell how he felt. He was always so serious. Now, it wasn’t like you hated him or anything. You loved him a lot. Every time you talked to him, you were always calm, though inside you wanted to just hug him and tell him how you felt.

Suddenly, Rangiku grabbed you and threw you into the closet. You landed on something, which dropped to the ground. “Have fun~” She slammed the door, a ‘click’ signaling that it was now locked. You stayed down a short while, blinking as your eyes adjusted to the darkness. It wasn’t that dark, but there wasn’t a lot of light. Though when your eyes did become accustomed to the light, you realized that what you landed on was not something, but someone. You were on top of your crush, your arms on the ground beside his head.

“S-Sorry, Captain Kuchiki!” You stuttered, moving to get off of him. You sat next to him as he sat up. “I didn’t mean for th-that to happen.” He turned his face and looked at you. You instantly froze, thinking that he was going to lecture you or something. But when he opened his mouth to speak, you were surprised by what he said.

“Don’t be sorry.” He hesitated before lifting his hand. You sat still, confused as to what he was about to do. His hand cupped your left cheek; black, uncertain eyes stared into yours. Before you realized it, his lips were against yours. Yes, it took you off guard and you were shocked, but there was something that made you wonder why is Captain Kuchiki doing this? Yeah, the kiss was unusual for him, but if he ever did kiss anymore, you would have thought it would be forced and emotionless, but what surprised you was that it was more…timid. Yes, timid. But does that mean he’s timid? You wondered. Even though these thoughts were going through your head, your body had a quick response to the kiss, and you ended up kissing him back. A small jolt went through your body as you did.

He pulled away, his eyelids half closed over his eyes.

“Captain Kuchiki…” You looked at him in confusion as his face showed something you never thought you would see from him; pain. Retched pain. Sudden waves of worry washed over you. “Captain, are you okay?”

“I am just fine, ________,” He said. His voice was calm, but you knew he was lying. “It’s just…you remind me so much of…” He trailed off, and for the first time ever, you saw a small tear run down his cheek, and you understood completely. You reminded him of Hisana, his late wife.

Without really thinking about it, you wiped the tear away and hugged him, as you would do to a close friend who was upset. You didn’t really know what to say, so you just hugged him. He didn’t really move, but you knew he was weeping years’ worth of tears silently; tears that had wanted to escape in past decades, but were forbidden to.

After several minutes, you pulled away enough to look at him. His tears were gone, but there were tear trails still visible, though only when looked at closely.

“____________......” He said your name gently.

“Yes, Captain?”

“….Thank you.”

You blinked once or twice before smiling slightly and saying, “You’re welcome, Captain.”

Before the door opened up, the two of you sat down next to each other and he made what was left of the trails disappear. You were still a bit shaken up by what happened when you walked out of the closet, the partygoers outside in the room were complaining how you guys did nothing at all. You sat back down in your spot between Rukia and Aizen, and Captain Kuchiki did the same, sitting between Renji and Captain Hitsugaya.

The next person up was Orihime. She picked out an object that you couldn’t get a good look at, but the way Rangiku’s face lit up told you that she had gotten who Rangiku wanted her to get. And it turned out to be Ichigo. She forced the two of them into the closet together and you all sat there, talking or just being silent. Mainly it was you, Kuchiki, Hitsugaya, and Ishida who were silent.

When Rangiku opened the door, you all saw that Ichigo had Orihime pushed up against the wall, his hand gone up her shirt and their lips together.

“Get a room, you two!” Ikkaku laughed.

Blushing, they moved apart, and Ichigo swore at Ikkaku. “Shut the hell up, Madarame!!"

“Oh c’mon, you know you want to do just what I said!” Others started to laugh as well as Ichigo took Orihime’s hand and lead her back to their seats. He grumbled under his breath as he went.

-A few more turns later…-

Uryu and Nemu Kurotsuchi had just gone in, and their time was about up when Rukia looked at you and asked, “So, what happened with you and my brother?”

You looked at her and blinked. You couldn’t tell her what happened. She knew how much you liked her brother, but if she knew he cried….it would ruin him. And there was no way you could do that to him. Not ever. “Nothing really. We barely even talked.” She frowned and was about to say something when you added, “Rukia, I think I’m going to go home, okay? I’m exhausted and since my turn’s already over, I think I should just go.”

She just looked at you for a moment, then nodded. “All right. Good night, ______________.”

“Good night, Rukia.” You got up and went to the office door. As it slid closed behind you, you heard the uproar of the others. Uryu and Nemu must have been caught in a lip lock or something. Walking back to your squad, your mind wandered off back to the closet, replaying it in your head. The kiss, the tears, the hug, the hurt and pain on the captain’s face. It made you feel so sad to see him in a vulnerable state. You and everyone else had always known him to be sophisticated and cold. Hell, you even heard others say he was heartless, and that if he did have a heart, it was frozen in a cold, ice case. But that was a lie. You knew that, and this only proved it more.

There was a sudden presence behind you and, being the trained fighter that you were, you turned around, ready to throw a punch when you stopped. A familiar figure stood there, looking at you with his black eyes.

“Captain Kuchiki… Why aren’t you at the party?” You wondered aloud.

“I was going to ask you the same thing…” He replied, his voice calm and back to its usual state.

“Oh, I was just going back to my squad. It was a long day today, so I thought it better to…” He cut you off by kissing you gently.  Again, his actions surprised you, but yet again, you kissed back. He wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you closer to him as you wrapped your arms around his neck.

When the two of you pulled away, he said softly, “__________, I love you.”

You looked at him, shocked. He loved you? Even after all he went through, he could still love another? “Captain… I…I love you, too.” The two of you kissed again, ending the night on a good note.