#what if this had happened in the film | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

recurring-polynya · 3 months

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hello I love your writing and I wish you many fun story-ideas to toy with! if Squad 6 are drawn together by the ritual of poetry night, is there a Squad 13 tradition... or has any such thing died out with them in disarray, and Rukia maybe the person to start some new tradition as their new lieutenant? Would the vice-captains know and poke fun at each squad's takes on non-work-team-bonding-time, or would they be a little private?

I hope you don't mind, but I actually combined this prompt with this one from @voxluxenjoyer: -Young Byakuya, rabble-rousing at Squad 13

I'm going to be up front about this: what follows is based almost entirely on my own goofy Byakuya-early-career headcanons as well as this post I made in 2021 about Ukitake liking movies, so if you're wondering where if anything in here is supported by canon, the answer is "surely not."

Thank you both for your suggestions, I had an absolutely lovely time writing this.

(read on ao3)

🎞️ 🎥 🍿

"So, the thing about a month-long deployment," said Sixth-Seat Kotetsu, "is that you will not need to be on high alert twenty-fours a day. Doing a circuit around your patrol area a few times a day should be fine. Both Hollows and Pluses tend to be more active during the night-time, so I like to do one in the evening, one sometime between midnight and dawn, and one during the day. You won't need to sleep in the World of the Living--"

"I know that."

"--but you will need to rest. You can sit somewhere quietly. If you de-manifest, that's fine, that's natural. Some people do, some people don't."

"I will not de-manifest."

"You'll either just pop back into reality when you're rested, or it'll definitely happen if there's some disturbance in the ambiance reiatsu. It's not at all like sleeping, it's more like when you get bored and get lost in your own thoughts."

"I do not do that. Also, as I told you, I will not de-manifest."

"In any case," Kotetsu said, making what Byakuya considered to be a very dismissive hand gesture, "you should also take the opportunity to explore the Living World. This is your first time, right?"

"I have been to the World of the Living on three occasions, all under school auspices."

Kotetsu wrinkled her nose and flapped a hand, "Oh, field trips don't count!"

"My grandfather says that the culture of the Living is degenerate, and we would do best not to become too enamored of it."

Kotetsu sucked her teeth for a moment. "Well, I'm not going to argue with anyone's grandfather, but the fact is, here in Squad Thirteen, we deal with the recently dead, and you'll be better at dealing with the recently dead if you have some idea of what it's like over there."

"I suppose that is fair."

Sixth Seat Kotetsu cleared her throat primly. "But speaking of being enamored with the World of the Living--do you know what 'moving pictures' are?"

Byakuya felt the corners of his mouth turn down immediately. "It is some vulgar new form of entertainment, is it not?"

"Oh, it's not vulgar!" Kotetsu protested. "Are you talking about the one where the people kissed? That one was imported from America, they're just like that over there. Sentarou saw that one! I was so jealous--!"

"Are they not all imported?" Byakuya did not wish to hear any more about the kissing movie than he possibly had to.

"The first ones were, but they're making them right in Japan now!"

"Why are we talking of this again? Are we done with my briefing?"

"We are almost done. Anyway, Captain Ukitake loves moving pictures, but he doesn't get to go to the Living World very often, so we have this little tradition--"

"No."

"--of going to see one, and he'll have tea with you when you get back and you can tell him all about it! And the rest of your trip, as well, but having the movie to talk about makes it less awkward. It's a good opportunity to spend time with the captain!"

"Captain Ukitake is a friend of my family. I have taken tea with him many times. I do not need to go see a dreadful piece of human entertainment in order to talk to Captain Ukitake."

Kotetsu narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "Eleventh Seat Kuchiki," she said firmly.

Byakuya refused to meet her gaze. He knew that he had not been sufficiently respectful to his senior officer several times during this conversation, but nearly all the officers at the Thirteenth were so casual. Also, by all rights, he would outrank her, if the Thirteenth didn't have that stupid rule that you needed at least two years of service to be named to one of the top ten seats. "Yes, ma'am?" he finally muttered.

"Go see the movie."

---

"So," Grandfather finally said, as he did every evening at dinner, "what's today's news from the Thirteenth Division?"

Byakuya had been waiting eagerly for this, but then his father and grandfather had gotten enmeshed in a very long and boring discussion about some proposed new leave policy that Grandfather wasn't a fan of. Byakuya's attention snapped back to the present. He sat up a little straighter and cleared his throat. "I received a special assignment today," he said. "I am being sent on a month-long detail to the World of the Living."

"Hmm," said Grandfather, "is that so?"

Byakuya realized, both belatedly and stupidly, that his mission had likely already been run by his grandfather and approved. You couldn't just send the scion of the Kuchiki off to another plane of existence, no matter how competent he had already shown himself to be. He should have phrased his announcement differently. He should have--

"How do you feel about that, Byakuya?" Father asked, an edge of genuine excitement in his voice.

"I am glad to have the experience, I suppose, even if it is a bit of menial duty," Byakuya said, trying to sound very blase about it. "Not all squads have regular postings in the World of the Living, and once I have done my two years and am appointed Third Seat, I'll be too busy for things like that."

"Well, enjoy this nice meal while you can," Grandfather pointed out, picking up a piece of firefly squid with his chopsticks. "And your nice soft futon. You won't have either over there. It's a tough duty."

"Oh, but there's so much to see!" Father exclaimed. "I'm sure you'll be up to it."

"Have you ever been, Father?" Byakuya asked, poking at his dinner.

"I've been on sorties," Father replied. "I've never had an extended deployment." He glanced at Grandfather out of the corner of his eye, then smiled his kind smile. "I'm a little jealous, to be honest."

"That's because you're starry-eyed, Soujun," Grandfather said sternly. "You get excited by anything new and shiny. Byakuya's a practical lad, like his old grandfather. He doesn't care about whatever damn whimsy the humans are mooning over these days."

"I'm not going to sightsee," Byakuya protested. "I'm going to fight Hollows, of course."

"You're going to take care of Pluses," Grandfather corrected. "Every Hollow is a konsou that a shinigami failed to perform."

"Of course, Grandfather," Byakuya agreed quickly. "That is what I meant. What I was trying to say."

"There will probably be a Hollow to two to fight," Father said with a wink. "Ones that are other peoples' fault."

"And I will take care of those, too!"

Grandfather harrumphed, at which one of them, Byakuya wasn't quite sure.

"Well, I'm glad you aren't feeling nervous about it," Father added. "Not that I would expect you to, but it is a long time to be off under your own direction, in an unfamiliar place. When do you leave?"

"In three days," Byakuya replied.

Father took a long sip of his tea, then set his cup down. "I know you are very good at handling things by yourself, Byakuya, but if you think of any questions, don't hesitate to ask your superiors before you go. The officers of the Thirteenth have a lot of experience with this kind of thing, and their advice will be very valuable."

"About that." Byakuya resisted the urge to roll his chopsticks between his fingers. He put them down on their holder instead so that he wouldn't. "Sixth Seat Kotetsu gave me a bit of a silly order and I don't want to do it."

Grandfather's eyebrows drew together. "When your superior gives you an order, it's not silly," he started.

"Oh, Father, he's at home, let him speak freely," Father interrupted. "What was the order, Byakuya?"

Byakuya swallowed, feeling self-conscious that his father had been rude to Grandfather on his behalf. "You've heard of those moving picture shows they have in the Living World, right?"

"Mm, yes, the Kidou Corps is very interested in that technology." Father was very interested in kidou theory, and had a number of friends in the Kidou Corps, although his closest one, former-Lieutenant Ushouda, had been lost in action several years earlier.

"Well, Captain Ukitake loves them. Apparently. And not for technological reasons, he just likes them. Sixth Seat Kotetsu says I need to go watch one and then come back and tell Captain Ukitake about it."

"All right, that is silly," Grandfather grumbled. "Just say you forgot. Or you were too busy killing Hollows."

"First of all," Father said, pointedly ignoring Grandfather, "personally, I think you may be overlooking an opportunity to learn about the culture and technology of the Living World. The Living are very innovative. Some of the moving pictures are said to be very educational." He sighed, "But there are times when it is good to know how to push back on an order you disagree with. Did you express your opinion to Sixth-Seat Kotetsu?"

"I did. She said it's just how it's done."

"That's what I would have expected." Father sighed. "If you truly think it's unfair, you can always talk to your lieutenant. That is, among other things, what lieutenants are there for."

Grandfather gave a short bark of laughter. "That's what lieutenants are for? Acting as agony aunts? No wonder you never finish your paperwork, Soujun."

"Smoothing over disagreements," Soujun corrected serenely. "And I never finish my paperwork because it's the Gotei, Father. There's always more paperwork."

"I don't think that's what my lieutenant is for," Byakuya said, frowning deeply.

"Resolving disputes, then," Soujun corrected. "And I suspect Lieutenant Shiba is better at it than you think."

Of course Father thought that. Lieutenant Shiba respected him.

Father shrugged. "Or you can just go see the movie. It's your decision."

"Be sure to weigh it carefully," added Grandfather.

---

"What…exactly…is the problem?" Lieutenant Shiba asked, running his fingers through his disrespectfully spiky hair.

"It is a waste of my time," Byakuya pressed. "I would like to be relieved of the obligation."

Shiba stared at him for a long moment, then started sorting practice swords again, which is what he had been doing when Byakuya found him. "Byakuya," he said, "what, exactly, would you be doing otherwise?"

"We are at work, Lieutenant Shiba. Address me as Eleventh Seat Kuchiki."

"Fine, Eleventh Seat Kuchiki, whatever. I am hearing you out. What else do you have to do in the World of the Living that's so pressing?"

"I will be seeing to my duties, of course."

"Nuh-uh. You can't patrol twenty-four hours a day."

"I am very dedicated."

"You don't get it." Lieutenant Shiba gently bopped Byakuya on the head with a practice sword that was on its way to the rubbish pile. "If I needed someone on watch twenty-four hours a day, I would assign two, maybe three officers, so you could rest in shifts. I'm not going to do that, because this is the sort of duty that a competent officer should be able to handle by himself, resting when he can so that he's alert when he needs to be. If you're not up to that, yet, it's not a big deal, I can just re-assign--"

"I am up to it!" Byakuya protested. "That's-- that's not the issue!"

"It's not?" Lieutenant Shiba made a surprised face. It was not very convincing.

Byakuya squeezed his hands into fists, and then loosened them again. "Either," he said slowly, "I am on duty, in which case, it would be inappropriate to attend an entertainment, or I am not, in which case, my Leisure Hours are mind to do with what I wish."

LIeutenant Shiba gave a loud bark of laughter and clapped him on the shoulder. "Byakuya, I admire your commitment to a rich life outside of work, and I cannot wait to remind you about this conversation when you inherit Squad Six, but that's not how missions work. Speaking of Squad Six, doesn't your dad run some sort of monthly poetry night that people have to attend? Think of it like that."

"People love Squad Six Poetry Night!" Byakuya protested.

"Everyone?" Lieutenant Shiba asked. "Everyone in Squad Six loves giving up their evening to go listen to amateur poetry?"

"I have never been, personally, but I…I assume so," Byakuya stammered. "Many members of Squad Six are well-know poets!" He was desperate to attend Squad Six Poetry Night, actually, but Grandfather said he had to get well settled at Squad Thirteen first. It was open to officers from other squads, but Grandfather didn't want anyone to get the idea that Byakuya wasn't fully committed to his placement at the Thirteenth. And he wasn't! He was in perfect agreement with his grandfather's idea that he should receive some seasoning at a squad that wasn't the one he was going to lead someday. He was just hoping that seasoning would occur very quickly, so that he could transfer to the Sixth as soon as possible.

"Kuchiki," said Lieutenant Shiba, "with all the love in my heart to your dad and to Squad Six Poetry Night, I am absolutely positive that at least someone is not happy to be there." Byakuya started to protest, but Shiba held up a hand. "I know what you are going to say, and they are faking, Byakuya. They are faking either because they like your dad or they want to make a good impression with your grandfather or just because it's part of being in a squad."

"Are you telling me…sir," Byakuya said, keeping his voice very measured, "that I should…fake it?"

"Absolutely not!" Lieutenant Shiba grinned toothily. "Because this is Squad Thirteen, Kuchiki, where we do everything with our whole heart! I am telling you to go see a moving picture, and then to come back and tell Captain Ukitake exactly what you think of it. Pull no punches! He'll respect your courage!"

Something inside Byakuya crumpled at the thought of telling cheerful, kind Captain Ukitake that he hated movies. He couldn't. It had taken everything he had to ask the captain to stop giving him handfuls of candy (which didn't even like!), with the excuse that it wasn't appropriate now that he was a subordinate. Byakuya could still see the disappointed look on Ukitake's face as he reluctantly agreed. It had possibly been burned onto the back of his eyelids.

"It's settled then!" Lieutenant Shiba declared.

"Wait," said Byakuya. "No."

"Thank you for coming to me with your concern," Shiba went on. "I am always glad to help my precious subordinates understand the spirit of Squad Thirteen!"

"Nothing is settled," Byakuya protested. "I didn't agree."

"By the way," said Shiba, dumping a pile of splintering, worn out practice swords into Byakuya's arms, "these are trash. You don't mind taking 'em down to the dump for me, eh, Kuchiki?"

---

"I need you to talk to him." Byakuya was usually above pleading, but right now, he was not above pleading. "I need you to convince him that I do not need to go see the moving picture."

"I am not going to do that," Miyako replied, plucking a piece of sushi delicately from her bento.

"You always use me as an excuse to come over here and flirt with him," Byakuya pointed out. "It's the least you could do."

"I came over here to see you!" Miyako cried. "I brought you lunch, because you're going away for a whole month and you're my friend and I'm going to miss you!"

Byakuya drummed his fingers on the table. "So you'll be going directly back to the Eighth after this? You definitely aren't going to ask me to conveniently need to drop some piece of paper off at the main offices when I walk you to the gate?"

"Oh, probably!" Miyako flapped a hand at him. "It's not for me, you know. It's for my mother. It's never going to work, anyway. Just because Kaien knows what I look like isn't going to make him any more likely to agree to an arranged marriage."

"Mm-hmm," said Byakuya, who had heard all of this before and also wasn't blind. Miyako wasn't even really his friend, she was just his old schoolmate. She only proclaimed herself thus to get his goat (Miyako was both very fond of and talented at goat-getting). Even so, Byakuya hoped she didn't quit the Gotei after her mother's stupid arranged marriage ploy paid off. Miyako was also stuck as the Eleventh Seat because the Eighth had the same stupid two-year rule as the Thirteenth, and it was nice to have someone who understood his agonies. Speaking of which-- "We were talking about my problem."

"Yes, we were talking about your problem--actually, back up a bit. Could you remind me again why you don't want to see the moving picture? You like theater well enough. I've heard that many of them are simply recorded scenes from kabuki."

"It is cheapening of the arts, and also new-fangled."

"Oh, new-fangled, of course! Yes, yes, I understand."

"At least someone does," Byakuya grumbled.

"Now, I realize this isn't helpful now, but perhaps for future reference," Miyako started primly, "Did your Sixth Seat actually order you to go to a moving picture?"

Byakuya frowned as he considered this. "No, not as such. I did ask for clarification, though, and she said I had to."

"See? That was your problem right there. You should have just gone on the mission and not done it. Then, when you got back, you could have said, 'oh, I didn't think a silly thing like that was an actual order' and they might scold you for next time--if there's even a next time--but it's not like they could make you go back there."

"I told you, that is what my grandfather suggested."

"No, your grandfather suggested that you just ignore the order after it was already an order, which is exactly the sort of advice you're going to get from a man who doesn't have to listen to other people. I am from Squad Eight, where we have elevated slithering out of things to a high art."

Byakuya snorted. "You say that, and it may be true of your captain, but you wouldn't. You would just go watch the stupid thing. You would never slither your way out of anything." He frowned, feeling, not for the first time, that Miyako would be a better fit at Squad Thirteen than he was. It was impossible, at least at the moment. Like many noble girls, Miyako's family, who were second cousins to the Kyouraku, considered it an indulgence to allow her to serve in the Gotei and had insisted on a squad with a family connection. Byakuya had to assume that the prospect of a transfer had to be at least some of the allure of marrying Shiba. He couldn't imagine what else there could possibly be.

"You're even less of a slitherer-outer than I am, and you know it," Miyako pointed out. "You've backed yourself into a corner, is what you've done. You announced that you didn't want to go, so now your pride as a hater-of-fun-things is on the line. On the other hand, you can't not-go without sullying your pride as an officer. There's no way to win."

"I am not a hater-of-fun-things. I love fun things." Byakuya frowned. "Otherwise, I think you are correct." He took a deep breath, and allowed himself to say it out loud. "Curses. This wouldn't be happening to me if Grandfather had just let me join the Sixth."

Miyako nodded and shrugged. "I think that learning to deal with these sorts of low-stakes interpersonal personal problems is exactly why they sent you over here. I don't think this is half a big a deal as you seem to think it is, but even if you do fumble it horribly, you're going to be out of here in a few years, and no one is going to remember it anyway."

"Lieutenant Shiba will remember," Byakuya replied grimly.

"Yes, but I will be Lady Shiba then, and I will make him be nice to you."

"That is a patent falsehood."

Miyako laughed. Byakuya was not a man who was laid low by pretty laughs, but for just a moment, he understood how other people might be.

"You're probably right," she said. "The point is, your reputation at Squad Six will remain untarnished and that's the important thing." Miyako frowned briefly, but it wasn't a real frown, it was a frown for making a point. "Speaking of--and speaking of slithering out of things--have you written your regrets yet?"

"My regrets?" Byakuya asked, confused.

"A whole month away? Surely you had a packed schedule of Kuchiki social events you must now lamentably demur on. Tea dates with future potential Lady Kuchikis? Aunts having birthdays? Isn't that awful flower exhibition your grandfather makes you go to coming up?"

"It is," Byakuya realized, his heart lifting in his chest. "And Aunt Etsu's birthday, as well. And the old man drinking party Grandfather throws at our house for his shogi club."

Miyako tsked. "You'll miss it all, I'm afraid."

Suddenly, going to see the moving pictures seemed like a very small price to pay, after all.

---

Byakuya had been in the World of the Living for eight days. He had made twenty-nine circuits around his one-spirit ri patrol radius. He had sent four Pluses on their way, one of which was a dog. He had not been told there would be dogs, but it had been a very friendly and obviously loyal one, and the konsou seemed to have worked normally.

He thought he had heard the roar of a Hollow on the first day, and had flash-stepped to the source of the sound just in time to witness a steam-powered locomotive thunder past. Byakuya was still mildly ashamed at the way he had frozen long past the time the great iron beast had disappeared over a hill. Over the next week, though, he became accustomed to their schedule, which turned out to follow a predictable, if somewhat complicated pattern, which was displayed on a large board at the train station. Trains could only travel on their tracks and their ghastly screams carried no accompanying spike of reiatsu, so he would surely not make the same mistake again.

Byakuya felt neither hungry nor sleepy, but he was having difficulty shaking the feeling that he ought to be hungry and sleepy. He had been away from home for longer periods before, so of course he did not miss anyone, not his father or grandfather or captain or vice-captain. He certainly did not find himself thinking of any of his co-workers or social acquaintances or former schoolmates. On the other hand, he found himself starting to miss strange things. The heft of a rice bowl in his hand. The texture of tatami under bare feet. The familiar rhythm of morning drills. He'd actually started doing the exercises himself in absentia--he missed the shouts and stomps of his squad-mates, but it was good to maintain routine, and he found the pleasant burn in his muscles afterwards to be anchoring.

It was time, he decided, to view the motion picture. His brain was starting to bounce around in his skull a bit, and he needed something external to think about. Loath as he was to ever grant Lieutenant Shiba anything, even just being mad about something for a bit would be a welcome distraction.

Byakuya knew the location of the theater already. He passed it each day on his early morning patrol. He told himself that he did not actually have to watch the moving picture today if the one they were playing did not sound interesting. That was another reason to plan this early, he reasoned.

Large posters were hung outside of the theater to indicate what was currently being shown, as well as what was expected the following week. Byakuya waited while a group of sticky-looking school boys exclaimed over today's showing. Byakuya was not feeling particularly optimistic.

The boys departed into the theater. Byakuya stepped forward, and examined the poster.

"The Forty Seven Loyal Ronin," the poster announced in bright colors, along with a list of famous personages involved in the film, none of whom were familiar to Byakuya.

Byakuya's muscles locked. It was like seeing the train all over again.

Grandfather liked theater, but he preferred noh to kabuki, having never quite gotten over the latter's more salacious origins. Even so, he insisted that Byakuya should only attend plays composed by Soul Society playwrights. The ones imported from the Living World were garish, he proclaimed, and the one he despised the most was The Forty Seven Loyal Ronin. Ahistorical drivel! Grandfather had cried. They keep adding tawdry subplots to try to make it make sense, each one worse than the last!

Byakuya had seen three acts of it performed at the annual cultural festival while he was still in school. An acquaintance, whose roommate was portraying Moronao, promised to buy Byakuya a drink afterwards if he attended in solidarity. The production had been thoroughly amateurish. The costumes were improvised. The roommate had chewed scenery so voraciously, he must have been picking it out of his teeth for days. The women's roles were played by actual women. Afterward, Byakuya had offered to buy the acquaintance all the drinks he could swallow if he could get him a copy of the script.

Byakuya scrambled into the theater, hot on the heels of the pack of grubby urchins.

eleven days later

"It is seventeen after. Do you think the captains' meeting has run long? It is bad when they run long, is it not? Do you think this bodes ill?"

"I think it bodes that he stopped to chit-chat," Lieutenant Shiba said. He was pretending to be engrossed in some paperwork, but Byakuya hadn't actually seen him write anything on the form in some time.

"His message said to come by at ten after. He is expecting me."

"He's a dilly-dallier, Kuchiki, don't take it personally. You can go back to your office, if you want. I'll call you when he gets in."

"I shall not. He asked me to be here, and I am here."

Just then, the shoji slid open, and Captain Ukitake, his face flushed, walked in. "Whew!" he exclaimed. "Hot out today!"

"Welcome back, Captain," Lieutenant Shiba said.

"Good afternoon, Captain Ukitake!" Byakuya greeted, bowing deeply.

"Eleventh Seat Kuchiki survived his deployment, as you can see," Lieutenant Shiba added.

"Welcome home, Eleventh Seat Kuchiki!" Captain Ukitake beamed. "You got in last night?"

"Yes, sir," Byakuya replied. "It was quite late."

"I bet you must have been happy to see your own bed."

Byakuya felt his cheeks go warm. He had, in fact, fallen directly into his futon and gotten possibly the best night of sleep he'd ever had. "Yes, sir," he agreed.

"Well, come on in! Shiba, what are the odds on rustling up some iced tea?"

"Out on the engawa, sir."

"Amazing! Thank you, Shiba!" Ukitake tipped his head toward Byakuya. "I've got some sweets in my desk. Let's take those, too!"

"I don't like sweets," Byakuya reminded him, but it was futile.

"So, how was the mission?" Ukitake asked, once they were out on the porch, and he had poured them each a cup of tea from a jug frosted over with an ice kidou.

"I saw a moving picture," Byakuya announced.

Captain Ukitake's eyebrows lifted. "You did? I heard you weren't very enthusiastic about the idea."

"I am not a man who shirks my duty, Captain."

"I didn't mean to imply that you were," Captain Ukitake replied. "But we don't have to talk about that, if you don't want to. I'd love to hear about any of your impressions of the Living World."

"The motion picture that I saw," said Byakuya, "was The Forty Seven Loyal Ronin. I saw it…more than once. I wanted to be sure to report the details correctly."

"You know, I have done the same thing more than once," Captain Ukitake admitted.

"You can do that with a moving picture, because it is the same each time. I did notice that the narrator occasionally varied his script, but he was still bound to the immutability of the performance, the 'truth', as it were, on display for all to see." Byakuya suddenly realized he had been doing the thing his grandfather had told him not to do, where he talked too much about the thing he wanted to talk about without taking other people's responses properly into account. He cleared his throat. "Captain Ukitake. Would you like to hear about The Forty Seven Loyal Ronin?"

Captain Ukitake smiled his brilliant smile. "Kuchiki," he said, "I would love to hear about The Forty Seven Loyal Ronin."

#byakuya kuchiki #my writing #1M words request event #yes this is what i was reading the film book for 😁#i think this might be the best time i have ever had writing a byakuya story #as profoundly irritated as he is with his circumstances i wish i could keep him here forever #and nothing bad would ever happen to anyone else in this story ever 😭😭😭

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