satoko ayakura | 綾倉 聡子 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thewisechild) wrote2025-02-06 01:23 pm
thewisechild) wrote2025-02-06 01:23 pm
Entry tags:
fic: wars (bleach x-over)
WARS
?
Kuchiki Yukina-san, herself the second cousin of Byakuya-sama, is married to a man who is, many times removed, her relative, also a member of the Clan, and the woman prides herself of this purity of blood, that she is a Kuchiki on both sides, before and after marriage. More than that, she is also currently the mother of the only male heir, albeit not direct, to the position of Head of the Family, because Byakuya-sama has produced no children. Not in his first marriage. Not in his second.
Once, when she was younger, she was also known to be very beautiful, but that memory – of Kuchiki Yukina’s beauty – has waned some after Satoko came into the family. Even before she and Byakuya-sama started connecting, people said Satoko was now surely the most beautiful woman, perhaps even member in the general sense, of the Kuchiki Clan. There was no competition.
These two things combined, that Satoko threatens her memory and her future, too, has turned Yukina-san against her irrevocably. Satoko understands her position, but family intrigues have always bored her, they did in her own family and even Byakuya-sama with his hands or his cock cannot make up for this harsh expression of his family’s ambitions.
*
The women of the Kuchiki Clan attend monthly meetings to go over future events to be arranged and prepared, to gossip and to exchange family news among themselves, all the things that don’t interest the men, like pregnancies, children, fashion tips and the likes, and most importantly to rearrange their internal pecking order.
Satoko, naturally, always attends these meetings.
The first six months, she was a quiet presence, tolerated mostly for the possibility of Byakuya-sama’s interest, but held in wordless contempt because everyone knew, he would rather have his hand chopped off in battle than touch her. Now, as things have changed, she has risen to the very top of the ladder, she is not only the most beautiful, she is also the most respected – the other women’s respect for her mirroring Byakuya-sama’s own. What does Satoko-sama think of this, or this? What is Satoko-sama’s opinion of these plans?
It has caused a rift down the middle of the congregation, because although a great majority of the attending female members of the family now listen to her without fail, Yukina-san is not alone in her position. The Kuchiki Clan is huge and someone is always on the verge of it, losing face, losing standing, losing status. Besides, Yukina-san also has a sister, younger, closer to Satoko in age, Yui-san, and together they are a force to be reckoned with.
They have friends. And those friends have sisters. And those sisters have ambitions of their own.
It is like facing a many-headed snake. So, Satoko dresses for war every morning as Ume helps her with her clothes, her makeup, her hair. It is her armour. It must hold.
*
They’ve been to the onsen, family expedition, just the ten highest-ranking women of the Clan, and afterwards they gather, skin glowing and blushing red, in Satoko’s bathing facilities, mirrors set out as a handful of maids tend to the various members’ hair and skin routines.
After her talk with Rukia, Satoko has been in a quiet mood, knowing Byakuya-sama has set time aside for their weekly tea meeting in a couple of days, at which she realizes it’s something she must bring to his attention. Not only for Rukia’s sake either. Byakuya-sama’s relation to Hisana-sama is none of her business, but his well-being is, still. Where the two intersect, she must make some difficult decisions. To overstep her granted authority or to stay behind, watching him struggle onwards on his own.
Byakuya-sama does enough on his own, really. Too much, already.
While Ume gets her clothes, Satoko starts in on her hair herself, Yukina-san seated on her right in front of her own mirror, applying creams to her hands and face. Satoko doesn’t look at her, observing her own features in the mirror while she starts combing camellia oil, the one thing she has her mother bring from home, her family has it specially made, into her hair in long strokes of her left hand. She can feel the other woman’s eyes on her all the while.
“What an interesting scent,” Yukina-san remarks, pursing her lips. “Is that a new product you’ve taken into use, Satoko-sama?”
“It’s not,” Satoko replies, already expecting that this will spiral out of control. “It’s an oil the Ayakura family has used for generations. It softens the hair, really, it’s magic.”
In the large bathroom, the silence that falls is absolute.
Turning slowly towards her on her knees, watching her as she finishes combing through her long, dark brown strands, Yukina-san’s eyes glint victoriously. Satoko calmly puts the comb down and reaches for the flask with the oil, applying more to her hands to start patting it into the surface of her hair, too, wetting it superficially. She uses about a flask a week like this, her mother brings them every time she comes by.
“Surely, you’re not saying, you bring in things from the Ayakura family. I must have misunderstood,” Yukina-san says, slippery like an eel.
“I’m sure what I said was perfectly clear,” Satoko smiles, her voice sweet but steely. Authoritative.
“Does Byakuya-sama know of this? I can hardly imagine he would approve, we are self-sufficient in the Kuchiki family, Satoko-sama.” Yukina-san looks around at the other women who nod and nod and nod, everyone knows how the Clan has a hand in all trade, everywhere, there is nothing they cannot procure if they want it, but the camellia oil is a recipe that was originally made by her great great grandmother and has never been commercialized. It was a family secret, the reason people for a time said, soft as an Ayakura woman’s hair, though the expression has gone out of use after their decline. Even the great Kuchiki Clan couldn’t buy this oil. It isn’t for sale. It’s a gift, mother to daughter. Perhaps all her mother gave her, besides life.
At the sight of her expression, interpreting it to be insecurity, Yukina-san quickly adds, “I’m not blaming you, Satoko-sama, you couldn’t know, being an outsider, of course.”
Drying her fingers off in a wet cloth Ume has left out, knowing this routine intimately, as it’s usually her doing it, Satoko turns her head to glance sideways at Yukina-san, her smile smaller, but unwavering. Innocently, she says, as if she was talking about the weather or the food they would be eating in some other context, “in my experience, the most Byakuya-sama cares about my hair routine is how he can get it down again.”
Once more, a silence falls, stunned this time. Yukina-san’s eyes go slightly wide.
“Satoko-sama!”
Heart pounding, Satoko returns to her hair, her reflectiton in the mirror, beginning to roll up long strands of it into their intricate shapes, pinning them against the back of her head. She can hear Ume and another maid entering, the maid rushing over when she sees what Satoko is doing, kneeling behind her with a muttered, please let me, mistress, and Satoko leaves the rest to her willingly. Out the corner of her eye, she looks at Yukina-san, Yui-san behind her, then the rest of the women in turn.
“You may bring it to Byakuya-sama’s attention if you find it necessary, but even if he should object to my use of it, I do not intend to stop. The bintsuke oil that the Kuchiki family favours is very fine and of an exceptional quality that I fully recognise, but I will not apply anything to my hair that makes it hard.” She looks back at the mirror, at herself in it, Ume behind her, the nine women a circle at the edge of her vision. Satoko concludes, “I do not think that kind of hardness suits me. Should this be a problem, that is something Byakuya-sama and I must solve on our own.”
Yukina-san scoffs, looking over at Yui-san, exchanging a long look. Both of them smile, small, sharp, as they return to their own makeup. Satoko’s hands are folded, still, quiet, quivering, in her lap.
“Really, Satoko-sama, what a speech.”
“You should think she was leading an army,” Yui-san adds, everyone laughing, hiding behind their hands.
Shouldn’t I hope to, Satoko thinks and neither speaks, nor laughs. Against you? A couple of minutes later, the conversation turns once more to who is most likely to end of pregnant next. As always, it doesn’t relieve the tension in the room, and in the end no one mentions Satoko among the candidates.
Does that make it a tie, between Yukina-san and her?
Once, when she was younger, she was also known to be very beautiful, but that memory – of Kuchiki Yukina’s beauty – has waned some after Satoko came into the family. Even before she and Byakuya-sama started connecting, people said Satoko was now surely the most beautiful woman, perhaps even member in the general sense, of the Kuchiki Clan. There was no competition.
These two things combined, that Satoko threatens her memory and her future, too, has turned Yukina-san against her irrevocably. Satoko understands her position, but family intrigues have always bored her, they did in her own family and even Byakuya-sama with his hands or his cock cannot make up for this harsh expression of his family’s ambitions.
The women of the Kuchiki Clan attend monthly meetings to go over future events to be arranged and prepared, to gossip and to exchange family news among themselves, all the things that don’t interest the men, like pregnancies, children, fashion tips and the likes, and most importantly to rearrange their internal pecking order.
Satoko, naturally, always attends these meetings.
The first six months, she was a quiet presence, tolerated mostly for the possibility of Byakuya-sama’s interest, but held in wordless contempt because everyone knew, he would rather have his hand chopped off in battle than touch her. Now, as things have changed, she has risen to the very top of the ladder, she is not only the most beautiful, she is also the most respected – the other women’s respect for her mirroring Byakuya-sama’s own. What does Satoko-sama think of this, or this? What is Satoko-sama’s opinion of these plans?
It has caused a rift down the middle of the congregation, because although a great majority of the attending female members of the family now listen to her without fail, Yukina-san is not alone in her position. The Kuchiki Clan is huge and someone is always on the verge of it, losing face, losing standing, losing status. Besides, Yukina-san also has a sister, younger, closer to Satoko in age, Yui-san, and together they are a force to be reckoned with.
They have friends. And those friends have sisters. And those sisters have ambitions of their own.
It is like facing a many-headed snake. So, Satoko dresses for war every morning as Ume helps her with her clothes, her makeup, her hair. It is her armour. It must hold.
They’ve been to the onsen, family expedition, just the ten highest-ranking women of the Clan, and afterwards they gather, skin glowing and blushing red, in Satoko’s bathing facilities, mirrors set out as a handful of maids tend to the various members’ hair and skin routines.
After her talk with Rukia, Satoko has been in a quiet mood, knowing Byakuya-sama has set time aside for their weekly tea meeting in a couple of days, at which she realizes it’s something she must bring to his attention. Not only for Rukia’s sake either. Byakuya-sama’s relation to Hisana-sama is none of her business, but his well-being is, still. Where the two intersect, she must make some difficult decisions. To overstep her granted authority or to stay behind, watching him struggle onwards on his own.
Byakuya-sama does enough on his own, really. Too much, already.
While Ume gets her clothes, Satoko starts in on her hair herself, Yukina-san seated on her right in front of her own mirror, applying creams to her hands and face. Satoko doesn’t look at her, observing her own features in the mirror while she starts combing camellia oil, the one thing she has her mother bring from home, her family has it specially made, into her hair in long strokes of her left hand. She can feel the other woman’s eyes on her all the while.
“What an interesting scent,” Yukina-san remarks, pursing her lips. “Is that a new product you’ve taken into use, Satoko-sama?”
“It’s not,” Satoko replies, already expecting that this will spiral out of control. “It’s an oil the Ayakura family has used for generations. It softens the hair, really, it’s magic.”
In the large bathroom, the silence that falls is absolute.
Turning slowly towards her on her knees, watching her as she finishes combing through her long, dark brown strands, Yukina-san’s eyes glint victoriously. Satoko calmly puts the comb down and reaches for the flask with the oil, applying more to her hands to start patting it into the surface of her hair, too, wetting it superficially. She uses about a flask a week like this, her mother brings them every time she comes by.
“Surely, you’re not saying, you bring in things from the Ayakura family. I must have misunderstood,” Yukina-san says, slippery like an eel.
“I’m sure what I said was perfectly clear,” Satoko smiles, her voice sweet but steely. Authoritative.
“Does Byakuya-sama know of this? I can hardly imagine he would approve, we are self-sufficient in the Kuchiki family, Satoko-sama.” Yukina-san looks around at the other women who nod and nod and nod, everyone knows how the Clan has a hand in all trade, everywhere, there is nothing they cannot procure if they want it, but the camellia oil is a recipe that was originally made by her great great grandmother and has never been commercialized. It was a family secret, the reason people for a time said, soft as an Ayakura woman’s hair, though the expression has gone out of use after their decline. Even the great Kuchiki Clan couldn’t buy this oil. It isn’t for sale. It’s a gift, mother to daughter. Perhaps all her mother gave her, besides life.
At the sight of her expression, interpreting it to be insecurity, Yukina-san quickly adds, “I’m not blaming you, Satoko-sama, you couldn’t know, being an outsider, of course.”
Drying her fingers off in a wet cloth Ume has left out, knowing this routine intimately, as it’s usually her doing it, Satoko turns her head to glance sideways at Yukina-san, her smile smaller, but unwavering. Innocently, she says, as if she was talking about the weather or the food they would be eating in some other context, “in my experience, the most Byakuya-sama cares about my hair routine is how he can get it down again.”
Once more, a silence falls, stunned this time. Yukina-san’s eyes go slightly wide.
“Satoko-sama!”
Heart pounding, Satoko returns to her hair, her reflectiton in the mirror, beginning to roll up long strands of it into their intricate shapes, pinning them against the back of her head. She can hear Ume and another maid entering, the maid rushing over when she sees what Satoko is doing, kneeling behind her with a muttered, please let me, mistress, and Satoko leaves the rest to her willingly. Out the corner of her eye, she looks at Yukina-san, Yui-san behind her, then the rest of the women in turn.
“You may bring it to Byakuya-sama’s attention if you find it necessary, but even if he should object to my use of it, I do not intend to stop. The bintsuke oil that the Kuchiki family favours is very fine and of an exceptional quality that I fully recognise, but I will not apply anything to my hair that makes it hard.” She looks back at the mirror, at herself in it, Ume behind her, the nine women a circle at the edge of her vision. Satoko concludes, “I do not think that kind of hardness suits me. Should this be a problem, that is something Byakuya-sama and I must solve on our own.”
Yukina-san scoffs, looking over at Yui-san, exchanging a long look. Both of them smile, small, sharp, as they return to their own makeup. Satoko’s hands are folded, still, quiet, quivering, in her lap.
“Really, Satoko-sama, what a speech.”
“You should think she was leading an army,” Yui-san adds, everyone laughing, hiding behind their hands.
Shouldn’t I hope to, Satoko thinks and neither speaks, nor laughs. Against you? A couple of minutes later, the conversation turns once more to who is most likely to end of pregnant next. As always, it doesn’t relieve the tension in the room, and in the end no one mentions Satoko among the candidates.
Does that make it a tie, between Yukina-san and her?