Arrangements Were Made [PRIVATE]

It wasn't a good day. No, few days were right now. All Reizou Mitsurugi wished to do was rest right now. The leaves and grass were aggravating allergies, so he woke up with a sneeze. It was enough of a sneeze that a nurse ran in asking if he was okay. He—because female nurses were forbidden—apologized and left the young lord to his morning routine. But this wasn't a good morning. This wasn't one he'd be able to take an hour lazing about and doing his routine in pieces. No, no... He'd need that entire hour to prepare.

Reizou sighed as he rose and stretched. His sleeping robe slipped off with just a shrug of his shoulders. Despite sending many hours a day resting lately, he was still quite tone. He didn't let people know his secret—that even while he was lying down, he was doing minimal exercises repeatedly. He took a heavier dose of his suppressants and began to "pretty" himself up. He was going to meet someone his parents wished for him to potentially marry. Again.

Reizou signaled that he was ready and a servant entered to assist him in getting dressed. He could do it himself, of course. However, he liked to make an impression. He'd have to make sure that his outfit looked pristine for his soon-to-be... well, whatever this woman was going to be. Soon-to-be-ex was most likely it based on his track record.

Reizou was brushing his hair when he was informed the young lady was waiting for him. With a small smile, he acknowledged that... and kept brushing his hair. About five minutes later, he finally stood up and leisurely walked towards the small meeting room he always used. With a casual grace, he slid the door open, an unimpressed look on his face.

And it quickly changed the moment he saw her eyes. There was a hint of something briefly, then it returned to a facsimile of what it was. Her eyes... he could not break his gaze from them. They were gorgeous. "I... apologize if you waited for too long," he half-lied. "Welcome to my Family's manor, Miss... You'll have to forgive me, but I seem to have forgotten your name." Reizou faux-pondered her name. He had forgotten her first name, but the name of her family was not something he had forgotten.

A young woman with the grace of a swan sat quietly in the meeting room in which she were to meet another suitor. Arrangements were quickly made after the death of her fiance. It seemed her parents were trying very quickly to send her off and get rid of her, or were using her beauty to rise in the ranks of the Soul Society's nobility. The latter seemed more likely, at least she hoped, since the houses she was sent to were the Saionji, Hozoin, and now the Mitsurugi.

She waited for some time, which was surprising to her. Either nobles were too prideful to make a woman wait for such a meeting or they were wanting to make a good impression. Remembering some of the rumors of the Mitsurugi man she was meeting today, it was possible that his health had gone sour. Would she  be sent home? She sat in silent prayer, lowering her head and shutting her eyes, praying for him to be well for his sake, but also for her own...

Within moments, she heard the door slide open and a voice came through. She raised her head and turned toward him, her hopeful and relieved eyes setting upon his own. If there was one thing that Annaisha knew about herself, because of many comments on it, she knew that she was beautiful to many who looked upon her. However, her ocean blue eyes did often get more compliments, along with her silky long hair. She pushed up a smile and nodded.

"Oh, no. Please don't apologize. I am only glad that you're well." she said kindly and with a voice that had a melody of sweet singing songbirds, "And my name is Annaisha Asakura. Do you mind reminding me of your own? Of course I have not forgotten your family name, but your first escapes me." She lied. She remembered his name. It was to make him feel better about his own blunder. Before a conversation could start, however, she wanted to know one thing. "How are you feeling? Was this morning a problem for you?"

How could words that annoyed him so much come from such a sweet voice? He did this as a show of his importance, not his illness. He was fashionably late, not insultingly. The warmness temporarily retreated from him. His plan had failed. He seemed weak, and that was exactly what he didn't like. "Reizou." Reizou's reply was short, not trying to reply to the rest of it. The less he brought up his illness—or rather, the less it was brought up period—the better his position was.

Unfortunately, Reizou didn't get much of a respite. "No. Everything was fine—I am fine." His tone indicated a shift in conversation or else there wouldn't be much other conversation. He was the one to switch it first. "How about you? Was finding my manor difficult? We are a little aways from the other manors." Reizou sat on a small pillow, indicating for her to sit as well. "Have you eaten yet? If not, I can order some food made for us."

"Reizou." she repeated with a curt nod, noting the shortness of his reply. Her expression soured, showing worry for what she may have done wrong. His introduction had been a lot kinder than his following words. Was it that she brought up his illness? Maybe he preferred it not be talked about, but why? Didn't most of the Soul Society know about it? If you knew the Mitsurugi, you know of the first born's illness, right? Maybe not. Was her assumption offensive?

Annaisha sat down and stared at the table between them, eyes saddened. "N-No. I'm fine. I do not wish to bother." she said and then chose to sit in silence. It was best to speak when spoken to, especially as a noble woman. At least that's what she had been taught. Either way, she could see her chances here fading quickly away from her... If that were to happen, her future seemed bleak.

The silence grew as seconds passed. Without warning, he let out a hearty laugh. There wasn't even a crack of a smile beforehand. "The two of us really are bad at this 'get to know one another' bit, aren't we?" Reizou's warmness had returned, which was a good sign. "If you're hungry or thirsty, don't worry—you won't be a bother, Miss Asakura. I can say this much. Unless you do something entirely inappropriate, this won't be a simple ten-minutes-and-we're-done meeting—if only because of your bea-u-tiful face." He winked, then his tone shifted.


"There is one thing you should know immediately." The sharpness from earlier returned. "Don't be the type to only speak when spoken to when it's just the two of us. I understand that etiquette in public is more proper in that sense, but today, we are trying to see if we would like one another enough to potentially enter a marriage arrangement, no?" Reizou was being quite blunt right now. "Thus, we need to know as much about one another. I'd hate to end up cancelling an arrangement like this because I learned later on that the only fruit you eat are plums because I didn't ask about what your favorite fruit was. Basically, I'm saying that I'm not going to be able to ask everything I need to ask because I don't know what I need to ask—so I'm not going to get the answers I'd need. But perhaps you'll ask or say things I wouldn't think about." With a sigh, Reizou concluded. "Besides, I wouldn't want a robot who only went 'Yes, Master Reizou.' If I wanted that, I might as well wed a scarecrow..." His voice trailed off as annoyance abated.

"Yes, Master Reizou." she finally looked up from the table after letting his words sink in, her voice sounding a bit playful. When he looked to her, she'd have a small smile and wink at him. It was obvious she was doing it to pick at him a bit. "You're kinder than I expected, though to be fair, my previous encounters with others of your status have been quite odd." Her expression soured a bit, thinking on past encounters with J., Kazuo, and Shuugo Saionji. She felt chills slither violently up her spine when remembering the last.

"I mean no disrespect, of course. And I do not know how you feel about speaking over other situations like this, but... I honestly expected you to be a stoic jerk like J. Saionji or very quickly reject me like his younger brother. Then the thought of you being similar to Shuugo..." she put both of her hands over her face and shook her head, "Gosh, I couldn't bear another meeting like that. How embarrassing..." She brought her hands back to her lap. "And I do not mean to compare you to any of them, but that's how it works."

"A lot of my life, I've been told to keep my mouth shut and wasn't allowed to speak unless my answers were short and to the point. My parents are so desperate to bring the Family to the status of yours, that they've carelessly thrown me into meeting as many noble son's that I could. They believe that my 'beauty should get me anywhere' and don't understand that many beautiful women have been thrown at all of you." Annaisha lowered her head solemnly and fiddled with her fingers, "I just thought you should know exactly why this meeting is happening. I'm okay if I'm not a good fit for you. It's about being happy and loving the other... not status and power."

Reizou was intrigued with her meetings with the Saionji and others. There was a bit of a dig there, whether intentional or not, by bringing the Saionji into it. They had become the "top dog" of the noble houses with what most perceived as hard work and dedication. The other three houses saw it as them keeping the competition down and a massive amount of luck spent on the two brothers. They'd fall from their pedestal one of these days. In the meantime, the remaining three all muttered about the Saionji. "You're not the only one who compares me to the 'great Saionji.'" Reizou spoke with sarcasm. As someone who had only risen to a Lieutenant and had no intentions of going higher—if he even could—he was chided for his lack of ambition.

Reizou listened intently as she continued. It was sort-of expected sob-story backstory, but he did understand her. Nobles were a very similar lot. The reclusive families would act in the same ways as some of the more prominent ones. He gave her a warm smile as she finished. "Well, you can be assured that while I have had a few beautiful women sent in my direction, it is nothing like the other families. And I knew roughly why such a meeting was happening. But it's good to know that you know why. You are very considerate, but not to the point of pandering or down-playing yourself. It's a good thing."

"I do have a hypothetical. Say we do fall in love, but either family says 'no.' What would you do then?"

"In love?" she repeated a little surprised by the question. She blinked rapidly as she thought on how to answer his questions. The years of reading fairy tales in her youth and then romance novels as she grew older may have skewed her vision on love some. She saw it as a heart pounding, exciting, over the moon type thing. She had never felt something even remotely similar to how she imagined it would be, even with her late fiance. A kind man, he was, but there was no love there. While she would never have wished his death, she was free of a loveless marriage because of what happened.

So, if she fell in love with Reizou...

The images fluttered through her mind and a small, soft and sincere smile came to her lips. There was something in her eyes there. And it was all because she was imagining what it would be like to be in love. And if she felt that type of love toward Reizou, well...

"I can't say I'd care what they said or thought about it... Whether it was approving or disapproving of us falling in love. I see falling in love as such a strong and overwhelming feeling that there'd be no reason to listen to them. What's in my heart is more important than some noble rule, especially if you do become that important to me."

Reizou made sure not to let any indication of either his approval or disapproval of her answer show. That would make this too easy. "That is a very interesting answer that I can tell comes from the depths of your heart." The truth was that this answer was quite interesting to him. True, it's something he'd have to think on whether it was an answer he liked or not...

Without much time to let a silence start again, Reizou spoke up. "Annaisha—if I may be so bold as to call you by your first name—what are your goals in life?" Reizou was speaking amicably, but the way he positioned himself put in the idea that he was actually interviewing her. "Are you the type to just want to be a housewife in five years, or do you have some grand dream like visiting the entire World of the Living and Soul Society? I'd just like to know what kind of future you want, not necessarily the one you see yourself in. Even if we end up not being 'meant' for each other, there is nothing to stop me from helping you with those dreams if I so choose."

"Goals? Dreams?" Annaisha repeated and lowered her head with a small saddened smile, "Two different things in my eyes... I have no goals, but I did have a dream at a time. It was to become a Shinigami, but my family doused it with laughter the first time I mentioned it. My talents lie in other assets that I possess, not in spiritual power, combat, or even healing... At least that is what they said. I never spoke of it again. There was no point after that."

"You can call me Anna by the way. Annaisha is not the most dignified name. I'm not entirely sure what my parents were thinking when they chose it, though since they wanted a boy, as expected, I'm not sure they gave it much thought." Annaisha smiled and giggled about it, as if she had found it funny for years, "So, if I may ask, why do all noble men choose to interview their potentials instead of have a talk with them? It's like you're checking off a list, though I will say that your questions are different than the others, so far."

"A Shinigami? That's quite a quaint dream." Reizou smiled lightly at her. "If there is one thing the Gotei Thirteen has taught me, it is that exceptional individuals don't always succeed, but hard work at least makes you feel good about where you've come in life. Laughing at such a dream is insulting to you. I'm a little surprised you haven't had a rebellious stint and decided to become one nonetheless." Reizou shook his head, chuckling lightly. "If you would prefer that, then I will oblige. Although I do think you have a nice name, even if you do not like it."


"Truthfully, I am not sure why we do it. I think a lot of it ends up being that we don't have time for... I guess a common 'dating' style. Something you may understand is that we nobles can't just do this type of thing like a commoner would. We can't just go for a coffee or something. Gossip would spread and everything..." Reizou waved his hand. "It would be a mess in the end. I guess we're seeing if the other person is... worth the trouble any sort of gossip would cause, if you'll excuse my being blunt."

"That's what I beleive has been drilled into most of us anyway. Some noble men do not behave in any sort of nicities, but they're more of a rarity. If I were in your position, I think I would prefer someone checking off of a list than someone who'd play grab-ass."

Anna took a moment to consider Reizou's words. "Grab-ass, hm? That hasn't been a problem for me. Those I've met with constantly have women tossed at their feet. I don't think they'd feel the need to play grab-ass when they could pick any woman they want. Those who care less could even pick someone for a short amount of time and then reject them if they get bored. Luckily, I haven't met anyone like that yet. It's just sad that it is an actual possibility."

Anna found herself lost in thought after that, recalling her upbringing and wondering to herself as she let the words slip out. "I wonder if I could have that type of freedom..." When she realized she said it out loud, she blushed and waved it off, "Ignore that, sorry... I just realized that I've never heard of a man being sent at a woman, even if she is to head her family. It's always the other way around... It'd be nice to have a choice in the matter of love, but... we noble women get it... That's one thing non-nobles have on us."