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Byakuya felt faint.
He wasn’t entirely sure what was wrong with him, but getting up this morning had been a far more arduous task than he ever thought it should be, sitting up only to be hit with a wave of dizziness and slight nausea. He had originally thought that maybe he slept wrong, or the chill of the winter weather had gotten to him in his sleep, but the feeling hadn’t disappeared even after he bathed and dressed. While the Kuchiki staff’s breakfasts were usually a highlight of Byakuya’s morning, today he simply felt nauseous looking at it.
Nevertheless, he didn’t particularly feel sick, not in the traditional sense, and he didn’t exactly feel like he had a fever either, so Byakuya figured it was fine to go into work. He was a shinigami, he’s had worse.
If only he had remembered there was going to be a Captain’s meeting in the afternoon.
Being in his office, Byakuya felt himself fade in and out of consciousness a few times, and judging by the concerned looks Renji had given him every time he came in to take some paperwork, he wasn’t successful in being discreet about it. Several times it seemed like Renji wanted to say something, but appeared to check himself at the last minute. Byakuya didn’t really know what the big deal was - he was still able to do his paperwork, albeit a bit slower, so?
However, as he felt himself fading a bit, a hell butterfly landed delicately on his desk to announce the upcoming Captain’s meeting, and Byakuya felt like throwing up.
Yamamoto-soutaichou’s meetings were almost always over time, droning, and they had to stand the entire time. Byakuya wasn’t really sure if he could even stand to walk to the meeting room.
Sighing softly, Byakuya braced himself against his desk and slowly stood up, still feeling a bit dizzy from even that gentle motion. He felt himself make a pathetic noise from the discomfort and scolded himself.
You’re a shinigami. You’ve had worse. Stop acting like a child.
Repeating that over and over to himself, Byakuya smoothed out his haori with shaky hands and slowly proceeded to the meeting. He had been focusing so much on keeping his steps even that he didn’t notice two figures approaching him from behind until he felt a hand on his shoulder, making him jump a little in surprise and turn around.
“Everything alright, Kuchiki-taichou?” Kyoraku Shunsui asked softly, an easy smile on his face, but Byakuya could catch the hint of concern that laced his question.
Byakuya turned away and nodded, trying to put on an air of nonchalance. “It’s fine.” He replied simply. But judging from the reiatsu levels of both him and Ukitake-taichou, they didn’t believe him in the slightest.
“Hm.” Kyoraku replied, but dropped the issue. “I’ll see you in the meeting.” he spoke, and moved inside with Ukitake, who gave Byakuya a bit of a concerned smile and a wave.
Standing outside of the meeting room, Byakuya took a deep breath. It was fine, this was a standard meeting. All he had to do was stand there and look like he was paying attention. That’s it.
Byakuya took his spot in the captain’s lineup and ignored the look Unohana-taichou gave him. He could practically feel her disapproval at him being here in such a state, but he was fine . Why didn’t people see he was just having a bit of an off day? Yamamoto-soutaichou always scolded his subordinates for pretending to be sicker than they were to get out of work, and Byakuya certainly wasn’t sick enough to warrant skipping a Captain’s meeting of all things.
As Yamamoto-soutaichou began the meeting, Byakuya felt himself begin to zone out a bit, focusing solely on maintaining his posture and balance. His head was throbbing and he felt too hot, his clothes scratching uncomfortably against his skin, and then too cold, goosebumps prickling along his arms and chest. It was horrible, and he could feel himself begin to sway minutely before checking himself and steeling his posture. To make things worse, Byakuya had to focus particularly hard on restraining his reiatsu, knowing how oppressive it could be when let loose. It was something he had to train endlessly, and he always held a bit of bitterness towards some of his other fellow captains for having a quieter reiatsu signature.
He was focusing so intensely that he lost track of time, and Byakuya didn’t realize that someone was calling his name until-
“Kuchiki-taichou!” Yamamoto-soutaichou barked and Byakuya jolted, looking over at his superior with wide eyes.
Huffing in annoyance, Yamamoto turned back to the room at large. “Everyone is dismissed. Kuchiki-taichou, stay where you are.” he commanded and the room began to empty.
Kyoraku and Ukitake both gave him reassuring smiles as they filed out, and Unohana gave him an uncomfortably long stare before she too left.
Soon it was just Byakuya and Yamamoto. Byakuya looked at his superior and began to apologize, but was cut off before he could get more than a syllable out.
“Come with me.” Yamamoto grunted, turning to go into his office connected to the meeting room.
Byakuya went to follow him, but suddenly felt the room spin, and somehow found himself on the floor before everything went black.
Tea.
The first thing he noticed was the scent of it as it hit Byakuya, but for the first time in the day, it didn’t make him want to vomit. The second thing he noticed was that he was in something soft, much softer than his usual uniform. The third thing he noticed was that he was in a large futon that wasn’t his.
Groaning softly, Byakuya managed to open his eyes to what looked like… a room? It was similar to his captain’s barracks, but far more elegant and spacious. It reminded him vaguely of his room back at the manor.
“You’re awake.”
Yamamoto-soutaichou’s voice startled Byakuya out of his reverie and he slowly sat up to look at his superior in confusion. They were in his room? And why was he making tea? Looking down, Byakuya blushed slightly to find he was in a large yukata that had Yamamoto’s reiatsu all over it. It was clear he was in the man’s futon as well. He resisted the urge to pull himself closer to it, Yamamoto’s fiery reiatsu making everything so warm .
“Sir?” He asked tentatively and Yamamoto pulled the tea kettle off the fire and added some tea to steep.
“You passed out. So I’ve had you rest here for a bit.” He explained plainly and stood up to get something from the pot on the stove.
Byakuya felt his confusion triple as Yamamoto came back with a small bowl of what looked like warm soup. He stared at it blankly.
Yamamoto seemed to take offense to this and grunted. “Eat, for hell’s sake. You’re paler than usual. Honestly, you brats always needing me to take care of you.” He grumbled and Byakuya took the bowl, bowing his head a little.
“I… I’m sorry?” He tried and Yamamoto waved his hand impatiently, turning back to the teapot.
“Why didn’t you take the day off, boy? You’re barely functional.” Yamamoto scolded while pouring the tea into two cups for them. “Eat your damn soup!”
Byakuya swallowed nervously and took the spoon in the bowl, taking a small sip of the soup. It was warm and comforting. He was glad he wasn’t feeling nauseous because he wasn’t really sure what would happen if he threw up on his soutaichou’s nice futon covers.
“I didn’t think it was that bad.” Byakuya admitted softly and Yamamoto scoffed.
“You of all people should understand your health status.”
Byakuya bit his lip. “I wasn’t… I’ve had worse.”
“And?”
“And I shouldn’t… you said we shouldn’t waste our sick days on frivolous things.” Byakuya reasoned, and couldn’t help but feel a little foolish.
“The people I say that to are pretending they have a little cough! Not passing out in the middle of meetings! Honestly.” Yamamoto growled and placed a cup of tea by Byakuya’s side.
Byakuya looked at it, then at the soup, and then up at Yamamoto in confusion.
“Why didn’t you take me to the 4th?” He asked eventually, taking another sip of soup when Yamamoto scowled at him.
“Hmph. You were already here and Unohana would’ve insisted on far too many medications. You simply needed rest and something to eat.”
Somehow, his response only made Byakuya more confused. He slowly finished his soup, and took a sip of tea, savoring the warmth.
Placing the empty cup down, Byakuya moved to get out of the futon so as not to burden his superior further.
“Thank you for your hospitality.” Byakuya said softly, but Yamamoto placed a surprisingly gentle hand on his shoulder, guiding him back down onto the futon.
“Rest. You can leave later.” He said softly and Byakuya felt his brain short circuit to the point where he didn’t bother to argue.
Though, as he snuggled further under the covers, letting Yamamoto’s warm reiatsu relax him back to sleep, he figured he just shouldn’t question things.