Secret Intentions [Closed]

Two weeks after her arrival and J. was able to say she was not a bad choice. Her mannerisms were always gentle. She had a passion about her that most women did not seem to have, and if they did have it, J. did not care enough to pay attention the way he was now. The atmosphere around the Saionji Manor had fallen into a peaceful aura that it had not had in a long time. He wondered if he was the only one that felt it, but would never ask. There was just something about her. There was something about that woman that made him keep looking. That warm smile was slowly thawing the ice that had formed around J.'s heard over the years. Even though he did not express any of this, he assumed Kazuo had been able to tell. For one, he was harder on his squad. Their training had become more difficult because he realized that he was acting different. He had to keep up his reputation.

Over these two weeks, J. was rather stressed out, but he never felt it when she was talking to him. Never before had someone been able to ease his tension like she could. His paperwork was just piling up. He had multiple Division transfers to get through. Damage costs for a recent hollow fight had his Division working double time. Beyond that, he had been receiving letters from the Ishino Family about Maaya's whereabouts. This was something he kept in a locked drawer on his desk, where she could not get in to reading them. He had sent them confirmation of her arrival and explained her situation days ago. He knew they got the message, so why exactly were they asking about any minor changes in her day to day life? With the little amount they cared about her before, it was apparent to J. that these people were only interested in why she was still here. Even their eldest had not been invited to stay.

On the twentieth night, J. said his goodnight to Maaya like he had done every night. Well, it was more her coming to his room and taking care of him. She still had the demeanor of a servant wife, which was not something he'd complain about. Like everyone else, Maaya knew her place. If she wanted to rise from that place, he would help her if he can, but she had to understand where her current place was. And right now, her current place was in the next room in the bed he had carefully chosen to comfort her. On the other hand, J.'s current place was laying in his own bed. He sunk into the comfort of his mattress and rolled onto his side like always. Dressed in his black plaid striped pajama pants, his robe tossed over the bottom of the bed, J. rested his head lightly against the pillow and closed his eyes. Within just a few minutes, the man's breath calmed and he fell into a much needed sleep.

The comfort of one's bed should never be disturbed by one who was not welcome. The sanctuary that is one's bedroom should never be tainted by intrusion, especially one like this. This invasion was unexpected and  unforgivable. As J Saionji lay sleeping, he began to stir. Even in his dreams, something felt off. Something was desperately trying to wake him. These few moments of slumber felt like an eternity, and not in a good way. There was a moment where, if someone were watching, they could see J.'s eyes open slightly, but he fell right back to sleep. These few moments, J. was completely unaware of the horrible event happening not fifty feet from his current location. He turned over in his bed to face the double doors that lead into Maaya's room, as if something was guiding him in that direction. And as if on queue, that heart jerking scream echoed through the halls of Saionji Manor.

J.'s eyes shot open, the ear piercing scream throwing his heart out of rhythm as his eyes immediately met the two shut doors that separated him and Maaya. He rolled himself over and up onto all fours, pushing himself off of the bed and to the door. He threw the door open as quickly as he could and took two steps in before freezing. What he saw angered him in a way that he could not comprehend. Maaya was laying on her back and he could tell she was still under partial effected of a certain Kidō. Then there was this man standing over her with his pants down and pointed a little too close to the innocence that Maaya still carried. There was a pause, a two second pause from when J. entered the room for him to have everything process correctly in his mind. The moment that happened, J. took two steps forward and before this man had the ability to react, his life had taken a very, very hard turn.

J.'s entire hand enveloped this man's face. His grip on the man's head tightened as he pulled the half-naked bastard into the air. J. took a step to the left away from Maaya to make sure she would not feel any part of this. Once he did that, as if this man were absolutely nothing, J. brought the man up a bit more and then slammed his head as hard as he could into the wood below. The wooden floor cracked beneath this man's head and J. only pushed him further. The man yelled out in pain as J. pulled him from the newly made hole and slammed his head back down in a new spot, creating yet another hole in the floor of Maaya's room. Picking the man up again, J. rushed through one of the paper door walls and used shunpo to force this man into one of the Seireitei's walls. He then let the man fall, but knelt down next to him and proceeded to repeatedly punch the man in the head and torso. He did not stop.

One. Two. Three. Four. One. Two. Three. Four. One. Two. Three. Four. As long as the man was breathing, J. kept throwing full forced punches at him. This was J. ready to keep punching until he could no longer lift his arms. This was J. in a rage that even his brother had never seen him in before. This bastard laying still as J. destroyed him had snuck by his guard, snuck into Maaya's room, used a Kidō to restrain her, and was going to violate her. This man thought he had the right to take something like that from Maaya? He thought he could come in here and ruin her? Not on J.'s watch. With each punch, J. felt a new bone crack. Blood began splattering around, but mostly on his clothing, arms, and fists. He didn't hear his brother call out his name. He heard nothing right now. He only saw this disgusting trash laying in his yard and the thought of Maaya laying with this bastard between her legs.

J. was about to throw a final punch when his arm was suddenly stopped. He froze and turned his head toward who dared stop him. J.'s eyes were wide, almost as if he had snapped and gone mad over this. His pupils were slightly dilated as well. Seeing his brother there, J. stared threateningly at Kazuo and went to pull his arm away from Kazuo so he could continue his barrage of punches at the dirt-bag on the floor. Kazuo kept restraining him, trying to talk him down out of this rage he had fallen into. After a while, things seemed to reappear around him and he was calming down. "I'm fine. I'm FINE." J. pulled away from his brother and just stood there trying to catch his breath. He had never been so angry in his life. He could not remember a moment that could compare to the anger he felt then. And when Kazuo asked what happened, J. could not help but send one final kick in to break Ishirou's ribs.

"He... He was..." J. shook his head. He couldn't say it out loud. It only brought the anger back. He felt the situation was a little obvious anyways. Kazuo got it because the moment Ishirou tried to speak, he found a blade at his neck. Seeing Kazuo share his anger, J. felt himself calming a bit more. If the anger was split between the two of them, maybe they'd be in better control, because a moment ago J. had almost no control over himself. "I want him dead." J. told Kazuo since he trusted his brother to take care of this. When J. looked over to Maaya, he almost couldn't look at her. He knew he needed to be by her side right now. That was what a good man did. Furthermore, that was what a husband did. He had to be there for her, to protect her. He nodded to his brother and walked over to Maaya. As he got there, he saw a few of the servants standing in Maaya's doorway, wondering what happened.

"No! Out!" J. shouted toward them and shunpo'd forward to close the door, "To bed with all of you!" He stood there staring at the door for a moment and then looked back to Maaya. He stepped over to her with a darkened expression, one no one had ever seen. He leaned down and swooped her up into his arms without asking permission and carried her off to the bathroom. They were both a mess; their clothes were ruined, either by blade or by blood. He knew he was getting blood on her as well, but that's alright. He set her down on her feet and turned on the shower. "I need... to bathe. I want you right next to me at all times. You will sleep in my room from now on... Close your eyes." he told her and then stopped. He was doing this wrong, very wrong. He looked at her, took a deep breath, walked over to her, picked her up, set her on the bathroom counter, and wrapped his arms around her. He pulled the woman in close, laying his chin on top of her head. He did not let her go.

He was getting blood all over her. This was why he wanted to take a bath and get this disgusting substance off of him, but she needed him more. As he stood there, he just held her. He kept her close, practically melding her body with his own. He let her cry as long as she wanted. When his shaking stopped, which was soon after he began holding her, he could feel her body trembling. She was so frightened; he could not imagine how much so. The only thing he could do was be a good man and be here for her. He did not budge until she felt she was ready to let go. For a brief moment, J. was pleased to hear what she had called him. 'My Lord' meant quite a lot. She had accepted her position as part of the Saionji. He understood this as her not planning on leaving. She really seemed to want to be here. She seemed to care about him. Knowing these things only made him hold onto her even tighter.

When she was calm enough to pull away, he looked down to her with a dullness in his eyes. Maaya apologized to him, which caused a spark to light those eyes back up again. He closed them for a moment. He kept silent and then opened them again to stare intensely into her eyes. "Do not ever apologize for something like this." his voice was almost threatening, "You have done nothing wrong, and you damn well better know it. If anyone should have sensed him, it should have been the Captain not twenty feet from your position." That stopped J. for a moment. Why didn't he sense him? Why didn't this man's presence wake him up sooner? He shook of the thoughts and shrugged it off as if he had just been in a deep sleep. Taking a deep breath, he slowly let it out to relax a bit. "Come." he said and wrapped an arm around her waist. He slid her off of the counter and set her on her feet.

"I'm going to use the shower, so you can use the bath." he said as he pulled Kazuo's robe from her. He chose not to point out the blood she now had all over her and also chose not to stare for too long when he got a clear view of her front end. He kept a straight face, but decided to do something to hopefully help her feel better. "Beautiful." was all he said before he walked over to the separate bath and turned it on. The bath filled up quicker than normal one's, so she'd be able to jump in within a minute of him entering the shower. As the bath filled, J. stepped into the shower with his pants on. Yes, he was odd and keeping certain parts of himself hidden from her. As he bathed, he thought whether that was unfair or not. He had tossed his pants out into the laundry basket before they'd have gotten completely soaked. Once he was done, he reached out and grabbed onto a towel that was hanging on a rack.

He turned off the water, brought the towel in, and wrapped it around himself. As he stepped out of the shower, he looked over to Maaya to see if she was done. If she was, he'd step over to a cabinet and pull out a towel for her. He walked over to the tub and look away while holding it up for her to walk into. "Come on." he helped wrap the towel around her and then lead her back to his bedroom. He was more alert than he usually was at this point. He almost felt paranoid, but after what had just happened to her, who could blame him? He wanted to watch out for her. As they made their way to his room, they stopped by her room to pick up her sleepwear. Once they were in his bedroom, he quietly dressed himself in pajamas and made sure not to look toward her as she dressed. Once they were dressed, J. looked to her with an expression that just showed shame. He sat down on the bed and asked her to sit down next to him. Once she did, he lowered his head and closed his eyes, "I'm sorry..."

"This was my fault. Someone at my level should have sensed him." J. replied in frustration, clenching his fists tightly, "He slipped passed my guard and me, and that Kidō he used on you... How did you break free?" There was a hint of J. being impressed with her hidden among his voice. He had been impressed with her answers from his interview, but not enough to have it leak into his tone. He looked down to her hands as she placed them on his. He found himself noticing the size difference first, but took note of how soft hers were. This was the first time that she had reached out to touch him without permission or being told to. Was she becoming more comfortable with him? Or was what happened here making her act oddly? Either way, he turned his hand over and wrapped it around both of her petite hands. He appreciated her attempts to comfort him, but he was not the one who needed it.

"I can promise nothing. What has happened here is unforgivable." J. said and took a deep breath and raised his head. He was not forgiving himself for this until he got more information. Someone of Ishirou's skill level should not have been able to sneak passed the guard, get so close to Maaya, and be able to use a Kidō like that without someone like J or Kazuo noticing first. It should not have taken that scream. That scream was something that echoed in his mind and he was going to remember for a long time to come. Maaya gave the option of retiring to bed, but J. wondered if he would be able to sleep. Looking ot her eyes once more, J. put his thoughts to rest and nodded. "Let's sleep." he agreed and slid backwards until he was back on his side of the bed. As she would move to lay down, he'd put his arm there so she'd 'accidentally' lay on it and then coil it around her, pulling Maaya into him, "Goodnight."

In the morning, J. was extremely careful about not waking Maaya up. The sun shined into his room a little brighter, making him realize he slept in a bit longer than normal. He remembered waking up once before, seeing Maaya still in bed asleep, and then just returning to his slumber. Now that he had officially woken, he gently slid his arm out from under her and quietly sat up. As he woke, his memories of the night before came back. The anger did not follow, but he stood up and walked over to the back doors to his room. There were four doors in his room: one lead into the main house, another to Maaya's room, another to the bathroom, and the final to the back garden. It was the one to the garden that he had taken and seen the wreckage from last night. A few of his servants were out there trying to clean up the blood. Seeing that, J. wondered whether Kazuo got any information out of him.

In fact, that was something he realized he should ask Maaya. He did not want to bring up the memories of what happened, but to get the information he needed he would have to. He sat on the wooden porch and observed the garden, keeping the back sliding door open, until Maaya woke up. Once he heard her awake, he'd stand up and step back into the room, closing the door behind him. "Good morning, Maaya." he said and sat down on the bed across from her, "Were you able to sleep decently?" He had doubts that it was a 'good' sleep after last night. He had no idea what her dreams were likely filled with. Once she answered, his face hardened a bit. "I understand it'll be hard, but I need you to answer some questions." J. told her in as calm a tone as he could, "I need to know what that was about. I could tell that he was targeting you, not some random woman in my home. Did you know him?"

That was not something that J. wanted to hear. There had been a time she was promised to another man? The reasons behind it were disgusting. Using your daughter to pay off a debt was almost as unforgivable as what occurred in the other room last night. The more J. heard about her parents, the more disappointed with them he was becoming. There were even thoughts of another Noble House being found in similar ways of the Heihachirou coming through his mind, but since they were of the higher Noble Houses, J. wondered if that would even be possible. If something like that would happen, J. would make sure that, even if they did not work out as a couple,  Maaya's status would not drop. He would adopt her in the Saionji in some manner, but of course this would be if he didn't end up marrying her. In the two weeks they've known each other, marriage to a woman like her was not a horrible idea.

"I see." was all he could say to reply at this point. He would need time to collect his thoughts. One thing she said stuck out more than the rest and it was something that he would be checking into today. "Give me a moment." he said and stepped out of the room. He returned a few moments later with multiple outfits, from formal to casual, laying over his arms. Assuming a bit with her help, the outfits were laid out over the bed. At the top though, were things he motioned for her to mess with: six matching pairs of bras and panties. He did not understand which would be good for her, but he knew he liked 'matching', so that's what he got. "I won't make you go into that room until you're ready. I saw the look on your face when you retrieved your pajamas." J. said this rather casually as he stepped over to his own closet. He moved things around a bit, made some space, and even emptied a drawer.

"Choose what you will wear today. I'll put the rest away." J. said as he pulled out one of his custom Shihakusho. This was a Shinigami uniform, but it had his family crest sewn into the back and on the right sleeve. The Captain's badge was also sewn in on the left sleeve. After that, he did not put on the Captain's haori, but instead the Saionji one. Once he and Maaya were finished dressing, he'd ask her to take the more feminine objects and put them in the drawer while he hung up her other clothing. "Breakfast should be ready by now, we slept in late. Kazuo is likely waiting." he began leading her down the hallways to the sitting room like every morning. This was just the first time that they were actually late. During their walk, J. was actually standing much closer to Maaya, but it was in a protective manner. Anyone that they passed could tell that it was smarter to walk around them now.

"Good morning, brother. I apologize for being late; I slept longer than expected." J. made sure that any blame would have been toward him, not Maaya. The three didn't have to wait this time. Instead, they walked straight into the eating area and sat down. As usual, J. pulled Maaya's chair out for her and then forward once she sat down. He went to his seat and within thirty seconds the meal had been placed in front of them. One thing that would have been noticed over time, J. absolutely loved french toast. When this meal was made, though he never noticed it, he ate quite a bit more. He took part in six slices of french toast, three scrambled eggs, and five sausages. He ate the first half before looking up to Kazuo. "Did you sleep alright?" he asked and took another bite of french toast, speaking up again after he finished chewing, "If you don't mind, I'd like to discuss the man we caught last night."

J. was not expecting either reaction from Maaya or Kazuo, but mostly from Kazuo. He raised an eyebrow at his brother. This was something they would normally have talked about over breakfast. Through out the day, they were dealing with their squads, missions, and paperwork. Breakfast was their time to discuss different activity before the day began. The fact that his brother was telling him to leave the conversation be was a little odd; he wasn't sure he liked or appreciated it. With every mention of Maaya, J. did understand Kazuo's reasoning a bit more. He looked to Maaya and then back to Kazuo with his normal stoic expression. "Maaya." J. spoke up and looked to the woman next to him, "If you are not comfortable with the conversation, I would ask that you step outside for a few moments. It doesn't seem like you're eating much anyway." This was the wrong decision, but J. didn't know that. And although he spoke it like a suggestion, it was an actual order. If she tried to stay, J. would speak up. "Maaya. Please wait in the sitting room." he'd say with a more commanding tone. Once she was gone, he looked to his brother and then to his brother's hands. "What exactly did you find out?" he said and continued to eat as if what he had just done was alright in his mind, which it was.

The moment Maaya was not able to hear, both of them turned into political figures. Kazuo was J.'s right hand man for this reason. When J. was angry about something, Kazuo thought straight. When Kazuo was angry about something, J. would be the one to think straight. They were a good team. At the first bit of information was prevented, J. sat in silence and listened. "So... the Heihachirou have fallen. I remembered hearing something about that." J. said and finished off the last of his meal. Kazuo explained more and J.'s suspicions were confirmed. He had not chosen this outfit for no reason. He was ready to approached Captain Hatakeyama and the Ishino as Captain and Head of the Saionji Family.

"Ishirou seems to be the only one with any sort of steady income." "How is he pulling that off?" "The attack was ordered by his current employer. And, this is why I didn't want Maaya to hear, but his employer is Mistress Shiina Ishino, current wife of the Lord of the Ishino, Nobutada Ishino, and Maaya's mother." J.'s entire demeanor hardened. He did not look angry because he had his suspicions. "Maaya did explain that she saw Ishirou around her Mother from time to time... This is not surprising." The fact that this did not surprise J. was a little odd. Well, it would be odd to anyone that Maaya didn't tell about her parents treatment of her. He had that information, so this didn't shock him.

"He was told to 'make her unpresentable as a bride.' He asked what that entailed, and he was told 'use your imagination.'" When this was said, J.'s expression darkened. If one didn't know any better, you might think he was planning an assassination or even to start an all out war. Luckily, Kazuo was thinking straight and would be able to keep his brother in check. As he was handed the paper, J. nodded, "Well done." To keep himself calm, J. took in a very deep breath and slowly let it out, setting the paper into his haori. He sat silent as he listened to Kazuo's suggestions, thinking very hard on which one he would take. And when that last plan came up, J. couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

"She is beautiful... and kind." J. sat back in his chair and closed his eyes, "It is not often that you find the two in one person." He opened his eyes and glanced toward the sitting room. After a moment of thought, he looked back to Kazuo with a curious expression. "Do you find her worthy to call sister-in-law, brother? It has only been two weeks; I will not make my decision, yet, but I would like your opinion." J. asked with sincerity. Once Kazuo was done giving his answer, J. had another question. "I want to take her somewhere, or do something where it would just be the two of us. A 'date', I believe is what most people call it. Do you have any ideas on how I should go about that?"