Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach
Notes: I had forgotten I had some one shots typed up. Yes I do think Rukia is ridiculous, and that nobody sees Byakuya as they should. Reviewers get cookies.
Awkward
It was Thursday and Byakuya was late to his weekly dinner with Rukia for the first time. He had once again been buried under his paperwork and tied down by an ultimatum from above that he had to finish most of his paperwork be assigned more. The higher ups had been pissed when he sent his paperwork through the gate to hell (as what he thought was a perfectly legitimate way to torture people) and loaded him down with even more paperwork. He'd managed to work his way through the paper blocking the door and now he was striding down to the dining room he shared with his sister, Rukia. As if doing paperwork all day long wasn't bad enough now he had to deal with his weekly awkward dinners with his over polite sister…after she had found out about his lover Renji, who also happened to be her child hood friend. As if things weren't awkward enough.
As he entered the dining room, still in his captain's uniform, his eyes swept the room noting that as usual Rukia was sitting stiff backed and silent in her customary chair. When she heard his step she turned her eyes to him then quickly and demurely away. Byakuya thought she looked cowed.
"I apologize for my lateness." He said.
"I'm sure you were busy Niisama." She said barely believing that the prim and proper Kuchiki Byakuya was late. Byakuya sat down at the head of the table as was his right as the head of the clan and placed his napkin in his lap. The servants quickly served the dinner making sure never to look him in the eye or make any movements that could be construed as anything other then professional.
Ever since she had heard about Byakuya's torrid affair with Renji, Rukia had been at a loss as to what to think. Renji had been her friend. He was her person to torment and her person that was always there through thick and thin. He had lived through the death of their gang.
Now it seemed that Byakuya had seduced him, or the other way round. She was so confused. How did that happen anyway!? Not that it wouldn't be totally hot and not that she wouldn't like to see Renji getting nailed … or even Byakuya but still! Byakuya was such a frigid ice prince! He never showed emotion and she didn't think he had a single romantic bone in his body not to mention a sense of humor.
Then again, Renji had pretty much come out and told her that she didn't know Byakuya as well as she thought. So if Renji was to be believed, who exactly was Kuchiki Byakuya? She pondered this for a few moments trying to get up the courage to ask him how the whole relationship happened. And maybe to warn him against harming Renji but honestly what could she do against his strength anyway?
Byakuya was bored out of his skull. He had enough silence with his paperwork all day long anyway, except for the bright spot of tea bearing Renji. He cursed Hisana not for the first time for leaving him alone… and pushing her younger cast off sister on him. But then he wouldn't have found the only person to look beyond (what he considered to be) his reserve and see the dignified yet passionate man buried deep within. Renji had showed him the best way of life, how had he ever thought it was ok to pour out love endlessly and never receive any in return? Thanks to Renji his time in the emotional desert was over but he was still stuck with a cactus that he couldn't get rid of. Rukia was always trying not to shame her Niisama with emotions but she didn't realize that he would welcome her words.
Byakuya had always been a man of few words really. He was reserved to the point that many thought him a living block of ice. In reality he fulfilled his duties as Clan Kuchiki's head and as the Sixth Division's captain with calmness (at least in front of others) and efficiency. Renji could tell anyone who cared to ask that Byakuya was just a normal man under his reserve and that it hurt him just as much as it would others that everyone avoided him and were afraid of him. He could also tell them that Byakuya was loyal and romantic. He kept his promises and was tormented if he failed to keep them. He would have to be as he had stayed with Hisana even though she did not return his feelings, and even took care to find the sister she abandoned and take her in.
Rukia didn't find her courage. Byakuya couldn't make himself approachable. And there was no conversation. In the end it was just another meal taken with company and might as well have been eaten alone. It was another hour and a half wasted for them both. Byakuya could have been doing paperwork and Rukia could have been day dreaming of Ichigo. All in all it was another wasted dinner, another wasted, awkward dinner.