Standard disclaimer apply.
Warning: May spoil a tidbit if you haven't been keeping up with the manga.
A/N: I love ByaRuki's complicated relationship. This is intended as humorous...but it's Byakuya. So I have no idea if I did his character justice. lol :) Anyway, this is a two-or-three-shot. I haven't planned out the next chapter/s. I just know the next one's Rukia's turn. :P
By the way, this is the first time I ever wrote a fic without actual dialogues. Just wanted to try this method, so lemme know if it's okay?
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It's A Complex Thing
His Sister Complex
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Byakuya stared idly at the paper right in front of him. He was not one whose attention would be swayed so easily and yet he found it hard to focus on the simple task at hand - reading a report. He supposed it had something to do with his lieutenant's statement that suddenly sprang out of the blue.
Captain, you have a sister complex.
Truly he must be delusional. He, Byakuya Kuchiki, who does not care about anything in this world except pride and duty, would have a sister complex?
He scoffed at his lieutenant and called him ridiculous and that the thought was so absurd he will remove him from his squad if he ever heard him utter such nonsense again. Immediately his lieutenant had walked silently away.
Now, facing a sheet of paper alone on his desk, his thoughts wandered back to why his lieutenant would have such a deduction, and to the only known sister he's ever got: Rukia.
For all he knew, and all Soul Society knew, he had been a terrible brother to her. He never looked at her, never acknowledged her, never even been affectionate to her, or even talked about personal matters at all. He was never that close to her at all. So why, all of a sudden, does Renji think he have an unreasonable sister complex?
Perhaps it was because of the times when he had come right on-time to save her: back in Hueco Mundo where he made mincemeat out of that blasted arrancar who threatened to kill her; finding her unconscious after battling Tsukishima; and then giving her support on the most recent battle with As Nodt. But it was his duty to look after her after all. And he made a promise to his deceased wife that he would protect her.
True that ever since the incident when she was almost executed, he had been so guilty he felt he needed to atone for his mistakes and treat her as a real brother should. But that doesn't mean he developed a sister complex!
When he started looking at her directly instead of avoiding her most of the time, he noticed a few things he had never noticed before: that when he'd look at her, she would always look away. Though he noticed she mostly did out of shyness, embarrassment or unfamiliarity of the gesture and its meaning. And that the first time he actually made small talk about anything in particular, she had been too shock she wasn't able to converse with him properly at all. He thought then, that perhaps it was because he kept too much distance for so many decades that made it hard for her to bond with him. But he knew for sure they will have decades of building bridges to come.
But still… that doesn't mean he has a sister complex at all!
Mulling over it, he deduced that his lieutenant really had no basis at all and at the same time, he found it ridiculous to even be thinking about such a trivial matter. He decided he needed some fresh air, so he went out of his division's office to stroll around his nearby garden.
Half-way on his walk, he was abruptly interrupted by the arrival of a messenger. He informed him of Rukia's recently assigned mission to exterminate a hollow on a district in Rukongai. He nodded and dismissed him immediately. The messenger had been from Ukitake, her captain.
Rukia did not seem to want to bother him with trivial matters, so it had been Ukitake who informed him whenever he sent her on one.
Continuing his walk to clear his mind, he could only get back to the problem at hand. What spirit had possessed his lieutenant to say such a thing?
Okay, maybe he needed to be informed of her missions. After all the things he did to make her remain unseated for so many years, and all the trouble she would put herself into, he wanted to know the type of missions she was assigned to, the difficulty of the tasks, and the subordinates who would accompany her on that mission. Of course he was only looking out for her. For if the task was too difficult and impossible, he would surely find his way into the 13th division complaining at a certain captain about it. And if the subordinates too inadequate that she would have to jeopardize her own safety for them, he will be finding his way into the academy's administration scolding them for graduating incompetent students. It was only proper after all.
Aside from that, he did not really meddle with her business. Often when asked about her, he would always say nonchalantly that he doesn't care and that whatever she does is none of his concern. But then again, the people who heard him say such a thing just smiled at him all-knowingly, because to them, despite his words, his actions clearly stated otherwise. And the subtlety of his meddling had been obvious to most, if not all of Seiretei, except Rukia herself.
So yes, he does meddle slightly after all. She is a member of his household, and everything she does, he must have a say first and foremost. Be it family matters, work, and of course… nothing personal. He does not sully himself with gossips at all. Especially when the news came to his suddenly sensitive ears that back in Karakura town, she had not only lived in Kurosaki Ichigo's house, but had also slept in his room for quite a number of months!
Immediately he had called Rukia for an interrogation. He recalled that moment when she had been so nervous she stuttered her answers to his questions. He had only given her a warning, and that as a noble lady from their family, she must not tarnish herself with the likes of that rascal boy. When her eyes widened in shock, disbelief and confusion, he quickly reminded her that she was a woman and it was very inappropriate for her to sleep in the room of a boy – especially one as unruly as Kurosaki Ichigo. She then said in assurance that nothing of the scandalous sort ever happened, and that she had slept in his closet all the time. While she muttered her apologies and promises that it will never happen again, Byakuya's eyes had darkened, completely appalled by what she said. He did manage to remain stoic as usual, and dismissed her as soon as she finished her sentences.
A single thought entered his mind that time. A single image. A single thing.
A closet…
She did not only live in that brat's room, but she slept in something as hideous as a closet?! That was not his idea of a comfortable room, let alone be a bed to stuff her into. Granted that Rukia never really cared where she slept. She never even boasted the riches and grandeur bestowed upon her by their family. He knew she was being humble and modest about it. But he also knew she deserved something more than an accursed closet!
Enraged, he took a parchment and a quill writing a request to Ukitake to never assign her in Karakura town ever again.
The captain however responded to him in person with a proposal – one he himself admitted was inevitable and in due time.
So he finally allowed her to be promoted to lieutenant. Of course he agreed because he truly saw her potential as a shinigami. It was not because of an underlying motive such as lieutenancy meant she will be swamped with work in her division and will have much more important tasks than watching over Karakura. Neither was it because he was worried whenever she leaves Soul Society for too long, or that she might be spending too much time with that filthy human! Not at all!
His brow furrowed. The fresh air didn't help at all. So he decided to return to his division.
As he walked back, he recalled their previous conversation which led to his lieutenant's statement.
He forbade Renji to take Rukia out ever again.
Renji made all sort of excuses of course. They were friends, who hang out a lot, who lost track of time, and decided to have a sleepover at Matsumoto's. Byakuya wasn't really that angry because Rukia did not get home that night, and he wasn't that mad either that he wasn't informed at all of this… sleepover.
He knew they were close. They were childhood friends, who grew up together, who as much as he would like to deny, was closer to each other than she and him ever had been. He wasn't that worried at all too, knowing his goal was to get her back ever since the adoption. He wasn't too worried that his lieutenant would find other means to get her back. He would even mock his feeble mind for the thought that surpassing him would get her back. He could not comprehend how he presumed he could even do such an impossible thing as surpassing him, and that even if he did manage to do so, why would he give her back and break his promise to Hisana? And if by any chance, he had any intelligence at all to come up with a preposterous idea such as wedding her or any of the offending sorts, he would make it perfectly clear that he won't allow it.
And so, he forbade him. He was only protecting Rukia's best interest and that included her choice of men. He was after all a man, and he knew of the many ways a man could try to get a woman. So he had his lieutenant on watch under his division.
Byakuya did not know when he started thinking about it, but he realized then, that there was no man in Soul Society he would actually approve to give her away. He did not know when he started having dreams for her. Dreams of success, power, even something as absurd as love. Yet he did, as much as he did not want to admit. He only wanted the best for her, and a man – noble, rich and powerful, one as wise as him. He smiled in smug satisfaction that there is no one yet to live up to that expectation except, of course… himself.
He frowned in yet another realization. Perhaps his lieutenant was onto something…
Perhaps he does have a sister complex after all…
Sliding past the lieutenant's office door, he quickly gave Renji an icy glare and an unusual heap of work to haunt him for the rest of the day.