Characters: Rukia, Kaien
Summary: How we cope.
Pairings: Kaien x Rukia, Kaien x Miyako
Warnings/Spoilers: spoilers for Soul Society arc; AU
Timeline: pre-manga
Author's Note: This would be an AU in which Miyako died but Kaien didn't. It may come across as a little creepy.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.
A storm of imperfections was brewing on the horizon but Rukia couldn't bring herself to stare out the window so she could see it. The illusion that tortured her was too engrossing for her to focus on anything else, even if she knew that none of it was any more real than the daydream of a schoolgirl.
Miyako's memory was still fresh in everyone's minds, not less Rukia's and especially not Kaien's. Kaien, she was sure, would never forget Miyako. He was wilting away for lack of her; how could he ever forget?
And now his troubled mind rested for a spell on Rukia's, the weight of his skin heavy and dull, a numbing weight like lead all over her.
It was an odd feeling, of course—nothing could be stranger than the settling of illusion over her bones. Not even death cooling over on her, and Rukia began to wonder if Kaien wasn't simply just that—a dead man walking and talking and pretending to be alive but failing miserably.
Of course she tried to keep the strings from fraying but they wouldn't hold forever, not even with Rukia mending at every other break. Kaien would have to fall apart completely, within time.
But Rukia was still there, trying to hold back the storm, any way she could.
Any way. She wasn't sure Kaien could even tell the difference between her and his late wife anymore.
This was as much for her as it was for him, in any case.
After all, Kaien wasn't the only one bleeding sanity out of his ears like the gates loosed on a dam.
And Rukia needed a little salve to her heavy bleeding, even if it made her feel like the grime of Inuzuri had never left her later. Just a little bit, to hold back the flood that's already come.