A Marvelous Display of Snow
Drabble 1: Decide
A/N: This one isn't exactly a drabble since it goes over three pages, not to mention the definition of a drabble is a 100-words write, but since it isn't long, I don't know if you'd classify it as a oneshot. Either way, I guess it's a drabble (short writing!) since it's just a bunch of thoughts I placed together. I seriously hope y'all don't get bored with this, cause I know two-thirds of the time I skip over pages in books similiar to this. It has to really grab my attention for me to bother reading it.
Disclaimer: BLEACH (c) Tite Kubo
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Even before he reached adolescence, Kuchiki Byakuya had already decided he would be head of the Kuchiki Clan.
It was not because he was the only child of his father, nor was it his grandfather's persisting him to succeed where his father had failed (though he would lie if he told anyone it had not bother his concentration at first).
The reason was simple: he felt great, unadulterated honor to have been born into the most noble of families, and he'd be damned if he ruined this seldom bestowed honor.
In the intervention of his spring-tide, he started to feel subconscious of the repute his fiery temper abound. If there was anything he had ever felt arrogantly proud, which was saying much, it was the respect the leader both naturally and contrariwise received. His behavior would place a damper towards him and his clan if he didn't improve his character to resemble the ideal of a Kuchiki leader.
He decided he would cast away his childishness for a much more serious outlook to help achieve his goal. No longer was he the young, naive boy who ran to play at any attainable moment his grandfather offhandedly left. The boy who contended with others was no more. In his place, a more stoic young man, learning the harsh but awarding values of life.
His dedication was rewarded immensely. Time flown before the year his coronation and ascension as the Twenty-eighth head of the Kuchiki Clan arrived.
With an oath to both his late grandfather and parents, Byakuya now lead the life he always deemed the ultimate prize. The satisfaction that came from this milestone in his life as quenching as he imagined, if not more, he lead his beloved house in accordance.
Along the way, more ends, null to his previous pair, crossed his path, all cut swiftly by the balance he planted through years of perseverance. It was child's play, the delightful bounty the privileges of his nobility. What more could hinder him?
Hisana entered his life.
It mattered not how they met -when, where, how, and if it never- but from that moment to an unidentified point ultimately, it only mattered how his heart had then longed for her.
Who would've thought he would decide to marry her.
Yet another memory that stands out. He had known it would take place, though the premonition failed to deter him, so he was not surprise when his clan vehemently opposed his wishes. For she was an outsider, and he was a nobleman.
But marry her he did.
In the end, she did not last him but six years, nevertheless those were happy times, more valuable than his youthful drills. While her death left a painful, invisible scar in his heart, it shocked him with the most unnoticeable signs when a test emerged in her wake.
Her younger sister.
Byakuya could not and would not have shown it, but he had been in a state of chaos. His prior choice to wed an incomer presented its share of problems, ones he survived and thus made him stronger. Nevertheless, if one thing remained etched into him heavily from his selfish choices, it was the consequences and the hardships that followed him every step of the way.
Was it worth it? Was this girl, whom he had yet and wasn't even guarantied to meet, worth the time and effort he knew he would face?
At that crucial moment, he reminded himself of Hisana. No matter what the resistance, he would bat them aside with ease, because he decided to find her.
One year went by. Not enough time to steel himself for the photo rendition of his beloved late wife's younger sister.
Hisana's younger sister possessed the near same physical appearance as her. Her given name was Rukia.
There was, of course, no denying her connection to his beloved, but it still tugged his heart in a manner parallelling his hidden feelings for his late wife. It called to him, the urge to see this duplicate of Hisana.
Though it had been quite some time, Byakuya decided to visit the Soul Academy, the place where he would come to decide probably his most difficult decision.
To adopt Rukia.
He had known from the moment he laid eyes on her she would be under his protection. Whether it was her relation to Hisana, possibly even her powerful resembles to her that motivated him, her future home would soon be the manor within his estates.
It was what he had decided, as equally cinch as the time after when he promised at his parents' grave to never bend the rules again.
Over the years, he came to marvel at the results of his oaths.
The little woman he assumed Rukia would be was an unintentional facade. Hisana's younger sister was nothing like her. She was an independent woman, fierce and powerful in her own right. It made completing his promise difficult.
To be honest, it had been a challenge, one that actually managed to reach within him, and spark his discarded youthful soul.
It was enjoyable, a near-sickening excitement enticing him to play his cards, which he gladly set down.
It wasn't their methods of playing accelerating the fun. He had placed a limiter on her by secretly forbidding her a seated position in the Thirteenth Division, having decided this would discourage her from progressing so rapidly. This was at a time when he thought it would end as simply as that.
He hadn't counted on her unyielding spirit. Her apparent failure still depressed as he predicted, just not as much as he had. She continued to push forward, unknowingly dancing over his designs and just barely scrapping by and secretly learning from them. The truth, no, but something more precious that would serve to strengthen her will.
Thinking back on it, Byakuya couldn't help but wonder those such jests were the invective for her meeting with the human boy, Kurosaki Ichigo.
Even more mysterious, the dilemma of his feelings for his adopted sister.
The fifty years they spend together were vague and betwixt. The majority of the time, the two were swept away in the dark game of tricks done behind shadows. The little she physically attended his presence were usually in cold silence. He couldn't bring himself to speak to her properly at the time, because of his earlier distress of her embodiment. Long before setting to find her he decided he would speak only when necessary.
The price of his choice cost him a relationship he quietly coveted after first meeting her. No, it was even before that. Since the day he promised Hisana he'd take care of her, Byakuya wanted above all else, even his place as head of the Kuchiki clan, to be close to his future younger sister. He would gladly and easily grant Hisana's wish for Rukia to refer to him as 'brother'.
But as time went, he desired more, as he came to know of his adopted sister, not through speech, but from his careful observations. May the Lord Almighty have mercy on him, he-he took interest in her, to the point it turned to fascination.
At least, this was the name he bestowed his unusual behavior.
With his duty came his image, and Byakuya never wore his emotions at his sleeves. It didn't mean he had no understanding of his mental state; it meant he was unfamiliar with emotions he rarely if ever displayed.
Byakuya loved Hisana. Since their relationship was an expected one, it was private and personal. Those six years had given him time to explore the innermost depths of his heart he shunned in his youth. To be frank, he had been and still is a foreigner to emotions -- such as love. There was also the manner of his work, which hindered him from seeing her half of the time.
There was no question, however, to the fact that he loved Hisana, that he had treasured her, adored her, and loved her.
He also knew he loved Rukia. Not just because it was expected as Hisana's little sister, but because she had grown on him. He just didn't expect the growth to go so far that she'd invade his very heart in the same manner her older sister had done before her.
It felt horrible to think, but Byakuya felt more and more attracted to Rukia as the days, weeks, years after her adoption took its course. For a while he feared it was due to her ever prodding resemblance to her sister, but he had come to know her. In an unusual way, yes, but the thread was still present It was just that promise that kept him from going further.
His role as leader of the Kuchiki clan prevented him from daring to think anymore of his own feelings. His duty to the clan, his promise to his parents, his dedication halted him from having an intimate relationship.
He came to realize this is what cost him his relationship with Hisana. Had he permitted himself to act freely, he would have known his wife further.
Well, if one thing continued to exist and hold unto his morals from his youth is that he doesn't make the same mistake twice.
And after holding Rukia's quivering, fearful body against his injured, impaled being on that faithful day on Soukyoku Hill, he would have to emphasize that.
This time, he would follow his heart, and allow it to guide him to the affiliation he desired. And he desired to be with Rukia.
That was what he decided.
A/N: See, what I mean (for those of you who managed to survive this read)? Forgive me if it seems repetitive and/or it sucks and it's boring, but the point of the whole drabble if you didn't understand it, was that Byakuya would willingly cut the crap if it meant to get what he wants. The ending further pleases me (even if it doesn't you) since Byakuya will now follow his heart, and not what everyone suggests, influences or because it seemed to them right. And what he wants is Rukia.:3
I'd like to also mention here that I will update this when I'm in the mood. Initially, I was going to just keep this hidden in my documents since I haven't written any drabbles of anything in a while, but in the end, I choose to put it up since I love ByaKia so much.:D As such, because of update lacks, the collection will be placed in the "Completed" category. Thank you for you patience.^^