~Shattered Mirage of Noble Dreams~

By - ByaRukifan

Timeline: After Aizen's defeat, After the Lay Me Under the Frozen Moon storyline

Pairing(s): Byakuya/Rukia

Beginning A/N: This is the SEQUEL to Lay Me Under the Frozen Moon. If you haven't read that, you may end up being confused later on.

~Chapter One~

"Byakuya...it's morning, wake up."

Byakuya opened his eyes when he heard Rukia's soft voice, coaxing him awake. Slowly, he sat up and ran his hand through his hair before looking over at Rukia, who wore a simple, white, silk, spaghetti-strap nightgown.

"Good morning." He said tiredly, not fully awake yet, before smiling at her.

Rukia smiled back before leaning over to kiss him lightly on the lips before looking down. Byakuya followed her gaze to see that lying between them were two, young, four year old children sleeping peacefully. One boy with shoulder length, dark black hair with a single bang hanging between his eyes and one girl who also had shoulder length black hair, the only difference in hair-style being that her bangs were pushed more to the left side of her face; much like how Byakuya's hair was when he wasn't wearing his kenseikan.

"There was a small storm sometime last night, so they had gotten frightened and came in here." Rukia explained in a quiet whisper to Byakuya so as not to wake them.

Byakuya smiled a little and gave a small nod to let her know he understood.

Looking at Rukia, Byakuya just couldn't help but think back to how this wonderful, peaceful time in their lives came to be. They had been married for ten years now and he could honestly say they were the best years of his life. He thought about when he had first kissed her and how she had kissed him back, about how she had taken care of him after his first battle with the shinigami known as Tatsuo Miura and how she had saved his life during his final battle with him. After that, once he had recovered from his injuries, he had proposed to her. The smile on her face when he had asked was one of the most beautiful sights he had ever seen and when she had said yes he remembered how happy he had been too.

He remembered going to the elders with Rukia after she had agreed to marry him. The elders had heard about what Rukia had done against the final showdown against Tatsuo and even though they didn't really show it, Byakuya could tell they were at least a little grateful to her. He supposed that's why they hadn't had been so hard to persuade into accepting the marriage between them. He remembered weeks later when they had had the ceremony and of course the honeymoon. Which he knew the two of them had both enjoyed very much. A few years after that Rukia had become pregnant and he remembered how surprised they were when they found out they were having twins.

"What are smiling about?" He heard Rukia ask, bringing him out of his thoughts.

"I was just thinking back." Byakuya replied.

The young girl began to awaken at that moment, she tiredly rubbed her eyes as she was unaware her parents were already awake.

Rukia let a soft giggle escape when the girl yawned, "Good morning, Yuki."

Yuki looked up at her mother and gave a tired smile, "Morning, Okaa-san."

"Still sleepy?" Byakuya asked, a small smile still on his face.

Yuki looked up at him then and gave a small nod, "Uh huh."

"Hey Yuichi is waking up." Yuki said happily when she noticed her twin brother begin to stir.

Yuichi sat up and rubbed his eyes, "M-morning..." he said in tired voice.

Rukia ,who sat beside him, placed her hand softly on his head and brushed some of the hair from his eyes, "Morning."

"Otou-san, are you gonna get to stay home today?" Yuki asked, looking up at Byakuya with a hopeful smile.

Byakuya gave a nod, "Today is my day off, so yes. I'll be staying home."

Both Yuki and Yuichi smiled happily at his words. Even Rukia couldn't help but give a smile, she was happy Byakuya would be home today as well.

Yuichi then moved to get out of his parents bed then, crawling over Rukia to ease himself off.

"Where are you going?" Rukia asked once Yuichi was on the floor.

"I'm gonna go get changed. I can't just wear my night clothes all day." He stated happily as he ran to the door that led to the hallway.

Yuki then perked up at her brother's words, "I can't wear my nightclothes all day either!" She said as she crawled out of bed to followed her brother out of the room.

Rukia moved closer to Byakuya after the twins had left. She wrapped her arms around Byakuya's and rested her head on his shoulder.

"I'm happy that today's your day off. You need a break." Rukia said with a small smile.

"I'm glad I'm off today too." Byakuya replied, giving her a small smile in return.

Rukia let a small sigh escape her, "I wonder how the others back at the Thirteenth are doing..."

"Everything is going well for them as far as I know." Byakuya said, "You'll be able to go back In a few more years. Once I've trained you and made sure you're strong enough...especially since you'll be taking the title of Fukutaicho once you return."

"I know." Rukia replied with a smile, "And thank you for finding the time to train me, Byakuya. Even if we haven't really started that yet."

Byakuya leaned back against the headboard of the bed, bringing Rukia with him. Rukia moved under his arm and snuggled up to him. "You know...Yuki reminds me a lot of you."

Byakuya gave another small smile before looking down at her, "Yuichi reminds me of you."

Rukia's smile grew slightly before she snuggled closer to him. Moments later she looked up at him to see he had shut his eyes. "We should be getting up soon."

Byakuya nodded before the two of them moved to get out of bed to start the day.

To be continued...

Well, that had to be the longest first chapter I've ever written. It's not even that long either. Lol.

Well, I know I said I was going to get a few oneshots out before starting this, but I just HAD to start it. I really wanted to and I'm already writing out chapter twelve for this story. I'll upload oneshots frequently during the updating process of this story so stay tuned!

Here's the meanings for Yuki and Yuichi's names:

Yuichi (1-裕一, 2-雄一): Japanese name meaning 1) "abundant/rich first (son)," and 2) brave first (son)."

Yuki (1-幸, 2-雪): Unisex short form of Japanese names beginning with Yuki-, meaning 1) "happiness; good fortune" and 2) "snow."

Just to let you all know, Yuichi is the older twin and Yuki is the younger one. I just find that cute so I decided to make it that way.

I hope you enjoyed this first chapter and will stick around for the ones to come.

Please, Read and Review

Just remember, NO FLAMING!