100situations Prompt 45 - Blind
Title: Blind
Fandom: Bleach
Table: Four
Prompt: #45, Blind
Disclaimer: Byakuya and Rukia and all things associated with Bleach do not belong to me.
A/N: Eeee, beta'ed by the lurverly Ailey-chan, who is magnificent at beta'ing ByaRuki fanfics even though she's not into them that much :)
Well, hope all the ByaRuki fans out there like this :3
He didn't deserve to have this set on him.
It made Rukia's heart pain to see the once-proud Kuchiki family head now demoted down to this, struggling to walk with dignity, having to actually rely on something, somebody.
She heard the whispers circulating amongst the servants, maids, even the Kuchiki family elders about a replacement for the Kuchiki family head.
But for once, she found the strength inside herself to protest, to hotly tell the elders that nii-sama was fine, and that they wouldn't dare even think of replacing him, or else.
Rukia wondered why she was so vehemently protecting her nii-sama, but the blatant looks of shock on the faces of the Kuchiki elders wiped all else thought from Rukia's mind.
The situation was never spoken of in the presence of a Kuchiki again.
But now, Rukia watched from the shadows of a doorway as Byakuya sat straight at his desk, fingers tentatively picking up a brush and delicately dipping it into the ink.
With straight, precise movements that had been long etched in his mind, she watched him write on the paper, but her eyes still caught the way his hand trembled, the obvious discomfort he was in, and something ached inside her.
Rukia turned, Sode no Shirayuki alerting her to Senbonzakura's keening cry as Byakuya collapsed onto his knees. Rukia saw a blade from his enemy flash across his face.
"Nii-sama!" Rukia screamed, abandoning her fight to run to Byakuya's side.
Senbonzakura cried as cherry blossoms wrapped protectively around Rukia and Byakuya.
Blood trickled slowly down Byakuya's face, etching harsh lines of red against Byakuya's pale skin.
"Rukia…" Byakuya gasped, before he fainted.
"Nii…sama…" Rukia murmured from her position by the door, her normally inquisitive violet eyes now haunted by grief.
Byakuya paused in his agonizingly slow writing, raising his head.
"Rukia?" he called out. "Is that you?"
Rukia bowed her head, stepping into the room behind Byakuya.
"Hai, nii-sama," she said softly.
"Ah," Byakuya murmured. "Was there anything you needed?"
"No, nii-sama. I…just wanted to see if you were comfortable."
Although it was difficult to tell from where she was standing, Rukia thought she could see Byakuya's eyes cloud over.
"As comfortable as I can get," was his quiet reply.
Silence reigned for several minutes, Byakuya resuming his shaky writing while Rukia stood there, debating as to speak or not.
"Nii-sama, why do you still do this?" she burst out at last, cringing and biting her lip as soon as the words left her mouth.
Frost seemed to issue from Byakuya for a moment, before he dropped his perfect posture, slumping just the slightest bit.
He gently set his brush down before he turned to face Rukia.
Rukia had once compared Byakuya's eyes to an impenetrable wall of metal. His eyes shone as hard as Senbonzakura, and rarely was any emotion expressed in their cold depths.
Rukia had found it rather fascinating. His eyes were the only trait that Rukia actually liked about him; they were how he could punctuate an order in his already chilling voice with an additional flash of his eyes that sent any lower member of the sixth division scrambling, even Renji.
But now, as Byakuya turned to face her, Rukia barely found the strength in her to steadily meet his eyes without faltering.
After the blade had slashed across his face, Byakuya's eyes had been critically damaged.
Now, where the once glittering grey eyes had been, there was nothing but a long scar stretching the width of his face.
He didn't deserve to have this set on him.
The dignified, powerful Kuchiki Byakuya had been reduced to this.
Lost and disgraced, he was blind.
A bitter smile graced Byakuya's still porcelain features, as if he could sense Rukia's thoughts.
"You ask why I still do this?" his voice was nothing but a rush of wind, a mere shell of the powerful and commanding tone it had once held.
"Why, nii-sama?" Rukia repeated. "Why do you still attempt to fill out paperwork and pretend to be the shinigami you once were when I can tell you know that your position as taichou of the sixth division will soon be taken away because of your disability!"
Why, her mind echoed. Why…
Why do you feel so strongly about this matter that you must confront nii-sama in this way about it?
"Renji…"Byakuya started, "will make a good captain."
Byakuya's stance faltered, again, before he at last let loose all of the inhibitions that had been strapped onto him since his birth and collapsed against the back of his chair.
Rukia had never seen her nii-sama like this before, and she hesitantly stepped closer to him, wanting to comfort him, yet not quite knowing how.
Byakuya traced the ridges of the scar on his face, the scar that even Unohana-taichou could not remove. He blinked open his eyes, staring through Rukia at the door.
"It should be more difficult, to let loose of the dream I worked so hard for," he muttered. Rukia was taken aback at the harsh tone her nii-sama now carried, a tone that came as mix of regret, bitterness, and frustration.
"My goal for my whole life, beaten into my head by my parents, was to only be the best shinigami of all, to be known by the people of Seireitei as 'the strongest shinigami'. I quested for power thirstily, I wielded Senbonzakura, and I soon grew to live up to this goal…almost."
Byakuya's hands dropped back into his lap, fingers absently running over the hem of his sleeve.
"But the whole time, I missed out on the world that went on without me," he said, the regret creeping back, stronger this time, into his voice. "I never noticed anything that didn't have anything to do with my quest for power."
"I've…always been blind. And truly being blinded is what takes me to realize that."
"Gomenasai, Rukia," he said, his voice barely more than a whisper, merging with the air in the room.
"Gomenasai, for being so blind…to you."
Rukia's eyes widened in surprise, and she saw Byakuya's hand flutter listlessly in the air.
Her warm hand enveloped Byakuya's cold one, and she felt slightly, just slightly, that his exterior of ice was beginning to thaw.
Byakuya's other hand crept up the sleeve of Rukia's yukata, fingers dancing, trying to sense by touch alone, his arm wrapping awkwardly around Rukia in an embrace.
Rukia fell forward, burying her head in Byakuya's shoulder, leaning into him (didn't matter that he was blind, he was still Byakuya). His scarf rubbed against her cheek and she noticed that he smelled sweet, like jasmine and distinctively of cherry blossoms.
When asked about it later, Rukia would say that she didn't know what prompted her to do such an affectionate and rather intimate act with the Kuchiki that was always said to have been carved out of ice.
But just at that moment, Rukia felt that it was right to wrap her arms around Byakuya and hold him in an embrace that she felt he needed, and she felt that he had been searching for this, yet he had never received it.
A single tear dropped, and splashed onto the floor.
-fin-
A/N: Hum, I could definitely use some reviews about this "rather new" style of writing that I'm experimenting with. So reviews are appreciated :D
A/N 2: Also, to clear things up, the ending with the single tear, it is MEANT to be unclear as to whose tear it is - Byakuya's or Rukia's.