It was a bright, clear day in the city of Seireitei, the birds were singing, the trees were waving and the blue sky was beautiful. It was one of those days where shinigami decided to ditch work, lay about and hang around Rukongai, where they would tease kids until they started to play with them. It was a perfect day in Soul Society, or so it seemed.
A petite girl with raven-hair sat neatly in front of her adoptive brother, who avoided eye contact in deep thought. The girl, usually known as Rukia Kuchiki - the next heir to the Kuchiki house, sat quietly, talking to herself in her mind. She was wondering why she was here and why her brother needed to talk to her. Why? - That's when he started to speak.
"As you may already know, soon you will be the head of the Kuchiki house, and soon you will become 6th squad's taichou. First of all, to be head of the Kuchiki house, there is a rule that is never noticed by the female leaders of the house and that rule has now officially been put into place.", He said, in his usual emotionless and serious voice.
"Nii-sama, may I ask what the rule is?" she asked, curiously. Her purple eyes, shifting in curiousity, wonder and alarm. Her brother hung his head and hesitated for a moment, he looked as if he didn't want to tell her, but he looked as if he was forced to tell her.
"The rule is of that, if a female is the heir of the Kuchiki house, then before the heir becomes leader - they must marry a subject of worthy status.", He continued with a spark of guilt in his dark eyes.
Rukia was shocked and speachless, she didn't know how to react. She needed to now marry someone, someone she may or may not love. And as she was thinking, he became more impatient to leave, until he simply stood up and swiftly moved out of the Kuchiki manor. And before he did so, he also told Rukia something - "If you desire to marry another shinigami or any other, for that matter. I will give you a month to choose, otherwise I will choose for you to marry someone of a noble status."
The still-shocked Rukia stood up and wondered about the manor, trying to think of what to do. Of course, she had to get married - but to whom? She had always felt as if someone's going to get married, they should marry who they honestly love, and would do anything to protect. Even if it did sound like something out of a fairytale, that's what she had wanted from when she was a child.
For the rest of that day, Rukia wondered around a forest in Rukongai, she found this a way to calm herself and figure out things more clearly. Even if she was walking in complete circles, she wouldn't have had a care in the world about it, all she did was wonder why Byakuya wanted to get married. Was he pressured by the Kuchiki clan's governors? Did he know that something might happen to him, so he was getting the next heir ready? She wanted to know.
She decided to keep this to herself. If she told Renji then he'd start making up reasons why she should marry him. If she told Ukitake, he would ask Byakuya about it. If she told Inoue, she would just make her see the bright-side of things, without helping her solve her problem. Would Ichigo help? Or would he make it worse? She didn't know what to do,she didn't want to get married, or even be the leader of the clan and 6th squad.
Where did her destiny lie? Why was her destiny leading her to despair? Why did the rain still continue to fall in her heart? Why was the pain so hard to deal with? And so hard to hide? - She wanted to know.