10 times Renji was glad Rukia didn't act like a girl, and the 1 time he was sad she did
1. waking up
When the sunlight slaps in her in the face in the morning, she makes such a grumble that soon Renji and the rest of the gang are awake too, and cursing her inability to complain in quiet and tactful manner.
2. sitting
Rukia sprawls out on the dirt floor with her legs uncrossed and her feet dirty and sits with her knees unabashedly apart.
3. speaking
He hates to admit it, but even he hasn't ever heard some of the curses pouring from her noisy and uncontrolled mouth.
4. eating
Her mouth is unattractively full of food as she yells at him and sprays him with flecks of their dinner.
5. smelling
She doesn't wrinkle her nose in disgust after a particularly humid day because she knows she smells the same.
6. bathing
They only bathe once a year and instead of blushing and trying to hide herself, Rukia casts off her clothes and plunges into the river without a second thought.
7. laughing
When she finds something funny, instead of giggling, she snorts and chortles and doubles over until her belly aches.
8. fighting
Kicking and punching and yelling herself hoarse, she manages to trounce every one of their gang of boys in a fair fight.
9. leading
Prideful and stubborn, she doesn't submit to anyone and instead forces them to follow her words, mimick her actions, do it her way.
10. growing up
Puberty is not as kind to her as it is to other girls and she is left as slim and bony as she was before, still too angular to evoke thoughts of debauchery.
11. saying good-bye
Rukia delicately pushes Renji's hand off her shoulder, and he sees a tear glittering prettily against the feminine curve of her soft cheek before it has the audacity to fall. He can't help but to think that she looks unbelievably beautiful this way, with her vulnerability leaking out of her shining eyes and her midnight dark hair flowing behind her as she flees from his tactless words.
12. reprise
Soon afterwards, he is delivering a report to Captain Kuchiki from the 11th Division when he happens to catch a glimpse of her, sitting in a tea ceremony with the other Kuchikis; she is glowing with cleanliness and sitting ramrod straight in a crisp, clean kimono and speaking in politely soft tones, chewing dainty bites of her food with lips sealed shut. He imagines that she smells like roses now (or whatever it was that ladies bathed in), and she's not laughing. He can tell by the set of her shoulders that she's not fighting anymore, that she is obediently mimicking the age-old motions thousands of generations of nobles before her had established.
She sees him lingering outside the doorway. He stiffens his back and bows the appropriate depth for a noble. As he leaves, he sees tears gleaming in her eyes again. Funny how becoming nobility changed her into a lady so suddenly.