Written for deathberryprompt's weekly prompt, 'paradise'. Mild spoilers for the RR novel follow.


I burned so long

The fabric for the veil is a beautiful thing, gossamer-light in her hands. It couldn't have been finer had it been woven by angels in paradise itself. Only the best for the lady of the Kuchiki House, after all; Rukia lets it run through her fingers and fall into a pile on the floor.

So quiet

"—of course, most people like to embellish it a little, Kuchiki-san. What do you think? I've got crystals, we can do a snowflake theme—"

You must have wondered if I loved you back

Ichigo stares holes into her from the corner of the room.

I did

"—or you like snowdrops, right? Maybe some around the edges in a silver thread—"

I did

She wets her lips. "Orihime—"

I do.

"—please embroider strawberry flowers for me."


So, in case you are unaware, the RR novel is a SHITSHOW. I'm not even mad, it's literally just the biggest clusterfuck I've seen in my LIFE. Apparently Orihime sews Rukia's wedding veil, and she sews - get this - STRAWBERRY FLOWERS on them because uwu they're orihime's favourite flower-

like, firstly. THAT'S CREEPY AND SELFISH AF? Like bitch this ain't YOUR wedding veil. You're sewing a veil for RUKIA and you have the AUDACITY to sew YOUR FAVOURITE FLOWERS onto them? Not gonna consider what Rukia wants? Snowflake embroidery would have been the logical choice but NOOOO we are all about What Hime Wants over here in the Bleach canonverse :))))))))))))))

And secondly: im literally crying that means Rukia got married to Renji... WHILE WEARING A VEIL COVERED IN STRAWBERRY FLOWERS. AKA, REFERENCES TO ICHIGO. A VEIL THAT'S SUPPOSED TO BE THE SYMBOL OF PURITY AND CHASTITY AND IT WAS COVERED IN REFERENCES TO ICHIGO I LEGIT CANNOT!

Disclaimer: I actually love hime and renji, I just hate everything about canonverse bleach lmao

anyway, if ur interested in my thoughts on the rr novel and the ending of bleach as a whole im planning on writing a MASSIVE essay dealing with it just as soon as the novel is properly translated, so that'll be on my tumblr in the next month or so. Check it out if you want.

(The text that is in italics in the main story is an excerpt from a poem called The Pillowcase by Annelyse Gelman.)