"Happy birthday, Rukia!"
The girls sat in a small booth in an overcrowded café near Gakuen high school. A few late lunchers sent curious stares their way at the thrilled sound of paper being shredded by small hands belonging to an equally petite raven-haired girl. Her friend since childhood, Orihime Inoue leaned forward on the tiny table, an expectant gleam in her slate eyes.
The last half of bright pink wrapping fell away to reveal an emerald green cover embossed on the front and side in curlicue script: Fairytales of a time forgotten. Effort was taken on her part to not toss the present away immediately, though; the smile that graced her lips was decidedly saccharine. "Thanks, 'hime. I was remembering this book the other day," Rukia set it down carefully beside her mocha frappe, pausing to sip at the latter. Orihime nodded, her coppery hair bouncing loosely on her shoulders, "yeah! Remember how you used to read that one story over and over—begging your mom to read it to us?"
Rukia swallowed the next mouthful with difficulty; cheerfully her friend went on unaware of the slight twist of pain that crossed pretty features or darkened violet eyes. Pages rifled, Orihime flipped through the index, searching for the singular fairytale of a princess destined to save her kingdom without the aid of a prince. The others were of the same cut, a dashing and loyal prince rescues the princess under the spell of the evil witch…and they live happily ever after. Rukia grimaced, nearly gagging on a particularly large ice cube when Orihime began reading aloud, "Once in a Kingdom far, far away--"
"Shhh!"
"But why?" she had the book open, an illustration above the title heading: The Princess and her trials, was of a young girl seated on a window seat, her voluminous skirts arranged prettily over her legs and her hands folded demurely as she looked out at her kingdom. Rukia glanced toward the people crowding in the line to the registers for emphasis.
Orihime raised an eyebrow as if saying so what?
Wordlessly, Rukia looked to the clock ticking above the dessert bar, her eyes widening. 3:00 pm. The orange-haired girl shrugged, handing over the fairytales. Rukia's father had made it clear, be home after school otherwise she'd be grounded; Orihime knew it and made a shooing motion when Rukia stopped to pull her wallet out to pay for the coffees.
"My treat. Next time you."
"Okay, sure." She turned to walk away from their table, her bag slung over her shoulder. Orihime watched her moment longer then called her back, "hey! You forgot this!" It wasn't easy to go back through the milling throng but she did, knowing she'd regret it later.
Her friend held out the book of fairytales, a slight frown turning the corners of her mouth down, "what's the matter with you, Rukia? You used to love this kind of thing."
Rukia hesitantly took it, her fingers tingled mildly when they made contact with the green cover, "I…I sort of outgrew it, you know?" To soften her words, she added, "not that I don't appreciate it but…" a tiny, sad smile curved her lips, "I just don't believe in fairytales anymore."
~~~*~~~
Rukia lived on a block of houses in a subdivision outside of Tokyo. A bus stop was conveniently situated on the next block within walking-distance if her father chose to relax his strict rules and let her go out on school nights. As if that would ever happen.
She walked through the front gate, taking her keys out and opening the door. Silence greeted her as well as no Lexus parked in the driveway told her he hadn't gotten home yet. She breathed a sigh of relief, her eyes sliding over to the mantel clock in the family room, 3:25. Soon. A responding sound of a motor purring and car door slamming alerted her to his arrival.
Rukia ran up to her room upstairs, not wanting to be in his presence.
Byakuya Kuchiki could be a terrifying man.
The door opened downstairs, footsteps crossed the length of the foyer, probably noting her school bag deposited in plain sight on the sofa. Rukia stretched out on her bed, Orihime's book of fairytales open in front of her. Breezily she leafed through it, her eyes scanning the pages, unseeing of the words, remembering other hands that had held a battered book in a loving clasp and read the magical words aloud for the enjoyment of the two girls peeping eagerly from the covers of the double-sized bed.
"The Princess and her trials," Rukia sat up, carelessly yanking the book with her. A floorboard on the lowest step creaked ominously but she ignored it, raising her voice, "Once in a Kingdom far, far away there lived a goodly King and his daughter, the Princess." Another step creaked and then another, the note from her History Teacher, Ukitake, probably in her father's hand.
He would be plenty angry.
"The Goodly King had had a wife, the queen died when the princess was very little. The little Princess had few memories of the tenderhearted queen and was raised by her nursemaid Yoruichi. Blossoming into maidenhood it was decreed that upon her seventeenth birth year, the princess would inherit the kingdom and rule in her father's—" Rukia paused, the curtains hanging on the window above her bed had begun to flutter, "—stead. This the princess thought of on the eve of her coronation. Kindly villagers were in the square threading up crepe streamers to celebrate their beautiful princess's rule…what the—!"
Light flowed from the creamy pages, illuminating the first words of the princess.
'Oh! If I could only be assured of my people's happiness then I could be the happiest princess in the entire kingdom!'
Rukia flung the book from her grasp; the knob rattled, she paid no attention to it. Couldn't. As gradually things became smaller, shrinking diminutively until…with horror she realized she was being sucked into the crisp pages. Her vision went spiraling into blackness as she vanished into the book. The cover settling with a snicket of finality, closed upon the bedspread. Byakuya Kuchiki impatiently swung the door to his daughter's room open, not seeing her and not bothering to look into the story of The Princess and her trials being rewritten.
~~~To be continued?~~~
AN: don't own Bleach. :) How did you like it, hmm? Let me know! Should I keep it?
