Chapter one: Rukia

I lay on my back, looking up at the ceiling. Usually I can hide the emotions I'm feeling, with the help of years and years of training as a soul reaper. But I can tell, right now that today isn't going to be a usual day. It's been seven months since that day. Seven long, painful months.

"Bya-nii-sama?" he was watching me, standing over me as if to protect my fragile body from unseen horrors that were to be bestowed upon me in a matter of months.

"yes." he said, coolly. He had become angry ever since I told him. Even something meant to sound like a question came out sounding dull and annoyed.
"Never mind," I replied softly. He took this as my giving him permission to leave. He's been like this ever since I came home. Ever since I told him, and I don't think he can look at me the same.

"I'm an adult," I told him, "and I can take care of myself." And he knew that I could. I'd proven that I could hold a job, and even if I couldn't, it's not like the Kuchiki family doesn't have any money. He's not rude to me. He's not hateful or disrespectful. He didn't yell at me or get angry. He's just… silent. And cold. And when I as him why he's so cold, he just denies it. I can tell that in his eyes, I've lost his trust. The most important thing I had in this world was the trust of my big brother. And now it's gone, all because of one little mistake.

I figured that I should get out of bed and do something before I started thinking too much, and had to face the provoking tears that always set me off. So I got out my suitcase and started throwing things in it. I would leave my noble clothes, I decided. While I had always loved being pampered as a noble, compared to my life on the streets it was a nice change of pace, these clothes would be no use to me where I was going. I threw in a couple of my school uniforms from the real world, even though I wouldn't be able to wear them for a couple of months, and the dress Ishida Uryu had made me for my return to the real world after Ichigo had saved me.

I sighed, thinking about Ichigo. Oh how I had ruined his life, by forcing him to become a shinigami and take over my duties. I dragged him by his hair into this cruel and harsh world of hollows and battles on an almost daily scale. He had no choice, and yet he didn't seem to mind.

Suddenly jerked back to the real world by a sharp pain in my abdomen, I realized that I should probably keep packing. I threw three simple designed haori into my suitcase, as well as a few of the common shinigami shihaikusho. These few garments would be the only ones I could cram my fat stomach into. I started to close the suitcase but remembered one thing. I ran to the closet and pulled out a couple of boxes, which shook when I stood on them. I realized that this was dangerous, but I was too smart to get hurt, or more importantly, let her get hurt.

I reached up high, and from the very top left corner, I pulled out a dusty box, resembling that of a shoebox in the human world. With a big breath I blew and the dust flew off rapidly to reveal the writing, done in black and gold ink: "To Rukia, my beloved sister. With all my love, Byakuya." I tried to hold them back, but I couldn't help but let a few tears slide down my face and land on my swollen stomach. This was something that needed to be done swiftly, like pulling off those demon 'band-aids' that little Yuzu had insisted I wear on my knee when I tripped and fell. I could have just used some simple kidou, but I couldn't tell that to Ichigo's little sister, and risk revealing what I am. What we are.

I yanked off the lid and in the process flung it across the room, causing it to slam loudly into the wall. I took the white scarf out of the box and placed it gently but swiftly onto the top of the pile of clothes in my suitcase. I knew I had to hurry, for I was sure that one of the maids had heard the previous clatter and would come rushing in here any instant. I yanked open my closet door again, this time more carelessly, and felt around on the floor for the frayed grey rope that had once been colorful, satiny silk. It was almost as if I was blind, and lost in the dark abyss, with no senses but touch, an effect similar to the bankai of Tosen. But after what felt like ages, I found the rope and jerked it upwards.

I flung my suitcase, and waited patiently. Thump. The sound my suitcase made as it hit the ground was less than graceful, but at least it was muffled, barely loud enough for me to hear, let alone another. I lay on my stomach and stuck my feet in the tunnel, first my left, then my right. This was the worst part, the time in which you hover in the air, feeling for the first rung. For a second, I panicked, thinking I had entered on the wrong side. Images flashed through my mind, first of my mangled body at the bottom of the tunnel that they had found days later, then of all those who loved. But then I felt the cool, round metal under my feet and I heaved a sigh of relief.

The rest of this would be easy, all I had to do was climb, and let my body do all the work. No need for awkward exchanges of greetings, or boring, heartless conversations done only out of courtesy. Just work and silence. I heard the lock click into place as I pulled the door shut. As I descended into the tunnel, I wondered how much longer I would have to climb. It was dark, cold, and drafty, and my feet had started to swell. I pulled a small pebble off of the stony wall and threw it to the ground. After two seconds, I heard a sharp click and realized that I wasn't that far from the bottom. Usually I could scale this ladder in less than ten minutes, but I had been here for what felt like hours. I guess that's what happens when you have a huge sack of water strapped to your chest.

I finally reached the bottom. It would be so much easier at this point, because I had my hands free and could use kidou to light the path ahead of me. I pulled out a rope and latched my suitcase to my back to allow my hands to be free. I made my way slowly through the tunnels just below the Kuchiki manor, the tunnels that I had played tag in with my maid soon after I was adopted into this family. I was the only one that knew these tunnels, and I hadn't been in them for years, ever since Moriko had died.

But I knew no matter what happened, I just had to keep moving forward, until… there it was. Three feet above my head, the thin beaded chain dangled. I gave it a gentle tug. Nothing happened. I pulled it harder. A shower of metal beads rained down on my head. The beads had rusted and the string had grown weary with age. With the tunnel locked at the other end, and maids surrounding all other exits, I was stuck!

"Maybe," I wondered out loud. I jumped up in the air, and didn't get anything. But on my way down, I felt something soft brush the palm of my hand. The string! I used the light of my kidou to guide me to where it dangled, and jumped again. As I returned to the ground, I quickly dodged the staircase in mid-descent and flew up the stairs as quick as I could. Even with all this extra weight, I was still silent, with good posture I had learned with ages of practice. The staircase rose as soon as my weight left it, worked by a loaded spring mechanism.

I was home free; I realized as I quickly slipped out of the broom closet and shut the door behind me. I took my note that I had written out, and stuck it between the two front doors of the mansion, but I didn't stick around to wait for them to close, because I was sure by now the maids had noticed my empty room and were searching the entire manor for me.

I hated the way they looked at me. Some with hatred for my decision to keep her. Others with disgrace for how I soiled the Kuchiki name. Many still with sorrow for the suffering my appearance brought to them. But the worst of it all was pity. I could take the anger or the rude tones of the disappointed maids, but it was when they tried to feel sorry for me, as if they could put themselves in my shoes, as if they knew I wasn't happy. Well, the truth was, they were wrong. I am happy, and there is nothing they can do to stop me.

I was almost to the gate when I saw the silhouette, just a little too late. I didn't want to face whoever stood there, waiting for me. As I got closer, I saw his face. The face of my brother. He smiled at me, a sad smile. But I would take it, for it was the first smile I had seen cross his lips in six months, since I came home.

"Nii-sama…," I panted, out of breath, "Nii-sama. I need to do this. I have to go."

"I know." he answered. "I can see that you're not happy here, and you need to go somewhere closer to your heart. But before you go, I want you to know one thing. I'm proud of you, Rukia. I'm proud of how you handled this. For keeping…" he left off.

"Her," I filled in, seeing his struggle.

"Her. For keeping her, and raising her, giving her the loving family she deserves. The one thing I never gave you." a single tear ran down his face. Byakuya rarely showed emotion, so I embraced this moment. Suddenly, it all made sense. His cold behavior, his silent demeanor. He wanted the best for her, and he still had regrets he had yet to amend.

"Don't worry. I'll take good care of her," I comforted him.

"That's the most I can expect from you," he replied. I pulled out my sheathed Sode no Shirayuki, and stuck it in between the two panels that formed the gate, and gently twisted a ninety degree angle to the right. The gates opened and I stepped in, and just as I left, I heard a maid shout, "She's nowhere to be found, sir!"