Author's notes: Rukia is a great, strong female character, and though we know of the part of her childhood spent with Renji and his gang, what happened to her between her abandonment by Hisana and her introduction to these friends? This is just a little one-shot exploring this missing part of her life. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: Hiroko and Shima might be mine but nothing else is. Drat.
Run Rabbit Run
Her husband spotted the child on a gray summer afternoon.
"Would you look at that?" He said, tone neither interested nor dismissive. "Someone's gone and left another one." He shouldered another basket of trinkets from their wagon. "The mite's too small for her own good, I can't see how she's survived this long."
Hiroko turned from the display she was working on. "Another?" Her gaze roamed over the busy outdoor market until she found the child. Shima had certainly been right about her size. "Ah, poor babe."
The girl was strikingly petite, the top of her head barely reaching the countertop of the booth she stood next to. The kimono she wore was obviously the only one she owned, the color faded by a hard life to match the street around them. Large dark eyes flitted from cart to cart, looking, Hiroko presumed, for a hand-out, or, more likely, something to steal.
Shima watched not the child but his wife, disliking the expression forming on her face. "Hiroko." He said gruffly, "It's not your place."
"I know Shima." Her eyes followed the girl.
"Turn your head and help with the cart." To his relief the little street girl caught sight of something further down the street and moved off. "See? She's on her way already."
"I know." His wife repeated, turning back to her work. Her shoulders stiffened as she laid out the children's clothing she'd made to sell.
"How could they Shima? A baby like that?"
He didn't answer. Instead he watched the small figure disappear into the crowd. The girl's short black hair reminded him vividly of the two daughters waiting for them at home. The comparison was a bad idea and he shook it from his head, instead grabbing another basket from the cart. "Market's busy today. Business will be good."
No response.
Shima looked up to find nothing but an empty booth and a prospective customer eyeing his carved animals. Whirling he barely managed to spot Hiroko's back before she disappeared in the same direction as the orphan.
"Not again."
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Hiroko found her sitting on the edge of the grassy field that bordered the marketplace.
The girl squatted with her knees drawn up to her chin, not caring about the dirt that left small bruise-like smudges on her face. She was still and silent, her attention focused on something in the tall grass.
Hiroko paused, suddenly uncertain how to approach one so small and wild. Feeling foolish she began to back away, but an inquisitive voice stopped her.
"What are they doing?" Dark eyes turned from the grass to the woman.
"Who?"
"The rabbits." A grubby hand pointed forward, demanding an explanation.
Following the direction of the girl's finger Hiroko found the family of rabbits nestled in a sunny furrow hidden in the grass. It was a good home, not easily visible to those passing by on the road. In fact, and Hiroko's heart twinged as she observed this, only a person as small as the one next to her would be able to discover them.
Drawn back to the inquiring gaze she gathered her thoughts. "Which rabbit, sweetling?"
"Those two." The finger redirected itself to a distinct pair. Hiroko smiled.
"The larger rabbit is the mother. She's washing her baby. He must have gotten dirty while he was playing."
"Why doesn't he do it himself?"
"He's too young to know how." Hiroko surveyed the dirt that seemed to cling to her young companion. "Just like you sweetling."
The girl, though young, understood Hiroko's meaning. "Bah, I could do that. I just like being dirty is all."
"Do you?" Hiroko fought a smile and tears at the same time. "What's your name sweetling?"
The question earned her a wary glance and a reluctant answer. "Rukia."
"That's a pretty…" Hiroko began, but Rukia cut her off.
"Do all mothers do that? Things they don't have to?"
"They want to." Hiroko said, "All mothers love their children, Rukia." The irony in her words and the situation, struck her too late and she held her breath, mentally reprimanding herself.
A shuttered expression flickered across Rukia's face, but that was all. They resumed rabbit watching until the mother smelled them and ushered her children to safety.
"You know what?"
Hiroko looked over at the girl, meeting the blue-black eyes. "What?"
"I wanna be a rabbit someday." Rukia stood, brushing off her dress. "See ya!" With a small smile she pushed past Hiroko and was gone.
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Hiroko didn't even notice her coin purse was gone until she got back to Shima and the booth. Resolving to say nothing about it to her husband, she smiled out at the crowded street.
"Run fast little rabbit."