A Fool's Dream
Disclaimer: If I was smart enough to conjure up some snazzy witty way to declare that Bleach is not mine I'd put it here.
She had always loved him
She had always loved him. From the moment she had first met him. An impossible dream she knew, but fate seemed to wish to slap that fact in her face.
She still remembers. Crowned in all his noble glory he had come to inspect the new arrivals. He was a lot taller than her then. Still is. Proud, confident, and admired, he was all the things she'd ever imagined herself to ever want to be.
For a split second, she had foolishly allowed her mind to fantasise about Sunday evening picnics with him under a cherry blossom tree. They would be having honey coated croissants because they were her favourite and the honey would stick stubbornly to his fingers. She would giggle and lean in close, offering to lick it off. He would blush.
She was surprised that after he left, with a graceful flutter of his captains robes, the pictures she had of them together under the cherry blossoms did not leave with him. She smiled and took that as a good thing.
Within moments of his departure there was gossip of how adorably stoic he looked and how strong he must be. He was a captain they said. A single captain at that. Rukia scowled herself. She was a hundred years too old for fairytale endings. But no girl is ever too old to dream.
He little bundle of self hope however, was quite quickly and inevitably shattered. Rukia remember it was a Monday. She had always hated Mondays as they marked the end of a ridiculously short weekend. This particular Monday however, was especially hateful, because this Monday she has been summoned to his captains quarters and she could not stop pink cherry blossoms popping into her head all weekend.
What he had to tell her however, did the trick. In his low, and somewhat monotone voice, he had announced to her that she was no longer a Rukongai orphan, but a daughter to the proud Kuchiki family. Rukia's face made up for all the lack of emotion on his. If the shock that he was noble, did not paralyse her, the sudden realisation of the strength of his reiastu did.
As if her eyes suddenly opened, she noticed all the things she missed before. The kenseikan atop his silky black hair. The soft silver white scarf wrapped neatly around his neck. She felt like a fool for not seeing earlier. Dreams, Rukia told herself, are only called dreams because they never come true.
Rukia had always imagined a brother to be a source of comfit. A shoulder to cry on and an ear to confide in. She would soon find out Byakuya offered neither and that she'd have to repeatedly remind herself he was a Kuchiki before anything else. Though what hurt more was that soon, she would be one too.
Standing next to him, Rukia felt forever out of place. She didn't think she could ever be as good a Kuchiki as he was. Little did she know, for as long as she remained one, the elders would etch that thought deep into her until she couldn't forget even if she wanted to.
She cried herself to sleep that night, knowing that tomorrow, she would wake up as the sister to a man she loved. But she would be fine. She would never allow a single strand of emotion to slip out. She would construct her own beautiful lie and hide herself under it.
She would be a Kuchiki.
Haha, as you can see I gave up on making it a story. Sorry, but I really don't think I have enough commitment to a single paring make it into one.
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