DISCLAIMER:

I do not own/create Bleach and/or its characters.

The rest that has nothing to do with Bleach and its characters belongs to me.

- o - PROLOGUE – o -

The cream colored walls of the dining room provided warmth and comfort to anyone who is near it. The wooden panel too provided a sense of belonging in this home. On the wall display a portrait of a happy family - a man held on to his dear small wife and son - all of them smiling in the picture, all of them very happy.

Rukia Kurosaki sat down in the dining room, as her husband, an orange-haired thirty-six-year-old man sat opposite her, his brown eyes filled with sadness as he held her hands. The black haired thirty-five-year-old woman could not believe what her husband had just said but she wasn't mad. She could feel sadness engulfing, running through her at the moment – hey amethyst eyes showed it all.

"Why?" She asked her husband quietly.

Ichigo Kurosaki somehow, suddenly, could not explain why – why he wanted a divorce. Her sadness took his explanation away; he had been practicing out the door of what to say, how to say it. Still holding her hands, his head bended lower, as if in shame. Maybe he was ashamed, ashamed that he wanted a divorce, ashamed that he didn't have the strength to go through this conversation.

"Why?" She repeated again, starring at his head. His eyes now hidden underneath the shadows, looking at her feet.

Again he didn't answer, this provoked her patience. She could feel herself getting mad, she felt like slapping the man in front of her – the man who gave his name to her, the man who raised a son with her, the man who once said, 'till death do us part'.

"Tell me why!" She hissed, standing up and releasing her hands from his grip. "What kind of a man are you! You don't even dare to tell me why!" She did not shout or scream, she had her sense of control, she did not want to their son to hear their conversation.

That night, the husband and wife did not talk to each other, let alone look at each other. She cried silently that night though, he knew she wanted to know what exactly went wrong in their marriage, but he knew he could not give her an acceptable answer. Ichigo Kurosaki had lost his heart to another woman, Orihime Inoue. He didn't love his wife anymore, in his mind, he just pitied her.

With a deep sense of guilt, he drafted a divorce agreement which stated that Rukia could have the house, thirty percent shares of his company and the car. She glanced at the agreement then tore it to a million pieces – like how much her heart is breaking right now. Rukia who had spent ten years of her life with him had become a stranger – a stranger to her own husband. Ichigo felt sorry that she wasted her time, her energy and resources for him, but he could not take back what he had said, for he loved Orihime deeply.

Finally, she cried in front of him, Rukia did not have the strength to hide how much she's hurting anymore - Ichigo had expected this to happen. To Ichigo, her tears were a kind of release for him. The idea of divorcing her, which he had been obsessed for weeks, seemed to be firmer and clearer now – to him it was the right thing to do.

The next day, Ichigo who came home very late, saw Rukia still up. She was at the study table in their room, writing something – but Ichigo was too tired that he went straight to bed. Ichigo woke up at three in the morning only to find Rukia still at the table, still writing, Ichigo went back to sleep. In the morning, Rukia presented her divorce conditions; she did not need anything from him but she wanted a month's notice before the divorce. She requested in that one month, they both resume their lives normally; her reasons were of their son. Their son had exams coming up soon and she'd rather not disrupt him with their broken marriage. These were all agreeable to Ichigo, but there was more, she asked him to recall how Ichigo had carried her to the bridal room on their wedding day. She requested that everyday for the next one month that Ichigo carried her like that from their bedroom to the front door, every morning. Ichigo thought she had gone crazy but to give her the peace of mind, he agreed nonetheless.

He had told Orihime of his wife's odd divorce conditions.

"What a fucking loser!" Orihime laughed. "No matter what tricks she has up her sleeve, she still have to face the divorce," she said scornfully.

Author's Comment: I know I haven't even finished my first story but this idea came to mind and I thought I'd publish the prologue first and get your reviews before I continue on. Tell me what you think!