Hey there, sorry for the wait. I've finally cracked the writer's block and finished the elusive chapter two! I need to say a huge thank you to matsumama for her help in getting this sorted out, couldn't have done it without your help! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Bleach is not mine, I just borrow it to play with once in awhile.

Chapter two

For a while nothing moves: Rukia hardly breathes as she watches her brother's retreating back. The whispering wind grinds to a halt, holding its breath as she was. Nearly loosing the one piece of family she has makes her more anxious. The stage whisper of occasional breeze holds but one word: 'Lucky'. Her chest tightens and her brother slides open the screen door and walks in closing it behind him.

Meanwhile Renji's been watching Byakuya with a certain curiosity, he never quite understood his captain before, in fact he was curious as to whether he was in fact some kind of robot shinigami, a prototype of Nemu that had been created long before he arrived in seretei. Stranger things have happened.

Rescuing Rukia has been pivotal in their relationship, though Renji is sure there's a way to go before he understands anything about his captain. Now he knows about Hisana, he has so many more questions: Did she have the same dazzling smile, the same bright eyes, and the same fighting spirit that Rukia commands? Was that what Byakuya fell for, the same way he did?

It makes his captain almost human, to have loved and lost, just like him. Renji isn't sure if his love is lost forever though. There's a ray of hope sliding through, like the light pushing through the leaves leaving a soft dappling of light on the ground.

A soft sound, like a sigh, rings out through the silent garden and he wonders if the tree is listening to his thoughts, pausing with him. A wave of curiosity breaks on him, soft yet with a strong undercurrent and he looks upwards. And behold there she is, object of his affections, confusing factor of his life, the missing piece of his puzzle. He smirks and swings an arm up to a low branch and pulls himself up the tree, to the branch she's cradled in.

The sudden rustling of leaves and shaking of the sakura petals to fall like flower shaken from a sieve close by disturbs Rukia from watching the silent echo of her brother closing the screen door. The branch she's balanced on shakes and she digs her short nails into the bark, grasping it tightly with her hands as the bark leaves deep imprints on her pale skin. A swash of red hair tied loosely back quickly identifies the cause.

"Renji!"

"Rukia"

She smiles brightly as he swings onto the branch below hers, their heads are oddly level, something that she really can't remember occurring since just after they first met (Renji grew faster than her). She absentmindedly curses that she was so distracted and remains so weakened that she didn't notice his rietsu, but part of her feels its better this way- she's always embraced the unexpected.

"You're here to see Ni-sama"

"No, day off"

"Oh…"

They sit in companionable silence, both relishing this odd opportunity to spend time with one another, it's happened so little in the past forty-odd years. There's an air between them and it's driving Rukia mad: it frustrates and placates her in equal measure. Her pulse has quickened a fraction and she can't think of what to say.

"Rukia…" He stops abruptly, breathes deeply before starting again. "It's nice, sitting like this with you; we haven't spent hardly any time together since the academy."

"That wasn't my fault." She regrets the words the second they leave her lips, seeming so much harsher, and so much colder hanging in the air between them: like frozen droplets on a windowpane, shiny but fiercely cold. She watches his face fall, brow furrowing heavily tattooed eyebrows slanting in a way that reminds her of Ichigo so much she wants to laugh and cry together. The guilt washes over her and she feels the crystal raindrops fall, hears them shatter, a piercing shimmer of sound. She has to talk fast, make it right- the words tumble from her lips like snow from mountains when the avalanche breaks

"Sorry Renji, that... wasn't fair..."

"I don't know, it sound about right," She glances up to see his face, eyes saddened and mouth tugged down at the corners. "I shouldn't have let you get so far away, not when I wasn't sure I could get you back..."

His words send shivers down her spine, tiny thrills of electricity tracing each vertebra in split seconds, raising the tiny hairs on the back of her neck, the deep flowing timbre of his voice, lightly stalling, soothing and surprising in equal measure. And suddenly there's a tide of salt water swimming up to sting her eyes and make them shine with regret and years of repressed emotion.

"I wasn't too far..." She can't continue, not while her voice feels like it's going to shatter, taking her heart with it. Not while her vision is blurring with the effort of holding back the tide of tears. She stares deep into his eyes trying to search for answers to questions she doesn't even know she wants to ask.

The all consuming fire behind brown eyes meets the deep drowning depths of deep blue orbs. Her lips part slightly and she feels Sode no Shirayuki stirring within her, bubbling to the surface. Rukia tries to push her back, but the trouble with a reflection of your soul is it tends to follow your character traits, tenacity being a prominent feature.

"Take a chance," She whispers, letting her suggestions creep through Rukia like the frost creeps in late autumn to replace the dew, the cold spreading through her like hypothermia. "Those tears need to be worth something".

And before she can stop the words stumble out of her subconscious and into the space between her and Renji.

"Why did you let me go?" She whispers "I miss you"

They both draw a breath, deep cleansing and filled with fear, broken promises and past mistakes.

"You know, there's not a day where I don't ask myself that"

The words hang in the air, frozen, Rukia's chest feels tighter than ever, and she tries to recall if anyone has ever been suffocated by the sheer force of this inexplicable emotion.

Renji feels like he's going to crack under the heavy atmosphere, Shatter to a million pieces like zabimaru's bankai when he fought Byakuya: for pride, for honour, for Rukia. He's not sure if he'll cope if his heart breaks again, he's spent so long putting it back together, but there's something missing...

And he so badly wants her to fill that missing piece...

And suddenly it hits him, it's now or never...