Disclaimer- bleach is not mine nor the masque of the red death
Author's notes- I want to thank phoenix-aerith (you were the first to give this story a review!), Karel Ritza (always giving me support!), and to my anonymus reviwer. You guys ROCK!!! This chapter is for the three of you!
Don't want to
The mist covered the road. You could barely see beyond your nose, and yet a black carriage was making its way throw the mist.
Inside the carriage was a young woman, no older than 21 was in side. Her black hair was cut short and her eyes were closed, hiding their beautiful purple-blue color. A book lay open on her lap.
The carriage maked a sharp turn making her wake up. She looked down at her book. With out much of a sigh she closed it. Not matter how many time she tried to read, she couldn't. Her mind kept wandering to the events that took place earlier in the morning.
Silent sobbing could be heard in the room. A lifeless body lay on the bed. A young woman was on her knees beside the bed.
"I'm sorry, Hanataru, I couldn't save your mother" Rukia said casting her eyes down to the floor.
"Y-you did y-your best, Kuchiki-san," he said in between sobs. "P-please don't blame yourself." He walked to where his mother was. He looked one last time at her face. His mother was an elegant woman, with her hair tied in a long braid in front of her. She was one of the best doctors on the country and yet she also died by the hands of the red death.
"Please excuse me," Rukia said walking out of the room. Ukitake and Hanataru watched her exit the room. Both men worried about her.
Hanataru covered the face of his mother with the blanket. "She was a great woman, Hanataru-kun," Ukitake said, breaking the silence in the room. "She possessed a very kind heart. We will always remember her."
Hanataru brooked to tears. Ukitake patted the young man on the shoulder trying to comfort him.
Ukitake left the house two hours later, not before making sure that Hanataru would be ok. He looked around trying to find his apprentice. He finally found her, standing in front of a fountain. She turned her back to him.
He stood a few feet behind her, and waited for her to speak. "How is he?" she finally asked.
"He is better, but I gave him some pills to sleep. Tomorrow they will hold Unohona-san's funeral," he answered solemnly.
She remained silent.
The two of them were dining in silence. She just kept moving her food around her plate. He was looking at her with concern. He felt so guilty. When she asked him if she could travel with him, he had agreed, thinking that maybe she would have success in her quest of finding the cure to the red death. But things don't go as you wish they would.
Instead of finding a cure she found more pain. She had tried her hardest to save those infected by the red death. It didn't matter how hard she tried people kept dying. She watched as the families of the dead, cried for them. And in some occasions she watched as whole families died.
"Rukia-chan?" Ukitake asked for the third time. She snapped out of her thoughts,
"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention. What did you want Ukitake-san?" She had said in such a carefree voice that he almost believed that it wasn't true.
'She is truly a great actress,' Ukitake thought, 'The only one besides me that could have known when Rukia-chan was lying was you, Ichigo. But you are dead now.'
"Rukia-chan, do you know who Aizen is?" he asked.
"Yes, he is the prince of Hueco Mundo," Rukia said.
"Very well Rukia-chan. You as a noble have at least met with him once, right?" Ukitake said. Rukia just nodded a yes. "I received a letter for him, telling me that he has come up with a solution for the red death."
"What!?" Rukia said standing up, and letting her chair fall behind her.
"Calm down Rukia-chan, so I can explain to you his solution," was his calm answer.
"Prince Aizen is a very intellectual man, as you probably know. He studied all the cases of people's death by the red death. He discovered that those dead by the red death lived in the open, like farmers. He cares for his people. He will take them to his castle in Hueco Mundo.
"But how can he take a whole nation to his castle?" Rukia asked, 'I know his castle is big, but still. And besides, how will he feed them?'
Ukitake looked down. "What's wrong?" Rukia asked. He took a deep breath to try and put his thoughts in order. "He is not planning on taking his entire nation, just…the nobles," he said the last part in a whisper.
"Why just the nobles!? Doesn't he care for his people? Why are you telling me this?" Rukia said banging her hands at the table. It suddenly clicked in her mind why he told her all this.
"Please calm dow-" Ukitake tried to say.
"Don't tell to calm down! I know what you are trying to do! You want to get rid of me! " she said, tears fell from her beautiful eyes.
"Don't say that!" Ukitake said, standing up and walking to where Rukia was. He took her in his arms. "Don't say that. You are like a daughter to me." That only made Rukia cry harder.
"I want you to be safe Rukia. I hate to see you broken; you are so pure. Since Kyone and Sentarou died, you became my only family left. I don't want to see you die by the red death. This is the only way I can think of making sure you will be safe." Rukia kept crying, soaking his clothes. Since he took her with him he became like a father, and Sentarou and Kyone her brother and sister. But since they died it was only she and him.
She calmed enough to speak. "But if I go, what will happen to you?" He stayed silent for a minute. "I'm not a noble, so I can't go," he said, "But you won't be alone; the other three noble families will go. I'm sure you know them."
"There are only two noble families now. The Kurosaki and the Shiba family don't exist any more. All its members died by the red death. I'm the only Kuchiki left. And the other noble family is the Ichimaru," she explainded.
"But there are still many small noble families, that will gladly make your acquaintance," he tried to cheer her. He knew how she hated the Ichimaru family. She tried to smile at this but couldn't. "When will I need to go?" she asked softly.
"A carriage will come to pick you up in the morning" he said also softly. They stayed together hugging a little more. "I guess I need to go pack my things," she said walking away from him. "Goodnight"
"Goodnight" he said watching her go upstairs. Once he made sure that she wouldn't hear he started to cough. He hadn't told her about his tuberculosis. He didn't want to make her worry over him.
She saw as the carriage approached the house. It was big, and was colored in black. It stopped in front of them. The driver was old and didn't look to happy to drive in the mist, that was starting to appear. Ukitake helped her put her belongings in the carriage.
They stood facing each other in silence. "Well…um…goodbye," Rukia said trying to sound happy and not sad.
"These are for the road," his said giving her a bag full of candy. She couldn't hold it anymore and lunged at him, almost knocking him to the floor.
He hugged her hard. "I will miss you," he said.
"I will miss you too…father," she said. He cried when he heard her say that.
They hugged and cried a little bit longer until the driver told them that it was time to go. She climbed into the carriage and from the window said her last goodbye, before the carriage toke her away.
She watched as they entered a road surrounded by a forest. She looked to her right and saw the bag of candy that her father had given her. She couldn't help but smile; she wondered sometimes if instead of dying by the red death, he would die of diabetes. She truly was going to miss him.
She didn't want to go. She wanted to stay and help the sick. But her father wanted her to be safe, and she wouldn't say no to the person that took care of her.
What made her more nervous was the fact that the Ichimaru family was going to be there. She didn't hate them all; she just disliked one of them. His name was Ichimaru Gin.
He was the reason why she wanted to take her life that day at the bridge.
"Stop thinking about it," Rukia said out loud to herself, forcing her mind to forget the painful memory. She thought instead of how she will spend her days in prince Aizen's castle. She carried with her plenty of books about medicine; she would study more the red death. She also would write to her father.
She kept herself entertained the rest of the way thinking of random stuff, until she felt asleep.
She woke up hours later. When she looked through the carriage window it was already night. They still were traveling in the forest, and the mist was also there. 'Depressing,' Rukia thought.
They finally arrived to the castle. She climbed off the carriage and in front of her stood a magnificent castle. It was made from the whitest stone she has ever seen. It posed an odd shape. It didn't have towers like most castles have, but this didn't take away any of its magnificence.
"I will take your luggage to your room, miss," said the driver. She just nodded, still studying the strange structure in front of her. She didn't notice the person that was behind.
"Are you Kuchiki Rukia-sama?" asked a woman in a maid's outfit.
"Y-yes," Rukia said a little bit nervously, she had caught her off guard.
"I'm Hayako; I will be guiding you to your room, Kuchiki-sama," said Hayako, bowing deeply to Rukia.
"Please don't call me Kuchiki-sama; it's too formal. Rukia will do," Rukia said trying to sound friendly.
"I can't Kuchiki-sama, Aizen-sama will have my head if he hears a lowly servant like me call a noble woman by her first name," said Hayako bowing even lower.
Before Rukia could protest Hayako started walking inside the castle. "Please follow me, Kuchiki-sama," she said without stopping.
Rukia looked behind her one last time. "I don't want to…" she said following Hayako inside the castle.
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