Cherry Blossoms
Byakuya x Orihime
By Eowynd
Disclaimers: the usually and well know by everybody
(*) Spoilers: The Zanpakutou appear in their true form. Those of you who haven't watched the fill in episodes from 230 to 240, or "Zanpakutou arc" might not understand all the details.
Every text in cursive are thoughts or dialogues between the Zanpakutou and their wielder.
Thanks to my little sister 'Maharet Crows' for helping me with this chapter
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When Rukia's appointment was official, Byakuya decided to throw a party at the mansion, but since he has no idea how to organize a party for Rukia, he decided to ask Orihime, who was sitting in the garden near the pond of the Koi fish for help
- "It's a nice day to be outside"
- "Kuchiki-sama, good morning" –she said with a little bow- "these are some beautiful fish"
- "Thanks, and pretty hard to breed too"
- "I can imagine" –they fell into a little silence, until Byakuya said
- "I'm sure that Rukia already give you the good news"
- "Sure she did, she was glowing with happiness"
- "I want to throw her a party to celebrate"
- "¿Really? Rukia-chan will love it"
- "But, I know nothing about girl's parties"
- "Don't worry Kuchiki-sama; I will be happy to help you ¿How many people are you planning to invite?"
- "The thirteen squads" –said Byakuya- "Mainly captains and lieutenants form squads 1 to 12 and the entire 13 squad"
- "But that's a lot of people!" -exclaimed Orihime
- "Don't worry about that Orihime, the mansion has a large party room and more than enough budget to cover all the expenses, it's just, I don't know what Rukia likes"
- "Bunnies"
- "¿Eh? ¿Bunnies?"
- "Oh yes! Rukia loves everything related to bunnies, ¿didn't you know Kuchiki-sama?"
- "No, not really. So ¿Do I count whit you Orihime-chan?"
- "Of course Kuchiki-sama, eh ¿Kuchiki-sama?"
- "¿Yes?"
- "¿Will Kurosaki-kun and the others be able to come?"
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- "Well, it was about time they make you a lieutenant Rukia, if you ask me" –said Renji while giving congratulating her– "I don't know what Ukitake taicho has in his head that took him so long."
- "¡Don't say that about Ukitake taicho, you asshole! ¡He is the best captain of all!" -said Rukia
- "¿Even better than Byakuya?" –Ichigo was mocking her.
- "¡It's different!" –Rukia said who was wearing a beautiful pale pink Yukata with little white bunnies jumping on a green field on the inferior part of the dress that made her very happy. Just like the bunny shaped invitations that have been sent to all the squads and the food with bunny shapes like the rice ball (and other traditional food), said to him.
- "Anyways, we are very happy about your promotion Rukia-san" –said Ishida- "you completely deserved it"
-"Thanks Ishida-kun, by the way, you all look very good with the kimonos they got for you"
- "Although, according to the tailor, I was quite the challenge" -said Chad. Because the tailor was accustomed with the size of the Kuchiki men and in general the size of Sereitei men. No one was even closer to Chad's weight and height. ¿Maybe Renji or Zaraki in both? But the tailor had sweated with poor Chad.
- "Never the less, you look really good Chad" –commented Rukia. In that moment, Byakuya stood at the front of the room and Sais:
- "As you all well know, this party is to celebrate the promotion to lieutenant of my younger sister Rukia" –Rukia was in shock, because until that moment Byakuya never had referred to her as 'little sister' it always have been 'Rukia'- "Rukia, come closer" –said while offering his hand to her, so Rukia places herself next to his left side –"we are very glad for all the people here coming to Rukia's party and we hope that everything it will be of your liking. ¿Rukia?"
- "¿Eh? Well, I'd like to give my deepest thanks to captain Ukitake and the thirteen squad. I want to let you know that you are like a second family to me, and I promise you that I'll do everything in my power to fulfill my obligations and to be a good lieutenant to you all. I hope you enjoy the party" - finished with a bow that was accompanied by the applause of the room, after that, everybody in the room was back at what they were doing before.
- "niisama..."
- "¿Yes, Rukia?"
- "Thank you..." –she said while giving him a little hug, before returning with Ichigo and the others. In that moment, Byakuya felt a weak reiatsu outside the room, so he went out discretely and came across a hesitantly Orihime
- "The party is inside" -said Byakuya
- "But, ¿May I go inside? ¿It won't be trouble for you, Kuchiki-sama?"
- "No" –said dryly. After all, Yamamoto-soutataicho had said it won't be a problem and that it was a good way for the substitute shinigami and his group to found out.
- "But..."
-"Don't make me repeat myself Orihime-chan" –said extending his hand towards the auburn girl – "¿shall we?"
- "Yes, Kuchiki-sama" –said the auburn girl, taking the captain's hand. It was a strong, but gentle hand, with white soft skin, that guided her carefully to the room.
- "¿Inoue?" –asked Ichigo when he saw her enter with Byakuya, even though he had to look twice at her, to be sure that it was indeed her. She was wearing a blue Yukata with golden leaves pattern and her hair in an elegant up do – "¡Inoue!"
- "Kurosaki-kun! Ishida-kun! Chad-kun!" –Said Orihime while approaching them- "I'm so happy to see you!"
- "But... ¿For how long…?" –asked Ishida
- "For a few weeks, but I was as weak as a kitty, so Unohana taicho didn't release me from the fourth squad until four weeks ago."
- "¡¿Four Weeks?" -Exclaimed Ichigo- "¿And why do we find out about this until now?"
- "Despite being awake, I couldn't talk and could barely move. I have to do a lot of therapy since then. Even when they found me healthy enough to leave the fourth squad, they didn't authorize me to leave the Sereitei, because I was still in not fully health or had recovered all my reiatsu, so since then I have been living in the Kuchiki mansion with Rukia-san and Kuchiki-sama" -ended Orihime.
- "We are very sorry for leaving you alone Orihime, but we needed to get back to the real world to take care of our families" –commented Ishida
- "Don't worry about that. Tell me ¿How has Tatsuki been?" -asked Orihime
- "She asked each one of us, everyday, about you" -said Chad- "it seems this mind erasing thing works for everyone except her, at least not the same way."
- "¿And what did you tell her?"
- "That some relatives had claimed you after they know your brother was dead" –said Rukia- "I thought it was pretty believable. At least it seem to work with the rest like professors and Chizuru"
- "I see... maybe I should write her a letter that you will deliver so she stays calm" –commented Orihime
- "Ey Rukia ¿And how did you convince Byakuya to house Orihime?" –asked Ichigo echoing everybody's thoughts.
- "Actually, it was Byakuya niisama's idea to let Orihime stay here in the mansion -answered Rukia. Ichigo and everyone else dropped their mouths to the floor. That image didn't match the one they had of Byakuya.
For them he was cold, distant, arrogant...
For Rukia he was admirable, a good brother, a great captain and a very skilled person in everything that he does...
For Orihime he was very lonely...
After all this time living in the Kuchiki mansion and what the servants, who she became friend with, had told her, she could guess de great loneliness that was around Kuchiki Byakuya...
First his parents...
Then his great father Ginrei...
Later his wife Hisana...
And with Rukia-san going and coming from the human world with so many frequencies and spending so much time there, he must felt very lonely, but probably his pride was what never let him admitted that.
But Orihime knows what was to lose someone beloved and had to live in the same house where they have shared so much, was, sometimes, a torture. It seems that her brother while walk thru the door in any minute and she would prepare food while he take a hot bath or the simple fact of seen his empty as how he have left it…
For Byakuya its must be very hard to live and walk for the same halls that sometime he walked with his wife or entering the room that once they shared …
Maybe that was the reason why he hates Kurosaki-kun so much? Or at least one part of it, after all, if she had notice the feelings that bond them to the point of putting their life in the hands of the other, to the captain of the sixth squad it must be even more evident what they feel for each other. In fact, she believes that the only ones who didn't realize what was happening where the very ones involved in it, for the rest of them, what those two felt, it was an open secret …
In that moment the music start to sound and some people gathered in the center of the room to dance…
- "Eh… Rukia" –said Renji a little nervous – "¿Do you want to dance"
-"Sure" –said with calm while walking to the center of the room. Ichigo and the others, who didn't know how to dance this kind of music, decided to watch. Nobody has ever taught them this kind of dance before.
- "Ey! Ichigo! What are you doing? Why is Renji dancing with Rukia instead of you?" –the voice of Shihoin Yoruichi, came from behind him, and she was wearing one of hers family's kimonos.
- Bu… but I don't know how to dance this kind of music!
- Nonsense! A man should know how to dance! If not, how is he going to get the attention of the woman's at the party?
- What have to do that with this?
- ¡dunderhead! Woman's, with no exception, love to dance, so men who take us to dance without we having to drag them to the dance floor, always get a lot of woman at the party's, duh –she explained him as if was a universal truth, before dragging Ichigo, by grabbing his arm, to the dance floor. Then, incredibly enough Chad was the next, when a very drunken Matsumoto, although not completely drunken, decided to take him in to the dance floor, and the most incredible was, that despite his height, he was very agile and coordinated. Ishida though that it must be thank to his Latin blood, after all he always heard to said that in those country's they got the dance in their blood. Didn't they say that was a three day's dancing festival in one of those countries?. But he couldn't think much about that when a girl from the eight squad approach him and asked him to dance with her. This leaves Orihime alone in a corner.
-"This isn't right" –a voice said, capturing Orihime's attention – "¿a beautiful and young lady alone in a corner during a party? ¿what are young's men thinking those days?"
- "Oh, good night Kyouraku-taicho –said Orihime- ¿Are you enjoin the party?"
- "Actually, yes. For being a party organizes by Kuchiki taicho it's more cheerful that what it though he would be able to organize."
- "Do you want to know a secret Kyoraku-taicho?"
- "¡Of course! ¡I love secrets!"
- "Kuchiki-sama had no idea how to throw a party for Rukia-chan, so he ask me for help and give me permission to not measure the expensives while planning the party" –said with a smile.
- "¿Really?" –for the captain it wasn't rare that Byakuya wouldn't planed the party personally, after all, bunny shaped invitation's wasn't something from the noble's style, or that the budget wasn't a problem, after all, the Kuchiki household was rich as in disgustingly rich. Didn't they say that the scarf that he always was wearing, a family heirloom, could buy ten houses or something like that? But, the fact he was capable of asking for help to this little auburn girl was something form other world. Literally.
- "¡Oh, Orihime-chan has hurting my feelings! To think you would make feel so old as to need an hearing check in the fourth squad, it pretty wicked for someone so pretty, after all you almost made me believe that you said 'Kuchiki-sama ask me for help'"
- "But that was what I said! ¡And I don't think you are an old man Kyoraku-taicho!"
- "But, ask you for help? Kuchiki taicho? It don't sound like him, little girl"
- "Eh? Why not?" –Orihime didn't understand what was so odd or strange about that matter. After all, it was a party for a girl, and it was obvious that when you don't know about something, you should ask for help to someone who knows about that something.
- "Ah"- sighted Kyoraku- "sometimes I forget that you are only humans yet and that it has been less than two years since you first and accident visit to Sereitei, little one. If you have been here a little longer, you would understand what I mean."
- "Perhaps you are right Kyoraku taicho. Kuchiki-sama it is very formal, but I don't think it's his entire fault, his upbringing must be very hard."
- "I guess" –then, he felt like if someone was looking at him very intensely, but he couldn't guess from where o who it was.
At the other side of the room, Kuchiki Byakuya watched the scene with a certain degree of rage that he don't know to what to attribute.
- "master, ¿Are you worried?"
- "I don't know Sen…"
- "It's about Kyoraku-taicho? He doesn't seem like a bad person to me."
- "No, but he is… How is, as the servants say…? Oh, yes, 'The one of the loose boots', always running behind the pretty girls."
- *chuckle* (sound of laugh)
- "What is so funny Sen?"
- "That the master just admitted that Orihime-chan is very pretty"
- "I did not"
- "Yes you did, you said that Kyoraku taicho have a weakness for pretty girls, aka Orihime chan, is a pretty girl."
- "Sen…" –said in a tone that mean he would not tolerate more jokes, as he headed towards the couple.
- "¿Are you thinking to interrupt them, master?
- "I compromised myself, in front of the juubantaicho to ensure the safety of the girl while under my care at the mansion Kuchiki, and I will not risk myself to bring shame on my family name upon this Sen"
- *chukle* (sound of laugh)
- "And what is so funny now, Sen?"
- "Sorry master, but I thought, that you have said, in front of the juubantaicho, that she would be under the care of Rukia and Renji, along with the healers of fourth squad. I don't remember that she was under 'our care'"
- "I will not tolerate more comments like this one, Sen"
- "All right master"
- ¿Are yourself enjoin the party Kyoraku taicho? –ask the noble man.
- "Oh, Kuchiki taicho. I was precisely discussing with Orihime-chan the great party you throw for Rukia. The food is excellent, the musicians are the best and the sake is unsurpassable, you have to tell me where you bought everything when the party is over, promise me?"
- "I can send you with Renji the names of the caterers if that makes you happy Kyoraku taicho"
- "Thanks a lot Kuchiki taicho, but made sure that Renji-fukutaicho doesn't found himself with my beloved Nanao-chan or I never going to see that list…"
- "I will warn about that to Abarai-fukutaicho. ¿Are you enjoin the party Orihime-chan?"
- "Yes, but Unohana taicho said that I shouldn't overwhelm myself yet" –said with a smile.
- "But at least, you could had, a courtesy dance, right Orihime-chan?" –Asked Kyoraku- "after all, the standards of conduct, says that you should at least, dance once, when you are invited to a party."
- "¿out of courtesy? I guess so, but I don't know to dance this kind of music."
- "If Kurosaki Ichigo can, Orihime-chan also can do it" –suddenly state Byakuya, making that Kyoraku start to seriously thinking in going to the fourth squad for a hearing check up, because that has almost sound like a joke, but it couldn't be, right? After all, we are talking about Kuchiki-ice like cold- taicho, and he don't joke. So, he want to perform a little experiment, true enough, it could cost him a visit from Senbonzakura, but he truly believes it was worth it.
- "Kuchiki taicho, as always, its right, but the boy is doing a good job for their first try. Even Chad, surprisingly is a good dancer. Besides I'm sure that Kuchiki taicho will be more than delighted to teach you the steps as you dance together Orihime-chan" –both went speechless after that statement. Byakuya couldn't believe that this man have the nerves to set him a trap like this to him. Orihime was nervous, after all this was Kuchiki-sama, of who were they talking, and he was, for said the least, very intimidating.
- "Now, if you excuse me, I think that my lovely Nanao-chan it calling me, see you later" –said as walking away from them and his haori made a graceful movement. They felt in an awkward silence until Byakuya, for the second time that night, extend his hand towards the auburn girl, and said:
- "¿Orihime-chan, will you do me the honor of giving me this dance?" –Orihime couldn't believe it. It was like, if a prince from the fairy tales that his brother read to her came out of one of the books and ask her to dance with him. But, after all, wasn't Kuchiki-sama almost like a prince to the Sereitei?
- "It would be an honor Kuchiki-sama" –said grabbing the captain's hand. While they move forward to the center of the room, some of the people who see them, almost had a heart attack. Had really Kuchiki Byakuya asked Orihime for a dance in his little sister party's?
Ichigo couldn't believe it…
Renji felt like when Byakuya, did that joke to him about cutting his hair with the help of Senbonzakura… to the edge of a heart attack…
Rukia was so happy to see her brother socializing and dancing with Orihime, that she wouldn't care of how that happened, the fact was that her brother was enjoin the party and that was her best gift..
Kyoraku-taicho felt, that if, after this, he dies in hands of Senbonzakura, it was well worthed, especially after notice that Orihime kimono's was blue with golden leaf pattern and Byakuya kimono's was golden with blue dragon pattern. Matching kimonos. It could be a coincidence, but still it was pretty interesting.
The only one who can say anything was Zaraki–taicho
- "Hell must freeze over"
End of chapter two