2 England, late 1930s
It was late afternoon on a Saturday in August. Rukia Kuchiki felt as though she were in the desert. How could it be so damn hot? This was England! The heat wave was unimaginable and inescapable. Dressed in a think, slightly provocative sundress she was lounging in a deck chair in the shade of the verandah. She heard heavy footsteps and knew instantly it was her brother, Ichigo.
'Go away,' she said, her voice muffled slightly from the sunhat covering her face.
'Now big sis,' her brother said with that awful teasing tone, 'that is no way to greet your younger, yet smarter and much better looking brother.'
She scoffed at his remark. 'You are hardly any of those things. I barely consider you a brother, adopted at most. It sickens me to think we share the same blood.'
'Your words are a knife to my heart Rukia, a sharp nasty knife. But I still love you,' he said sitting down on the chair next to her.
'I thought I told you to leave?' she asked, although she knew full well that he had no intention of listening to her.
'When have I been one to listen?' he joked, 'I have a message from mum reminding you to ready yourself for tonight's dinner party at the Ukitake household.'
'Bloody hell!' Rukia exclaimed sitting up abruptly. 'It completely slipped my mind! How much time before we depart?'
'Ten minutes?'
'What?!'
'Relax, you have about an hour but you Kurosaki women have issues with punctuality.'
'That is not true in the slightest. Yuzu, Karin, mother and I are always on time,' Rukia contradicted.
Ichigo smirked, 'because thankfully, God decided to bless you four with Kurosaki men to bestow their intelligence and kind help to you.'
Rukia elbowed him, only to have Ichigo mess up her hair. They began to play fight but were interrupted quickly by their father. 'Oh Lord have mercy on my home!' their father exclaimed, sounding overly tragic for his own amusement and dramatization.
'She started it!' Ichigo whined in a childish voice.
'Oh rubbish! You are the blithering idiot!' Rukia objected.
'My daughter! Using the common speech of a peasant, what sort of educational institute and I sending you to?' wailed her father jokingly.
'Why can't you ever mock Ichigo?'
'He is a ginger my darling, that is insult enough!' Rukia couldn't help but to laugh.
'Hey!' protested Ichigo, 'mother has ginger hair, and I don't see you teasing her about it!'
'There is just something about a ginger boy… reminds me of a weasel or something hey—!' Ichigo began to wrestle with their father jokingly, or so Rukia hoped. She excused herself and headed to her room upstairs.
&&&&&
It took forever for her to choose an adequate gown for the evening. Not that it was a particularly special gathering, just an annual summer dinner her Uncle frequently had. Rukia chose a silk champagne-ivory coloured one with short sleeves and a low back. It was long with a slight slit on the right side. Wearing gold colour heels and her pearl earrings, she thought she looked rather nice. Loosely she clipped up her hair and grabbed her small black purse before heading down to greet her family.
Her mother, Masaki Kurosaki was there fussing with her younger twin sisters, Yuzu and Karin, who both decided to eat some chocolate that was hidden away and now had faces decorated in it. 'I'm ready!' Rukia announced.
Her mother looked up at her, 'oh my darling! You look beautiful, I just wish I could say the same for these two.'
'Oh mummy we are sorry! But it was so good!' Yuzu apologized.
'I'm not sorry,' Karin muttered under her breath.
Before Masaki could scold her daughter, Isshin burst into the entrance hall with Ichigo chummily walking behind him. 'Look at my beautiful Kurosaki women! I will defend you against all unworthy suitors who try and steal your hands in marriage!'
'Oh dad be serious, they can take Rukia. She's utterly useless, can't even work a broom! It is a crime against your identity as a woman,' Ichigo laughed knowing how much it egged his sister when he mocked her gender.
Rukia sure enough, glared at him, 'if you were to ask me brother, the crime you commit far exceeds my lack of knowledge with a broomstick, you are depriving a village somewhere of their idiot. Perhaps on our way to the party we should leave you at a train station so you may return?'
'That is quite enough from you two,' Masaki interjected, handing the chocolate covered cloth to the maid. 'Please try and be civilized at the party? Your uncle and aunt will be most displeased if you insist on this childish display.'
'My sincerest apologies mother,' Ichigo said, bowing playfully, 'but do recall Rukia's condition.'
'Which is?' his mother asked clearly not amused by his sarcasm.
'She may look sound, but is unquestionably socially impossible.'
Rukia smacked his head from behind, 'this coming from a lowlife who sets such low standards for himself that he consistently fails to achieve?'
'Children! Oh Masaki my love! Where did we go wrong with these two?' Isshin pretended to sob on his wife's shoulder.
'I think the start of it had something to do with your influence,' she said patting his back.
Isshin frowned at his wife's joke. 'All right Kurosaki family! Onwards!'
&&&&&
The party was very nicely decorated Rukia thought, other than that there was not much else. While it was nice to see her Uncle Ukitake and Aunt Retsu she could care less for the adult company of her parents. Rich stiffs with nothing better to do than compare fashions and other frivolous things. She was lucky her dearest friend Rangiku was there to keep her interest. The two of them were lazing on the back balcony, over looking the lake behind the manor.
Rangiku took down her hair and sighed, 'can you believe how awful this is Rukia?'
'Only because I am here to live it,' Rukia said sighing along with her friend.
'Can you believe it is almost summer's end? School will be starting,' Rangiku said with very little enthusiasm.
'I am looking forward to going back, it is an escape from here that's for sure,' Rukia told her.
'Have you heard the rumors?' Rangiku asked suddenly.
'Of?'
'My father and his friends were in the billiard room the other night, I overheard them talking,' her voice had become more quiet, more serious, it was alarming Rukia slightly to see her friend, who was always so carefree, looking unsettled, 'there is talk there will be another great war through Europe. Perhaps even extending beyond to other parts of the world.'
Rukia shook her head at this, 'there won't be Rangiku.'
'You can be sure of such things?'
'Well, no but the last war was just so devastating. There is no way countries would allow such tragedy again.' Rukia smiled to try and cheer her friend up.
'I hope you're right,' she said solemnly, 'I can't imagine what it would be to live through a world war…'
The girls' attention was soon alerted to laughter and splashing. Leaning over the balcony, in the distance the girls could make out a gathering of people around a bonfire. They appeared to be diving into the lake.
'That's the worker's quarters,' Rukia noted, observing the small houses in the distance.
'Worker's eh?' Rangiku said, smiling slyly, 'I bet there are boys there, I wonder if they have any liquor…'
'Rangiku!'
'Or ciggies…'
'Rangiku Matsumoto! And if we are caught?'
'Hey now Miss Kuchiki, I was not insinuating that we go over there.'
'Well,' Rukia said smirking, 'perhaps one of them is drowning, and it would be a crime against humanity to ignore a potential cry for help…'
'You are absolutely correct,' Rangiku agreed laughing, 'let's go!' She adjusted her royal blue dress so that her breasts were very obvious. Rukia laughed at her friend and carefully, the two snuck down the stairs making sure no one saw them, and headed over to where the fun was.
A/N: oh boy! I am so excited to see how people like this story. The ideas all just came to me, it is inspired by other stories as well as personal stories I have heard about this time. Please review =) I really appreciate all forms of constructive criticism.
Please no flames =(
