Hi everyone! It's been a real long time since I've written anything. So, this tiny piece of work was found in my half finished drafts which I decided to complete and post. It might contain errors which I apologise for. This one shot is mainly Rukia's monologue rather than some event and set in pregnancy period.

No further babbling, just enjoy!

And of course…

A very happy new year to all of you!

Disclaimer : I am not the owner of the amazing 'Bleach'. It is the property of Tite Kubo.


Love at first sight

Rukia exhaled a deep sigh. She placed a hand on her throbbing back and groaning in pain as she waddled around her house. She was really astonished and sort of troubled with changes her body was going through to accommodate a new being within herself. Although, not entirely ignorant to the process, thanks to the ton of books related to the pregnancy subject, sent by a certain bespectacled Quincy friend of theirs. Rukia could not help but think that being pregnant wasn't easy for a spontaneous woman like her. As a vice captain of a division without a captain, it was hard to accept that she has to rest. Although, her precious division has assured her that they can handle it, she could not help but worry.

But worrying over wasn't going solve anything because as soon as she hit her sixth month of pregnancy, she was banned from setting a foot in her division by the Commander General Kyoraku himself. But even before that, as soon as the word of her pregnancy got out, everything was shifted around in the Soul Society to make sure that the thirteenth division received the least of the work load and even lesser field work. And the thing that was even more humiliating for a independent woman like her that she was being pampered.

Pampered seriously!

Pampered by none other than her own older Byakuya Kuchiki.

She still remembered the day when they had dropped the news of her pregnancy to her brother. He was so silent that for a few moments Rukia had felt that he might have not even heard. The only indication that she had that he had heard the news was the subtle widening of his eyes. Then he had blessed her and Renji with the largest genuine smile she had ever seen on his face.

"Congratulations."

He had said with a voice so thick with emotion that she had almost cried, in relief that her brother was not saddened by her getting pregnant with a child so soon after marriage with her career and the name of Kuchiki clan at stake.

It had made her infinitely happy!

But soon she realized that her brother deeply cherished her and her child. It had hit her sometime laterthat maybe he must have actually wanted a child from her sister Hisana, a child to call his.

A child to carry his legacy.

A heir.

But most of all, a child to call him father.

But now she knows that her brother sees her as a different person from her sister. This child is not his. This child will be his sister's. But despite it, this child will make him the closest to 'father' as possibly as he could become.

Where as in case of Renji, he was terribly excited at the prospect of becoming a father. But frightened as well. Both of them never had a family, just a bunch of little hooligans was the closest thing to a family they had. And later, it was just two of them.

But after the revelation of her big happy news, Renji, at times, acted queerly.

Sometimes, she would feel his large hands supporting her gently when the morning sickness would hit too hard. Sometimes, he would be smiling at her with the gentlest expression ever. Sometimes, she would be the witness to find him talking to her stomach softly. Sometimes, she'd hear him gasp when he would place his large hands on her swollen belly, trying his best to soak up the feeling of their unborn child's kicks.

But she was aware that despite everything, he wasn't connected to their child as much as she was. To experience that child growing up within you was completely different from waiting for it to come out to the world to feel it for the first time. Nothing could ever amount to the experience of feeling a new life growing within you. A physical manifestation of the love you share with another person. Her child was precious.

She was feeling it maturing inside her womb and it made her feel blessed.

But she knew that a father's love was as strong as a mother's love, if not stronger. She had seen fathers like Isshin Kurosaki, the man dedicated his entire life to take care of his children. Even though Ichigo claims that his father is annoying, he knows that everything he is now, is the man his father has raised.

She has no doubts that Renji would put his life on stake to protect this child with out hesitations, just like she would. She has a sneaking suspicion that her brother gladly would too. She wonders what motivates them to do that, especially, when she would be the only person to feel that unborn infant and the only person who has spent her every conscious and unconscious moment with this child for those particular nine months. How can they feel the same amount of attachment to her child?

Rukia exhales again and leans down on to the bed. She's done too much thinking now. She's very exhausted, so she sleeps.

But later, she gets all her answers when she sees her husband and her brother staring at the bundle in her arms with so much awe and fascination, that she feels the ambience overwhelming with love for her baby girl.

It is then she understands…

For mothers…love is gradual. They feel their child's movements within them, they feel them growing inside. So when they hold their infant for the first time, they love it more than anything else in the world. But for fathers and uncles…most of the times…it is...

love…

at the first sight.


This didn't have that much of Ichika in it. But it was something I simply wanted to write. I know that this wasn't a proper portrayal of parental love but I think nothing in this world can give a proper explanation of it, right? Tell me what you all think of it.

Oh! For Renruki lovers, who've not read my one shot collection called 'Red and Violet', please give it a try! Sorry, for this shameless self-promotion!

Please review!

See you again.

Aditjn238.