Note: There is a fairly significant time skip here, but that's because I didn't really feel like telling about Rukia's life being integrated into the Kuchiki clan. I do make references to it and perhaps, sometime in the future in a later story, I'll go back in time and tell about the time in between. I hope you enjoy reading this and thanks for all the reviews! Last chapter received the most and that's probably why this update has been a bit faster! This is also the 2nd longest chapter in the series thus far.

SPRING RAIN WASHED OVER THE SUN
by Yih

||||| Burden of Duty |||||

Breakfast was over and it was the start of another day.

Byakuya rose from his seat at the head of the table. Only after he stood did Rukia stand. She waited until he turned to walk out of the dining room where she followed behind him. He did not speak to her much in the mornings, other than to greet her when he saw her.

Rukia almost thought he didn't notice her presence except for the fact he always waited to begin eating after she arrived at the table; and when they were finished eating and he was ready to leave for the Seireitei, he would only shunpo once she was by his side. She hurried to where Byakuya was waiting and when she was at his side, he took off.

Luckily, he never went too fast for her. She was always able to keep up with him, just barely. Rukia strained to the edges of her ability in shunpo to make sure she was always near him, if not next to him.

"Rukia," he said, her name always sounding so effortless beautiful from his lips, "I will see you at dinner."

She nodded, standing at the front of the gates of Shinōreijutsuin. "Good day, Byakuya-sama."

Rukia watched him vanish from sight as if he had not been standing there speaking to her. This had become somewhat of a tradition, for him to escort her to the front gates. She did not know why he did it, but she didn't mind his presence. Even though they never really spoke to one another, even though she really had no idea what kind of person he truly was, Kuchiki Byakuya was special to her.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

"It's her!" someone exclaimed.

"She doesn't look like a member of the Kuchiki clan," another said.

"They say she's from a minor branch," someone else responded.

Rukia was used to hearing the whispered speculations as she walked down the hallway of Shinōreijutsuin to her classroom at the far end. They were the same gossiping she always heard. Here at Shinōreijutsuin, she was that girl from the Kuchiki clan. Some said that her family name, Yukino, was not noble and had never been noble. Most believed, though, she was from an obscure noble house that had some relationship to the Kuchiki's. After all, why else would they sponsor her to Shinōreijutsuin?

Back at the Kuchiki house, she was that girl from Rukongai. Of course, she was never to talk about where she came from, never to show that she was anything less than a member of the Kuchiki clan even if she did not carry the family name. And what a precedent to follow, the last two members of Kuchiki clan that had graduated from Shinōreijutsuin had ended up becoming Taichous of the Gotei 13. How could she even hope to live up to that?

Already, after only five years of training to be a shinigami, Rukia knew her limitations. She was inferior at zanjetsu and while talented at kido, there were others that were far more gifted than her. If only she could be as extraordinary as Byakuya-sama, if only… but she wasn't. And she never would be.

At least, though, the first time she had taken the entrance exam to Shinōreijutsuin she had passed at the tender age of 120. That year, she was one of the youngest to be admitted into the Advanced classes. The Kuchiki clan had been momentarily proud of her until they remembered she was that girl from Rukongai and to them, she always would be.

Rukia paused outside the classroom, feeling her stomach tighten uncomfortably. Her hand gripped the hilt of zanpakuto, trying to find some solace and feeling a vague form of reassurance. It was from the spirit of her zanpakuto. Rukia smiled faintly, a little less anxious and perhaps, a little more confident.

"Yo! Are you just going to stand there, Rukia?" Renji said, bending down so his face was in front of hers. "You don't want to be late for class, would you?"

Rukia blinked, startled by the sudden appearance of her first real friend amongst the students at Shinōreijutsuin. Maybe because she could relate to him – he was the only one amongst those in the Advanced class that was from the 78th district of Rukongai. He was like a fellow comrade, although he had no idea.

"Abarai-san," she said, bowing politely in greeting, "good morning."

"I've told you a million times to call me by my name!" Renji exclaimed.

Rukia nodded, acknowledging what he said, but knowing she couldn't cross that line. She considered him a true friend, and yet, she had been living in the Kuchiki house for far too long not to hold to decorum. They had trained her well, she mused.

"We should get to class," Rukia said softly, nodding toward the classroom.

"One day," Renji declared, "I'm going to get rid of that shell of yours and find out what you're really like!"

Was it true?

Maybe it was.

Rukia didn't think it was a shell, though. It was more like a façade. She tried to be perfect and she succeeded to a degree. She heard enough to know she fooled enough of the students, and even the teachers.

The problem was… she wasn't happy and she wasn't satisfied.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

The cherry blossoms were in season. Rukia paused and took a deep breath, smelling its fragrant scent. Whenever she saw cherry blossoms, she was reminded of her savior, Kuchiki Byakuya. It wasn't because of his shikai release; it was more that the fragrance reminded her of him. The scent was faint on him, but enough that when she was near him she could smell it.

Rukia enjoyed this time in the afternoon the most, when she headed from Shinōreijutsuin back to the main house. It was her own time, unlike the mornings. She walked along the dirt path slowly, which usually took her around an hour or longer to reach home. If she used shunpo she would be at the main house within minutes.

It was one thing she shared with Byakuya, her instinctive use of shunpo. She was a natural at it and her shunpo helped cover up her deficits in zanjetsu, even her kido. Being swift was her only blessing as a shinigami-in-training. It could be worse, she thought. She could be talented at nothing.

Rukia was taking longer than she normally did. The sky was darkening, the sun dipping down towards the horizon. If she didn't hurry, she wouldn't make it back before Byakuya and that would be strange since classes were over hours before his duties as Taichou were finished.

Rukia breathed in the fresh sweetness of the cherry blossoms one last time before she shunpo'ed home.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

The night for others was for sleep, but for her it was for practice. Rukia withdrew her zanpakuto from its sheath and she admired her zanpakuto's clean lines. It was perfectly balanced for her, not too heavy, not too long– the perfect size for someone as petite as her to wield.

Rukia danced with her zanpakuto underneath the moonlight, lunging forward and swiping to the sides, attacking imaginary foes in her head, always making sure to keep her defense up and to let her speed be her advantage. It was tiring, this constant need to be one step faster than her opponent, and yet over time her endurance had grown until she could keep this up for more than an hour without tiring.

As she quickly turned around and slashed her nonexistent enemy from head to toe, she caught Byakuya's silhouette in the window that she knew was his bedroom. He was often there, standing. Sometimes when she was foolish, Rukia thought he was watching her and she tried all the harder because of that. She wanted to impress him. She wanted his approval.

Most of the time, though, she didn't think he even knew she was there.

Please review!

A/N: I really do appreciate all the wonderful feedback that I've been getting. I finally introduce Renji in this story. I neglected him in When the Snow Falls and I'll try to remedy that here. Renji really is a fascinating character and a foil to Byakuya. It should be interesting writing about him! As for the plotting and characterization of this fic, I think now that I've written and completed When the Snow Falls, Another Long Day, and A Thousand Falling Petals, I feel more comfortable in the Bleach fanfic world. I realize I've only done Rukia/Byakuya. Maybe one day I'll expand the pairings I do, but the Kuchiki's are my favorite characters, other than a few other random ones.

Thanks for reading and Happy (late) Thanksgiving! And I really do hope these read like short stories being written in a series.

Released on November 27, 2009.