~The Blossom of Lost Desire~

By - ByaRukifan

Timeline:Zanpakutou Filler Arc (Episodes 230-)

Pairing(s): Byakuya/Rukia, Senbonzakura/Sode no Shirayuki


~Chapter Seven~

Byakuya and Rukia sat outside, in front of the doorway to Rukia's room, as they both stared up at the starry night sky. It had only been only a day or so after Byakuya had made his promise to never allow Rukia to be alone ever again, which was a conversation that was still clear as day in Rukia's mind.

Ever since they returned from Hueco Mundo, Rukia had made it a habit to go with Byakuya on his night time walks in the gardens. She was happy to know that he didn't mind in the least, but they didn't share many conversations. Though, a question was weighing heavily on Rukia's mind, it had been since she had been in Hueco Mundo, and she was tired of feeling too nervous to ask him about it. Tonight though, she wasn't going to let it go unasked.

Byakuya turned his attention away from the full moon to Rukia, he noticed she looked as if something was troubling her.

"Rukia, is something wrong?" He asked, in his usual monotone voice.

Rukia jumped slightly when he spoke, surprised by his question. She couldn't help but turn to look at him, but as soon as they had made eye contact that nervous feeling started bubbling up inside of her. She quickly looked down at her hands, 'Geez, Rukia...Why can't you just ask him this one simple question? Stupid nervousness!'

"No, not really." She nervously replied.

Byakuya waited a moment, to see if she hadn't finished talking yet, but when she didn't say anything more he turned his attention back to the sky, but it quickly went back to Rukia as she started speaking once more.

"It's just...Back in Hueco Mundo, Kotetsu-fukutaicho had told me something that she overheard you say..." Rukia continued.

What Rukia failed to noticed though was Byakuya's quick change in expression after she had spoken because she was still gazing at her hand rather than Byakuya.

Byakuya paused before asking, "What had she heard?"

"Kotetsu-fukutaicho thought that I had a right to know, so please don't be angry with her for telling me. She told me that...when you were finishing off the espada you were fighting...she heard you refer to me as your...," Rukia's face reddened, "Your pride." She held her breath, waiting for him to reply.

Byakuya's eyes widened slightly but then quickly returned to their usual slanted look. He turned his gaze back to the sky before replying, still in his usual tone, "What you were told is correct."

Rukia's head whipped up to face him, her held breath coming out as an almost inaudible gasp, in surprise. Byakuya turned his attention back to her, seeing her surprised look and her mouth agape. He kept his emotionless mask on though, controlling the urge to smile at her slightly humorous expression. Byakuya returned his gaze to the sky once more before saying,

"Rukia, you're going to catch a fly in your mouth if you aren't careful."

Rukia quickly closed her mouth and looked down, blushing furiously.

Byakuya slowly came to, opening his eyes tiredly. He thought about the dream he just had for a moment, remembering Rukia's reaction to finding out that she was his pride. He would never forget that night, it was one of the most memorable conversations they had had on their nighttime walks. His eyes then shifted as he looked around the dark cave, quickly realizing it was still very late at night or early in the morning.

He looked down at Rukia, who was still soundly asleep in his arms. One of the things Byakuya noticed was that Rukia looked so peaceful and beautiful in her sleep, which made him wonder how he never noticed it until only recently. He was proud to call her his pride and he knew he always would be which made him smile unconsciously. Byakuya buried his head in her hair and closed his eyes, falling back to sleep in a matter of minutes.

Ukitake sat in front of Unohana's desk. When daylight hit he had arranged a small meeting with her about Rukia, who he was beginning to become concerned about. Unohana sat behind her desk, waiting patiently for Ukitake to speak.

"I'm starting to become concerned about Rukia, she's been gone for awhile now." Ukitake said, giving a sigh afterwards.

"Yes. I've been worried as well, especially since she had those wounds and they weren't fully healed." Unohana replied.

Ukitake took a sip of tea from his cup, "I really hope Rukia has found Byakuya. At least then she won't be as worried and she can properly focus on taking care of herself, even though I'm pretty sure Byakuya wouldn't just let her worry about him in her condition and that he'd help her as best he could until they come back."

Unohana nodded before taking a sip from her cup, " I hope she's found him as well and that neither of them are seriously injured."

"Yeah." Ukitake agreed, staring down into his cup.

Byakuya tiredly opened his eyes, slowly waking up from his peaceful slumber. He could tell it was daylight now, probably around eight in the morning. His eyes shifted beside him to see Rukia, who was sitting up only a few inches away from him. She was using her fingers to brush out her hair.

Byakuya blinked before asking, "How long have you been awake?"

Rukia jumped in surprise before looking down at Byakuya, who was now propped up on his arm, "I haven't been awake for long. Probably about ten minutes." She replied, nervously smiling.

She then tried to put her hands in her lap, but pulled her hand away from her hair too quickly which pulled a knot in her hair; making her yelp in pain.

Byakuya sat up when Rukia yelped and he made his way behind her before he gently started to help straighten her hair with his own fingers. Rukia placed her hands on her lap and let him continue.

"Thanks."

Byakuya was able to get a few knots out, but then it had become more frustrating because of not having been washed for awhile. He knew his hair probably wasn't any better, but it was unavoidable when they were out in the forest. Byakuya knew Rukia hated being covered in dirty and he couldn't blame her. He hated it just as much as she did. It was then that an idea suddenly came to him.

Rukia turned around to face Byakuya, but when she turned around she felt herself being lifted off the ground by Byakuya. Before Rukia could question him, he took off with her out of the cave with the use of shun po.

The next thing Rukia knew was she was at the lake. Byakuya carried her over to a rock that was at the edge of the water and placed her on it. Rukia gave him a questioning look and was about to ask why he had suddenly brought her here, but before she could he motioned, with his hand, to her to let him speak.

"I'll go and wait behind that tree," Byakuya said, pointing to a large tree about six feet away from where they were, "while I'm over there, you can use the lake to clean yourself off."

Rukia felt her face heat up tremendously at that moment. 'Did he just seriously tell me to take a bath while he'll only be a few feet away!? Regardless if he were to sit behind a tree or not, It's still...It's still...'

"W-what did you just say?" Rukia asked, stuttering nervously.

"I will go wait for you behind that tree," He pointed it out once more,"while you clean yourself off in the lake...If it makes you feel any better you can be assured that I'm not the type to peek."

'How was that supposed to make me feel better!? The thought of him peeking never even came to mind until he said something...I'm probably as red as ripe tomato and have the dumbest expression on my face that Nii-sama's ever seen!' Rukia thought, she quickly shook herself to get rid of those thoughts and then looked at Byakuya, who was wearing a small smirk on his face.

Byakuya then stood up, not waiting for an answer, and walked off towards the tree.

"Rukia, the same rules apply for when you're done and it's my turn." Byakuya replied, his smirk still slightly visible on his face before he suddenly turned serious. "Don't take too long. Even though it's still early it's still dangerous. It's alright though, while I wait I'll be on the lookout for any dangers."

Byakuya then made his way behind the tree and sat down, resting his head back against it.

Once Byakuya had disappeared from her view, Rukia waited a moment before looking around herself in all directions to make sure everything was clear. When she was sure, she proceeded to undress and wade into the water. She suppressed a yelp at feeling how cold the water was, because she knew if she did Byakuya would think something was wrong and rush to her side and she definitely didn't want that to happen.

Afterwards, when she was done, she had quickly gotten out of the lake and dried herself the best she could without using her shihakusho or a towel. Rukia put her shihakusho back on, feeling better now that she was cleaner. She was actually glad Byakuya had thought of this, despite her embarrassment of the idea at first. Rukia turned towards the tree Byakuya had told her he would be waiting behind and called for him.

"I'm done, Nii-sama!"

Byakuya came out from his place behind the large tree and made his way over to her. He stopped in front of her and leaned down, giving her a soft kiss on her lips before he moved to whisper in her ear.

"We're going to have to break your habit of calling me that. Hopefully it won't be too difficult to do so."

Rukia blushed slightly before giving him a single nod. She then started walking towards tree and disappearing behind it. Byakuya had a small smile on his face as he thought about how exactly he'd have to help her break the previously mentioned habit of hers and start getting her to call him by his name.

Once he was cleaner and dressed again Byakuya silently made his way over to Rukia, who didn't know he was even out of the lake yet. She gasped in surprise when he had suddenly lifted her off of the ground and into his arms. Byakuya carried her back towards the lake to the spot they had been sitting at the previous day when they had been eating.

Byakuya pulled Rukia closer to his side once they were seated.

"We'll start heading back to the Seireitei early tomorrow morning." Byakuya said in a calm tone.

"Okay." Rukia replied before cautiously moving under Byakuya's arm, which he then wrapped around her, placing her head on his chest and arm around the front of his waist. "I wonder if everyone in the Seireitei is alright."

"I'm sure they're alright. We'll know for sure by tomorrow when we get back." Byakuya said in an attempt to reassure her.

"Yeah..." Rukia agreed, but then she remembered something and looked up at him, "When you said we were going to have to break my habit of calling you 'Nii-sama'...well what am supposed to call you?" She asked.

Byakuya smirked and looked down at her, "Call me by my name and nothing more."

Rukia blushed slightly, she knew what he meant. He wanted her to just call him 'Byakuya', meaning no honorifics. "Byakuya...." She said, testing out how his name would sound without adding anything after it.

Byakuya's smirk turned into a smile when she had said his name. Hearing his name come from her sounded like a heavenly ring to him. He gave her a gentle squeeze, "You'll still have to refer to me as brother in public until I can figure something out."

"Alright." Rukia said, letting him know she understood.

Almost an hour had passed before Rukia's stomach emitted a growl, making Byakuya and her eyes open with Rukia gain an almost unnoticeable blush. Byakuya then stood up and offered Rukia his hand, which Rukia happily accepted.

"I remember were we had found those apples from yesterday." Byakuya said.

Rukia nodded before she let Byakuya lead the way to wherever they had found yesterday's meal.

They walked beside one another through the forest; hands still intertwined. This time Byakuya was the one to start a conversation.

"Rukia...I never had the chance to say this earlier, but...I'm sorry for making you worry so much after I had vanished. I didn't know you'd be effected that badly by my disappearance." Byakuya explained.

"It's okay. I'm just thankful you're okay." Rukai said, before she felt Byakuya squeeze her hand gently. She looked up at him and gave him a soft smile, which made him gain a small smile to match her own.

Byakuya and Rukia were now sitting on the green grass of a tall hillside, only about a ten minute walk from where the apples were located, with an apple in hand and four more that Byakuya had sat beside him for Rukia and him to have later on.

"It's a good thing you remembered where this spot was, I know I would have never been able to remember." Rukia said with a small laugh after taking another bite from her apple.

Byakuya smiled, "Remembering how to get here isn't that difficult."

"How do you remember?"

Byakuya smiled and moved closer to her and placed the side of his face near Rukia's to get a perspective from her point of view. He then lifted his arm to point out ahead of them.

"Now what do you see?" He asked.

Rukia looked to were Byakuya was pointing and she saw something that looked like a giant rock. The then noticed a familiar entrance that led into the 'rock' that she recognized with a small gasp.

"It's the cave!" Rukia exclaimed with a smile.

Byakuya's smile turned into a small grin, amused at Rukia's excitement at discovering they could see the cave from this hillside.

"Correct." He says before tilting his head to kiss her on her neck and then playfully biting the same spot, making Rukia squeak in surprise.

She turned her face to look at him, seeing that his grin was still clear on his face; making her face become a shade pinker. Rukia saw an emotion in his eyes that she had never seen him show before, but she recognized it. It was the same emotion Kaien Shiba always had when he was talking to or about his wife, Miyako Shiba. It was love, which made Rukia lose her expression of surprise to smile back at him. Her eyes reflecting the same amount of love that showed in his.

Byakuya placed his hand softly on her cheek, which she immediately leaned into. He then leaned in and placed his lips on hers and she kissed him back. She felt his tongue on her lips, asking for entrance. She happily obliged, letting his tongue explore her mouth. It sent sparks through the both of them as their tongues battled for dominance.

They pulled away when the need for air became too great. Byakuya rested his forehead on hers as they stared at one another, gasping softly for air.

Senbonzakura walked silently down one of the corridors of Muramasa's hideout for the Zanpakutou. After he had heard about Muramasa's recent battle with Kurosaki Ichigo's inner hollow, in order to release his true instincts at first, he had started doubting Muramasa's plan of action. He at least thought Muramasa would have known better to try to release that mad man's inner instincts. It should have been obvious that he was already expressing them.

Even if Muramasa didn't notice that, Senbonzakura still thought of him a fool for even wasting his time against him in the first place. He was beginning to feel that Sode no Shirayuki had been right in her doubts about Muramasa.

Sode no Shirayuki walked out of a nearby room, she looked to her left to see Senbonzakura approaching her.

"Follow me." Senbonzakura said before he continued walking.

She gave a single nod before following him to wherever he was headed.

Senbonzakura led Sode no Shirayki out of the fortress to a secluded, private area that only he knew about.

"Where are we?" Sode no Shirayuki asked.

"I found this place recently, I'm the only one that knows about it." Senbonzakura replied simply.

"Okay. Why are we here then?"

"After hearing of Muramasa's recent fight I've started to doubt his plans."

Sode no Shirayuki's eyes widened, "I haven't heard about any recent battles. Especially none that Muramasa had been in."

"The reason you haven't been getting informed of anything recent is that Muramasa probably knows that you're doubting his actions and would try to speak up to convince the others to turn against him."

"That's likely the reason." Sode no Shirayuki said. "What are we going to do?"

Senbonzakura turned before he made his way over to her and leaned over to whisper something in her ear. Sode no Shirayuki's expression turns serious before she looked him in the eyes.

"I understand."

To be continued...


There's chapter seven! I hope you all enjoyed. Ooo, I wonder what Senbonzakura and Sode no Shirayuki's plans are? Guess you'll all find out soon!

I'm glad I was able to get this chapter typed up this quick. I'll try to have chapter eight typed up soon and posted as soon as possible.

Remember, Read and Review!

Just Remember NO FLAMING!