Not to be used loosely

Chapter 9

A/N: I do not own Bleach and its characters.

The Shihouin clan leader seemed to enjoy the meal he was having with Rukia. Although they were both silent as they took pleasure in tasting the kaiseki dishes prepared by the best chefs of the Kuchiki house, Rukia could see that Shihouin was very relaxed and was quite satisfied with her company.

It was after the empty mizumono dish of sweet cakes were removed that Shihouin cleared his throat and watched Rukia as she filled his cup with hot ocha. "You are a very beautiful woman, Rukia-sama."

Rukia paused in her half-kneeling position, as she was about to pour the tea into her own cup. She let her eyes meet his briefly before she carried on with what she was doing. When she sat back down on her knees, she bowed a little before saying, "You're very kind, Shihouin-sama."

"Please call me Yuushiro. We need not be so formal," he said, taking a sip of his tea.

"Hai, Yuushiro-sama."

Shihouin looked around the room, feeling a little awkward and agitated at the same time that Rukia was being very silent. He could tell she was not comfortable around him. He sighed. "Rukia-sama, is there a garden we could take a walk in. I'm feeling a bit cooped up in here."

Rukia glanced up at him, quite startled that the 23rd head of the Shihouin clan would want to be so casual. "There's one just outside this quarters, Yuushiro-sama."

Shihouin stood up and surprised her by offering her his callous hand. Rukia stared at it for a moment before she gazed up at his face. He was looking at her with that expression again – like he could sense she was trying to mask her uneasiness with the whole arrangement. Reluctantly, she took his offer and followed him out the dining hall into the garden at the front of the Kuchiki Manor.

It was a huge garden that was well taken care of. Rukia had never really had the chance to enjoy the beauty of this place as she also had a garden behind her room in her own quarters. This one had a big pond of koi right in the centre of it.

Shihouin led Rukia to stroll on the small bridge that arched across the pond. They stopped when they reached the middle of the bridge. The noble prince leaned his elbows on the railing as Rukia stood next to him, her hands joined across her waist. She was getting really tired of all these rigid postures that she had to put up.

"You don't want to be here, do you?" Shihouin asked, observing the fish that were swimming under them.

Rukia swallowed and tried to think of an excuse that would not offend him. It was too late to deny his speculation. He could sense her restlessness. She moved closer to the railing so she could also see what he was looking at. "I'm sorry, Yuushiro-sama."

Shihouin chuckled. "There's nothing to be sorry about, Rukia," he said, surprising her once again with his casual demeanour. "If anything, I should be the one to apologise for approaching your brother."

"You approached Nii-sama about me?" she asked. In the past, it had always been the Kuchiki elders that 'hunted' for a potential husband for her. This was the first time someone had actually asked for her on their own accord.

He nodded and straightened himself, placing both his palms on the railing. "I have always been very fascinated by your character – so strong, courageous, and independent. I have heard so much about you and all that you've done for Soul Society. In fact, I wanted to make my offer two years ago but my sister was against it. She is still against it, actually. But I'd like to at least get to know you."

"Does Yoruichi-san know about our meeting?" Rukia furrowed her brows. She knew that the former captain of the 2nd Division couldn't keep her mouth shut. She could sense trouble brewing in the World of the Living right at this moment.

Shihouin smirked at her. "Yes, she does. Of course, she said she would later give me a good spanking with a bokken like when we were little. But I want to do this. She cannot stop me from wanting to be your friend."

"Friend," Rukia reiterated. "Why go through all that trouble if you just want to be my friend?"

"I like challenges. If this goes as Kuchiki-sama expected, I will have myself a bride. Otherwise, a friend would suffice," he turned his body to face her. Rukia, who had begun to relax a little, tensed up again when he gazed deeply into her eyes. "But of course, I suspected that I would not be able to penetrate beyond mere friendship with you," he said with a grim look.

Rukia felt almost guilty. It would take a lot for anything to happen between the two of them. Like Ichigo once said, 'How can anyone love someone she hardly spends time with?'

As if reading her thoughts, Shihouin snapped her back to the present. "Why don't you tell me about your adventures in the World of the Living?" He added, "With Kurosaki Ichigo."

She was taken aback but her suddenly slacken expression told him that it was a comfortable topic for her. He was a comfortable topic for her.

"Let's have a seat, shall we? And you can then tell me about this ryoka who saved the worlds," Shihouin said, motioning to a nearby bench.

When they sat next to each other, Rukia began to talk about what she did in the World of the Living. She spoke about her human friends and all the human things she did with them. She told him about the festivals at the end of winter and summer that they would celebrate together with the Kurosaki family; and how the technology of that world was totally different from what even the 12th Division had.

By the time she had finished her little story, Shihouin could see the glow on her face that she didn't have earlier when they were having dinner together. He was immediately surged with envy that the World of the Living could bring out so much joy in her. He would do anything to watch her become so animated, so out of the Kuchiki character that she was trained to portray. But he knew there was only one person who could do that.

"Are you in love with Kurosaki Ichigo?" he asked, not very sure if his ears were willing to hear her answer… or if his heart could take it.

She smiled, looking into the distance. "We're just friends, Yuushiro-sama," she replied.

"On the surface, yes. But you speak of him with so much admiration, it's almost on an unhealthy level of just a simple friendship," he smirked.

Rukia blushed furiously. "We're really nothing more than comrades, I assure you. He needs to get his life back as a human. That's the reason why I'm there to help him fight hollows whenever he is busy with his commitments. So he can secure a normal future like everyone else," she explained.

Shihouin nodded. "So you're dictating his life for him?"

"What?" Rukia turned around to face him. She didn't even bother to hide how hurt she felt by those words that he had just said. "How could you say that?"

He smirked. "Why not? It sounds a lot like you've had Kurosaki Ichigo's life all planned out for him?"

Rukia winced. It was bad enough that she had ruined Ichigo's life when he was fifteen. Now, she's told that she's ruining his future by trying to make things right for him. "Shihouin-sama, I do not appreciate the accusation. Ichigo and I agreed to work things out this way just so he could carry on with his human life with minimal distractions as a Shinigami."

"He agreed? If he had wanted a human life, he would have rejected his Shinigami powers in the first place. Why does he still keep it? Why does he keep you around, Rukia?"

"Ichigo believes in protecting the people around him. That's why he keeps his powers," Rukia argued.

"And you?" he challenged. "Does he really need you there with him? I'm pretty sure he's capable of handling his human life. He has more experience in being human than you do. As for being a Shinigami, Kurosaki-san is a captain-level Soul Reaper. He doesn't need you there to fight for him or to protect him."

Rukia gaped at his reasoning. He watched her facial expression as the words sink in and he hoped she had come to the right conclusion.

"So why do you think he needs you around, Rukia?" he asked again.

The girl shut her eyes and swallowed the lump in her throat. Pain swept across her face as she gathered herself to say the very thing she dreaded to say. "I guess he doesn't need me at all," she mumbled and looked down at her fingers on her lap.

Much to her annoyance, Shihouin burst out laughing. It was so loud that even the guards at the gate of the Kuchiki property turned their heads to see what was going on; and they were at least 200 yards away.

"What is so funny, Shihouin Yuushiro?" Kuchiki mask be damned. She was being made fun of and the Rukia from Inuzuri would never let anyone ridicule her. Ichigo was a living testimony to that. She stood up from the bench and glared down at the ponytailed man who was gasping for breath at her expense. "The nerve of you to laugh at me when I'm upset!"

Shihouin, while trying to control his laughter, took her hand in his and gently pulled her to sit down again but she was stubborn enough to keep her stance. "Sit down, Rukia. I apologise for laughing at you. Please let me explain." He tugged her hand again.

After glaring at him for a few seconds more, she relented and sat with her body turned towards him. "Explain away," she deadpanned.

After composing himself, he took both her hands in his and gave her a very serious look. "Kuchiki Rukia," he began. She gulped. "You are a very special woman. I don't think we will ever find another like you even if we turned the universe, the worlds, and the timeline upside down and inside out. The person who manages to capture that heart of yours is definitely the most fortunate man alive. And I almost resentfully say that that man is obviously Kurosaki Ichigo."

Rukia narrowed her eyes and glanced at him sideways. "That's kind of a mouthful to say, wasn't it?"

Shihouin chuckled. "Yeah, it was."

"Well, thank you very much for putting me on a pedestal," she said, earning her a very unorthodox snort from the other noble. "But all the sweetness doesn't really matter because Ichigo obviously has someone else in mind."

The young man furrowed his brows. "Did he tell you that?"

"No, but someone else did. And I think it's only fair that he gets a normal social life instead of hanging out with a ghost in a faux body," she hypothesised.

Shihouin shook his head in bemusement. "That's not the way I see it. Like I said, why would he keep you around?" he asked, squeezing the hands he was still holding. "If not because you're someone special to him?"

Rukia bit her lip as she pondered on what he just said. She wanted so much to believe him and hang on to those words for assurance. But it all seemed farfetched to her. She and Ichigo were from two different worlds. He would continue to grow older every day while she would still be the same. As a human, he would need to get married and have children. She would only get in the way.

"You know what?" Shihouin offered her a smile. "I'll let you think about this. And I will tell your brother that our date was not successful," he jested, letting go of her hands and making quote marks around the word 'date'.

"Yuushi…"

He put up a hand to stop her and continued, "I understand. I knew how this would turn out from the very beginning. But like what I told you earlier, I just wanted a chance to get to know you. And this is good enough for me. I know my Nee-sama is going to make fun of me for the next 500 years but hey, I have no regrets about ever having this little encounter with you." He cupped her jaw and placed a chaste kiss on the spot between her eyebrows.

"Thank you, Yuushiro-sama."


The izakaya at the 1st District of Rukongai looked surprisingly different from the last time Ichigo had set foot there. It still smelled of sake, puke, and blood combined, and the Shinigami that crowded the place were mostly from the 11th Division. But there was now a small stage at the end of the room where he spotted an acoustic guitar resting on a stand. There was even a dart wall opposite the sake counter.

Somebody must've gotten the idea from the bars in the World of the Living. Ichigo's first guess would be Matsumoto Rangiku, followed by Kira Izuru and then, Abarai Renji. But come to think of it, it could also have been Madarame Ikkaku or Ayasegawa Yumichika. Although, he doubted it could be the latter as the place was anything but beautiful. Because of him and Rukia, the Shinigami from Soul Society had somehow found excuses to frequent the World of the Living.

Rukia… he thought, his head immediately met the bar counter a few times before he felt a long arm over his shoulders.

"Dude, you know you can talk to me right?" came Renji's half-tipsy voice. The pineapple head was the one who found Ichigo wandering aimlessly around the barracks and dragged him to the izakaya.

Ichigo grunted and took a sip of his sake straight from the bottle, shrugging Renji's arm off his back.

Renji guessed, "Girl problem?"

The ryoka ignored him. He didn't feel like talking about it. At least, not yet. He was not drunk enough.

"Rukia problem?" Renji tried again.

"Shut up, Renji," Ichigo muttered as he twirled the bottle in his hand.

Renji snorted. "Why am I not surprised? What did she do now? Twist your life around and then, shove it back to your face?"

Ichigo flinched at the truth in the spot-on guess. He glanced at Rukia's childhood friend and decided that he should talk to him. After all, he needed to get it off his chest and the guy's half-drunk, anyway. Renji might not even remember a thing in the morning.

After Urahara and Tessai had healed both Ichigo and Yoruichi at the shoten, the shopkeeper opened the senkaimon for Ichigo to make his way to Soul Society. The Getsuga Tenshou had really done a number on the cat lady and himself. The attack he summoned had surprised both of them when he crashed right into Yoruichi at high speed. She was too shocked to stop him when he ripped the emblem right off her arm. But she had praised him later on for having somewhat defeated her, even though it wasn't as deliberate as he had wanted it to be.

Unable to restrain himself, he shunpo all the way to the Kuchiki Manor the moment he stepped foot into Soul Society only to find out that the guards were given strict orders 'not to let anyone bother Rukia-sama and her guest'.

Ichigo was about to scream at them when he saw Rukia and the guy sitting in the garden. She couldn't sense his presence at the gate because he had concealed his reiatsu. He didn't want Byakuya to go all petals on him before he could speak to Rukia.

He squinted to see that they were both facing each other and… were they holding hands? They stayed in that position for a long time, apparently chatting away affectionately. And when the guy he knew as Yoruichi's brother leaned in to kiss Rukia, Ichigo felt his heart break into a million pieces. The guards watched him turn around and walk away lifelessly from the manor.

Ichigo took the Shihouin emblem out from his shihakusho and flipped it around in his hand. "I'm supposed to show this off to Yoruichi-san's brother. To prove my worth, like what she said," he smirked at it.

"I think you should still do it," Kira said as he shrugged.

Hisagi slapped Ichigo on the shoulder. "Yeah, man. You didn't see Kuchiki-fukutaichou returning the kiss, did you?"

Ichigo furrowed his brows and looked around the bar counter. "When the hell did you guys get here?" Obviously, he was almost as drunk as Renji to notice the extra company.

"Aww, Ichigo-kun," Matsumoto hiccupped and embraced Ichigo in a suffocating hug with her humungous breasts. "You poor, poor thing," she said before shoving his head away and ignoring the colour change on his face. Ichigo couldn't decide if he was red with embarrassment or turning purple from lack of oxygen.

She then, turned to Hisagi and dragged him by his elbow to the stage. "C'mon, Shuuhei. Play him a song."

The tattoo face picked up the guitar with a smirk and sat himself down on the stool in the middle of the tiny stage. "This one's for you, Kurosaki Ichigo. It should've been called Love Sucks. And you know it," he drawled.

Hisagi started plucking the song by Incubus. The minute Ichigo recognised the intro, he again banged his head on the counter a couple of times. He inwardly cursed the 9th Division fukutaichou over and over again as he listened to him croon the damn song. By the last chorus, everyone else in the bar was singing along.

Love hurts...

But sometimes it's a good hurt

And it feels like I'm alive.

Love sings,

When it transcends the bad things.

Have a heart and try me,

'cause without love I won't survive.

Ichigo groaned and downed the rest of the sake before asking for another bottle. Hisagi had started singing another English song. It's weird how everyone seemed to know how to sing in foreign languages when they are dead drunk.

Kira, who was sitting on his right mumbled about Hinamori Momo being too hung up on Aizen Sousuke while Matsumoto got all emotional about Ichimaru Gin. Renji, on the other hand, had already passed out after repeating Tatsuki's name. Ichigo couldn't take it anymore. Everyone's just so heartbroken around him.

He got up with his full bottle and made his way out of the bar. As he approached the doorway, though, he realised too late that he was about to trip and fall. He braced himself for impact. However, he never landed on the ground and was instead held upright by two small hands on his chest.

Before he passed out, he thought he heard a very familiar voice calling him, "Ichigo!"


I did again. Managed to squeeze one more chapter into my tight schedule. I've got to leave it like this for a few days, though, as I'm going away on a vacation with my family. Will get the next chapter up as soon as I can.

Oh, before I go, I'm going to explain how the idea of making Shihouin Yuushiro the suitor came about. I was prepared to come up with an OC for the part. I even had a name for him – Kagerou Takashima. He would be held from a lost noble house and was supposed to be next in line to be the head of the Kagerou clan.

However, at that time, I didn't really follow the manga. I stopped reading it quite sometime ago because I felt the Quincy war was dragging for too long. But then when I got back to the manga again, I found this Shihouin character to be quite appropriate for the part of Rukia's suitor.

So I did a research on him and discovered that there was nothing much about him at all apart from the fact that he was the 23rd head of the clan and he was a polite boy. Nothing was mentioned about his age. But seeing as Yoruichi is much older than Byakuya, I don't think Yuushirou is that much younger than her. I thought it would be a good idea for him to be the suitor because he was exactly someone Byakuya had always wanted Rukia to be err… betrothed to. Noble… polite… that's all I had to this character, actually. I decided to adopt him and turn him into who he is in this fic. Haha…