author's note: special thanks to haritori for being my beta-reader.
Substitute Affections — A Bleach Fanfiction
by Akane-Rei
Part One: The Betrothal
Chapter Ten: The Kuchiki-Shiba Alliance
Kukaku Shiba scratched the back of her head with her prosthetic arm as she stared at the dark-skinned woman who sat in front of her. "I don't understand why you had to make yourself scarce," she told her. "It wasn't as if he didn't know you were here."
Yoruichi gave a careless shrug. "I'd rather not go through the polite talk it would have inevitably led to," she said. "I've never been a big fan of the General and I see no reason to talk to him when there is no need."
She smiled. It's been over a century and a half and the former captain of the second division still held a grudge. "He's been a little better now, if you can believe that. That idiot vice-captain of his is a good influence," she observed.
"Hmm?" Yoruichi tilted her head to the side. "And you're not just saying that because he's arranging a suitable match for that brother of yours?" She grinned. "That's partly the reason I left when I saw him coming anyway," she said blithely. "I didn't really want to interrupt the negotiations." She gave a slight chuckle. "What I wouldn't do to be in the room when he tells Byakuya!"
She lifted a brow. "That better not be your subtle way of insulting my brother," she warned.
"Actually, it's my not-so-subtle way of insulting both your brother and Byakuya," she admitted candidly. "I thought I was quite clear."
"Che," she sighed, picking up a sake cup and drinking the contents. "You really should have stayed," she reiterated. "You would have heard something…really interesting."
"Oh?"
Kukaku watched as those cat-like eyes gleamed.
"More interesting than the imminent wedding between Ganju Shiba and Rukia Kuchiki?" Yoruichi asked. "I'm not sure if there is such a thing. Kisuke and I have been quite entertained by the stories you've told when the matter was first approached."
"Oh, yeah, it was a barrel of laughs," she conceded. Didn't she first laugh her head off when Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryusai first came to her home with the proposition? She would have thought that her reaction would have been enough to offend the man out of his ideas, but instead he had persevered. He had come to visit her almost once a week for a month before she had actually begun to start thinking seriously about the proposal.
Rukia would be a good influence on her idiot brother. There had been a few occasions when she noticed that he seemed less stupid and more…conscientious whenever the shinigami came around to visit. It was almost the opposite effect Ichigo had on him. So after much thought, she had considered the alliance and eventually agreed to it. It wasn't as if Ganju was seeing anyone or had any other plans in that arena that would interfere.
Now as for Rukia, that one she had also given just as much thought to. It was hard not to since she saw her almost every other week.
Despite the odds, she had come to like the slight shinigami with solemn eyes.
Maybe it was the way Rukia kept coming back to visit her when she could. For some reason, the small shinigami got it into her head that Kukaku was the ideal person to spend her Seireitei-free time with. And for Kukaku, who barely got any female companionship except for the odd visit from Yoruichi here and there, Rukia's visits was somewhat a breath of fresh air when compared to the usually boisterous bunch her brother hung around with. Not that she didn't appreciate and even enjoy their antics. In fact, she preferred them. Sometimes, however, she could do with a little gentility and Rukia provided that without boring her to tears.
Or maybe she'd come to like the shinigami because of her appreciation for fireworks. Kukaku remembered the first time she'd shown Rukia one of their little pet projects. The usually sober purple eyes had sparkled like one of the firecrackers. She'd even volunteered to help set up the next project, she had been so excited.
Kukaku sighed. Or maybe it was the way Rukia's face lit up when she talked about Kaien. As strange as it might seem, Rukia was the one person whom she could talk to about her older brother without the usual wave of sadness overwhelming her. Talking about Kaien with Ganju always left her bitter and as for the rest…well, she never talked about Kaien with anyone else. Until Rukia. Rukia, whose sword had pierced the beating heart of her brother. Rukia, who brought her brother's dead body back that rainy night. Rukia, who grieved for Kaien maybe even just as much as Kukaku herself did.
She shook her head. Yes, the Kuchiki girl would have made a good sister-in-law. Truth be told, the only objections she really had against the union were not with Rukia herself, but with the Kuchiki clan in general—Byakuya and Sanada Kuchiki more specifically. A couple of more uptight pricks she'd never met. Granted that Byakuya did have his moments when he seemed to actually acknowledge and care for his sister's existence.
Moments which were too few and far in between!
Whenever she compared Byakuya as a Rukia's brother to Kaien who was a brother to her and Ganju, it never seemed to fail to piss her off.
And now this.
Damn!
She guessed she hadn't really known how much she had been looking forward to having the shinigami as a sister-in-law until this morning, when Yamamoto had let her know that it was now impossible.
"Ne, Kukaku!" Yoruichi's voice came through.
She snapped back to the present.
"Are you ever going to tell me what Yamamoto said this morning that was so interesting?" Yoruichi continued. "You looked a little lost there for awhile."
She looked at the yellow irises that stared curiously at her. "There's not going to be an engagement," Kukaku said tersely. "At least not between Rukia and Ganju. That's what Yamamoto came for this morning."
"Oh?" Yoruichi grinned. "What happened? You changed your mind? Or did Byakuya and the rest of 'em balk as soon as they found out about it? Oh, wait, wait! Is the engagement now between you and Byakuya?" she asked playfully.
Kukaku glared at her friend. "That's not even funny!" she exclaimed. "Or possible, either," she said under her breath.
Yoruichi laughed. "Well? Don't keep me in suspense!"
She shook her head. "It seems that Byakuya didn't know about any of this either," she stated. "Yamamoto was going to approach him this morning with my consent. In fact, I was supposed to go to Seireitei this morning."
"Okay, I'll bite," Yoruichi said. "What exactly happened? I thought it was a done deal?"
Kukaku closed her eyes. "It would have been," she replied, "if it had happened anytime before yesterday afternoon." Why, why, why did she put off agreeing to the proposal for so long?
"And what exactly happened yesterday afternoon?" Yoruichi demanded impatiently. "Damn, Kukaku! Getting information from you didn't used to be this hard."
Kukaku rubbed her temples and took another drink from her sake cup. "It seems that yesterday afternoon, Sanada Kuchiki arranged a betrothal between the adopted Rukia Kuchiki," she paused, her glittering eyes meeting Yoruichi's yellow ones, "and the twenty-eighth head of the Kuchiki noble family, Byakuya Kuchiki."
"…"
She gave Yoruichi a knowing look. "Yeah, that's exactly what I didn't say when Yamamoto first told me."
"…"
"Take your time," she said understandingly. "I know how you feel. I've been through it this morning, after all."
"…"
She grinned. "I must admit, I never thought I would be the one to bring such surprising news to the former head of the covert ops corps of Soul Society."
"…"
"I should actually mark this day because as little a time as you do spend in Soul Society, sometimes I think you know more about what's going on here than I do," Kukaku added. She sighed. Her friend still hadn't moved. "Ne, Yoruichi, I haven't rendered you speechless, have I? Because that would really be a day to mark on the calendar."
"You're not joking, are you?" Yoruichi finally said, her eyes suddenly turning serious.
She gave a near bitter laugh. "Does it look like I'm joking?" she queried edgily.
"No," she replied quietly. "It doesn't."
"God!" she exclaimed, thinking of her would-have-been sister-in-law. "What the hell was that idiot thinking? I would have understood it if it had been Ichigo. Even that other one…that tattooed freak would have made some sort of sense. But dammit all to hell! Byakuya Kuchiki?" She looked at Yoruichi in askance. "Tell me how that makes any sort of sense?"
"I'm sorry," Yoruichi said softly.
"What are you sorry for?" she asked sardonically.
"Kukaku," her friend said chidingly, "you can't hide it from me." Yoruichi gave her a knowing look. "Despite all your protests to Yamamoto, you know that you liked the thought of getting a little sister, another Shiba to add to your clan." She paused and took a deep breath. "What's more, you liked Kuchiki. You get a kick whenever you can get her to call you 'Kukaku-nee' instead of 'Kukaku-dono.'"
"What's that got to do with it?" she demanded belligerently. Trust Yoruichi to get to the heart of the matter.
Yoruichi sighed. "It has everything to do with it and you know it," she replied patiently.
Kukaku looked away. That was the problem with old friends. They think they know you through and through.
"Have you told Ganju, yet?" Yoruichi asked.
"Yeah," she replied frustrated. "I told him about the possibility of an engagement with Rukia a week ago, since that was when I had finally decided to agree to Yamamoto's plan." She gave a humorless laugh. "Ganju seemed apprehensive then. Almost scared, really," she said thoughtfully. "I knew he would do what I told him to, in spite of any doubts he might have; but I also knew that deep down, he could care for Rukia the way I do."
She looked at the door behind Yoruichi, as if she could almost see her brother beyond it and beyond her home. "I told him that he was off the hook this morning," she continued. "The idiot seemed relieved, to be honest." She spat. "That stupid ass."
"He was probably afraid of being beaten up by Ichigo or Renji," Yoruichi returned wryly. "Or even Byakuya, for that matter."
"I don't know what you mean," she said balefully.
"Don't be deliberately obtuse at this stage," Yoruichi admonished her. "You know that despite all appearances to the contrary, Byakuya gets a little testy when it comes to his…sister. Hrmmm…I'm not sure how appropriate it is for us to still call her that. Anyway, you also know as well as I do that Ichigo and Renji have been following Rukia Kuchiki around like lovesick puppies since before we even met them. I think the only one who hasn't noticed is Kuchiki herself, and she has her own issues to deal with." She shook her head. "Why those two haven't done a thing about it all these years is the big mystery." She slapped her forehead. "Dammit! Even Kisuke and I had a bet going between those two!"
"What!"
Yoruichi held her hands up in surrender. "It was cancelled as soon as you told me about your arrangement to marry off your brother to Kuchiki!"
"Che!" she muttered and mumbled a few words to herself.
"What was that you said?"
"I said, I had a bet going between those two, too, until Yamamoto came to me with his harebrained idea," Kukaku muttered. "Then I had to honorably withdraw due to what can be considered as insider information."
Yoruichi laughed. "I think most everyone in Soul Society had a stake in it!"
"Yeah, well, the way it's going, no one's going to win or lose," Kukaku returned, forlorn.
Her friend shrugged. "Who knows? It's probably better this way." She flinched at Kukaku's glare. "Better that she didn't pick either of them," Yoruichi explained, "not that she's marrying Byakuya." She tossed her hair over her shoulders. "Those three vice-captains are a pretty tight group. If Rukia married one of them, I think it would damage what they all have right now."
Kukaku nodded reluctantly. "My guess is Ichigo and Renji knew that deep down that's why there's been no action in that front." She looked at her friend speculatively. "Wonder what they think now?"
"Look on the bright side," she said. "At least they won't be beating Ganju up any time soon. Now what they plan to do with Byakuya…well…I'll leave that up to their imagination."
She grinned. "I hope they give him hell."
Yoruichi smiled back. "So do I," she said as she stretched. "I really should be going, though. I stayed longer than I had intended." She frowned. "Trust the General to ruin my perfectly good plans!" She looked at Kukaku. "Although now I understand why he stayed so long. I can't wait to tell Kisuke about this latest development."
Kukaku snorted. "Knowing him, he probably knew before we did."
She shook her head. "I'm pretty sure he didn't know about this when I left the real world this morning," she revealed as she stood up. "But who knows with that man sometimes?"
"Yeah," Kukaku said softly as she made the move to get up.
"You don't need to escort me," Yoruichi told her. "I know my way out."
She waved her off. "I need to get out anyway," she claimed, staggering a little as she pulled herself up. "Some fresh air might do me good."
Yoruichi chuckled. "It might at that," she commented. "How much had you imbibed before I got here?"
She shrugged her off. "This is nothing," she answered instead as she walked side by side the former second division captain. "You might want to put some clothes on, though, or turn back into a cat," she said before opening the sliding door that led out of the room. She smirked. "As much as you enjoy shocking people, I think my household might enjoy the show just a little bit too much."
Ganju saw her across the field and thought her a figment of his overactive imagination.
He'd been thinking about her this past week, so seeing her had almost been a natural progression from the state he was in. It had been too coincidental. So he had shaken his head to try to clear it, all the while urging Bonnie-chan along. By the time Bonnie-chan had gotten near her and he had realized that she was really there in the flesh, a paralyzing sense of uncertainty had overtaken him.
Was she here to say that she wasn't in fact engaged to her brother? Was she here to say that she was in fact free of obligations and could therefore accept an alliance with the Shibas?
"Ganju," she said his name quietly, her eyes twinkling. "Out for a ride with Bonnie-chan?"
Her eyes seemed…not disgusted. That could mean that she wasn't marrying him, right? Because if she somehow knew that she was going to be married to the likes of his own ugly mug, she would be a little more…sick, right?
"Ah," he replied, staring at her petite form. She was such a small shinigami—quite different from the murderous monster he had pictured a little less than a hundred years ago. But then, back in those days, it was really only her face he could remember clearly. "It's a good day for it."
She looked beyond him. "Where are your comrades?" she asked curiously. "I rarely see you without them these days."
If she knew she wasn't about to marry him, or if it were the case that she didn't even know she almost got engaged to him, then maybe…maybe she really was engaged to her brother!
"Che," he said, looking away. "They're around here somewhere." Where were those boneheads? "This early in the day, they could still be asleep." Which was true. A lot of his friends did not wake up until very much past noon.
She nodded and smiled. "I was about to say that it looks like you've been up for awhile," she observed. "Last night must have been uneventful."
"Nah," he gainsaid nervously. Wait a minute. Nervous? Him? Around this shinigami? Nah. "We did our usual thing. But Nee-san wanted to meet early this morning for—" He stopped himself. Just in time. Did he almost just blurt out the fact that his sister wanted to meet early with him so that they could meet up with the first division captain?
She tilted her head at his unfinished sentence.
He was a stupid moron.
"A family meeting," he improvised. "We have those once in awhile," he babbled. That sounded…plausible, right?
"Oh?" she commented, her eyes looking even more curious. "A family meeting, huh?"
Shit. When was he going to learn to keep his mouth shut?
"Yeah!" he said in mock-enthusiasm. "But it's all hush-hush, all secret, you know." He looked at her sheepishly. "Actually, I would even appreciate it if you didn't mention to Nee-san that I told you about it. She'd kick my ass for even talking about it!"
"Oh."
This time her comment sounded disappointed. She shrugged her shoulders.
"Are you here to see Nee-san?" he asked, veering away from the subject. "She was with Yoruichi-san awhile ago," he informed her. "I think—"
"I didn't even know that Yoruichi-san was in Soul Society today," she stated.
He shrugged. "She visits with Nee-san once in awhile," he revealed. "She doesn't usually stay long."
"I see," she said, looking beyond him now and towards the entrance to his sister's home.
What the hell did she see exactly? As he stared at those pretty eyes, he began to wonder—
Wait a damn minute.
Pretty eyes?
Since when the hell did he think her eyes were pretty?
He mentally slapped his forehead.
Actually, he knew exactly when he had first thought of those eyes as pretty. It had been last week, when his sister had told him of the arrangement she was agreeing to. Before that day, he hadn't seen this shinigami in any way, shape, or form in that light. After slowly being able to see her apart from the demon who had killed his brother, Rukia Kuchiki had fallen into the one-of-the-guys category. After all, it's not like she had Inoue's assets to help announce her femininity.
And half the time, she was beating up Ichigo and Renji! Something he and his friends often attempted to do whenever they saw those two.
And of course, there was the fact that if he even looked at Rukia in a certain way, he was damn sure Ichigo and Renji would notice. Which, of course, would not be a good thing for his continued existence in Soul Society.
Besides, he had no chance with her just like he had no chance with any woman. He had resigned himself to the fact that his ugliness was just too much of an impediment to any relationship with any woman. And so for the most part, he had seen women as unattainable creatures and therefore had trained himself quite well to ignore anything that might remotely lead to him to forming any sort of attachment.
For the most part, he had been successful.
Until that day when his sister had told him that Rukia Kuchiki was to be his wife.
That was when he had started to dream. And hope. And notice. He had dreamt of a normal family life. He had hoped for a happy wife and children. And he had noticed, for the first time, Rukia Kuchiki as something other than Ichigo's own dream.
Damn his sister to hell.
Damn her for opening his eyes.
Damn her for making him realize that all those things he had told himself he could do without, all those things he had told himself were useless, all those things that he had told himself were beyond his reach…damn her for making him realize that he wanted those things he could never have.
"Che," he muttered, looking across the fields beyond, away from the shinigami.
No use crying over spilt milk.
He felt the wind suddenly blow, carrying a cold chill in the air.
He watched from the corner of his eye as she shivered against those shinigami robes. He bit his tongue before he did or said something stupid like offer her his tattered vest.
"Nee-san should be inside," he said softly instead, encouraging her to seek the shelter of his home.
He looked at the shinigami before him. She held herself so still. Belatedly, he noticed the tension in her very frame. She looked like she was about to break.
She nodded. "I should head in then," she replied. No sooner were the words out of her mouth when her eyes lit up as she looked behind him.
He turned back and saw his sister along with Yoruichi-san approaching them. He smiled.
"Keeping Rukia company, eh, Ganju?" his sister remarked knowingly. Damn interfering woman! For once, just once, he'd like to get the better of her.
"Heh," he growled under his breath. "I'll leave her to you, Nee-san," he said as nonchalantly as he could before once more urging Bonnie-chan forward. He needed to get away from these women. He needed to find his friends. He needed…to forget this past week.
"Ne, you're not staying, Ganju?" his sister called out.
His mouth tightened into a grim little line before he forcefully relaxed it and turned back to face them. "Nah!" he replied back. "Got things to do." He gave them a wave before moving forward, past the shinigami who would have been his wife. He met the tentative smile that she threw him with a careless nod.
"It was good to see you, Ganju," she said politely before turning away to walk towards his sister and Yoruichi-san.
He shook his head and looked beyond the horizon as once again, in his seemingly long life, he began to convince himself that his clan, his friends, and Bonnie-chan were enough to make him the happiest man in Soul Society.
Kukaku watched her eyes when she first saw her talking so casually with her brother. If anything, they seemed even deeper than usual as if the added burdens and responsibilities were reflected back in those depths. She watched her brother next, noting the tenseness in his shoulders and the awkwardness in his form. The damn idiot looked so nervous, he didn't even bother to get off his boar when talking to the shinigami.
She sighed and met Yoruichi's observant gaze.
"I'll be going now," Yoruichi finally said, interrupting the silence that descended upon the three of them once Ganju had left. "It was good to see you, Rukia."
"Oh, but I hope you're not leaving on my account," Rukia protested, her eyes clearly wondering if she had interrupted a meeting.
"Of course not," Yoruichi denied. "I've already stayed longer than I had anticipated." The cat gave them one last look. "And I heard that congratulations are in order," she added before walking away. "Consider this my well-wishes."
Kukaku watched Rukia's body become even more still if that were possible.
"Ah," Rukia's voice replied towards the retreating cat. "Are you…going back to the real world?" she asked the feline.
"Soon," she called back. "I just need to make one more stop."
Kukaku grinned. "Don't cause too much trouble, Yoruichi!" she shouted, knowing full well where the former shinigami was heading. "Save some for me!" She found herself the recipient of Rukia's gaze after her remark. She felt her shoulder's droop a little at the shinigami's wary look. At Yoruichi's departure, Rukia seemed even more breakable.
"Finally came to visit me again, huh?" Kukaku asked the small woman. "I don't see you for over a couple of weeks and the next thing I know you're engaged?"
Rukia visibly winced and unconsciously held on to her sword for some comfort before looking away. "I hadn't realized that word would spread as far as Rukongai by this morning," she said defensively. "I was going to tell you," she said with a sheepish look. "I thought coming here would be better than sending a messenger."
"Damn right!"
"Besides," she said thoughtfully. "I wouldn't have known where to send the messenger. It took me awhile to find your home this time," she said quietly. "You move so much that I can't keep up sometimes." She smiled. "You're not trying to hide from me, are you?"
She harrumphed and debated the merits of punching the mouthy little chit or doing equally embarrassing acts that make both Ichigo and her brother cower in fear.
Debate hell!
She quickly pounced on the girl, pulling her into a chokehold using her mechanical arm while rubbing her fist against the neatly coiffed hair. Seeing Rukia all neat and proper and Kuchiki-like always left a sour taste in her mouth, so she often did her best to ruffle the girl. "I guess I should consider myself lucky, huh, that you actually even came to bring me the news at all!" she berated while trying to avoid the flailing arms before her. And in a way, although her tone belied otherwise, she did feel at least a little bit…hmm…what's the word?...Honored?...that the girl came by. There were no family ties to connect them, no friendship forged in battle, nor a division or team to have in common.
The only thing that had held them together, that had kept them talking to each other those first few years was grief and…love for the same man. Who would have thought she would find a kindred spirit in the shinigami who killed her brother?
"Kukaku-dono," her voice came quietly, filled with uncertainty, like that of a child. She had finally ceased struggling against her hold and was gracefully accepting the abuse Kukaku was intent on delivering.
This, to Kukaku, was no fun at all. What's the use of torturing someone if they're not resisting?
She let go of Rukia abruptly and stared as the shinigami unsuccessfully attempted to put some semblance of order in her now tangled mass of hair.
"What's with that wimpy look on your face?" she asked harshly.
"Eh?" Rukia's voice rose.
"I noticed it when you were talking to Ganju," she continued, her tone hard. "And now, you barely even put up a fight. If this is how you've been this past week, it's no wonder the Kuchikis were able to ride roughshod over you and convince you to get married within the space of what must have been minutes!"
The girl had the grace to blush at her comments while muttering under her breath.
"What was that?" Kukaku demanded.
Rukia looked at her reproachfully. "I said," her voice louder this time, "I don't have wimpy looks."
"Hah!" she contradicted. "Well, you could have fooled me and Yoruichi, for that matter. Don't think she didn't notice the same thing I did."
This shinigami vice-captain looked down on her feet.
And Kukaku punched her in the nose with her good arm. "See? There you go again!"
Rukia looked up, glaring at her with those purple eyes as she tried to stem the bleeding from her nose. "What's the big idea?" she garbled furiously, as she shook one fist against her.
Kukaku smiled then. "There's the Rukia I know," she declared loftily. "For awhile there I thought the Kuchikis had replaced her with a clone." She peered at her closely. "Although," she said suspiciously, "that could explain the whole fast engagement thing." She grabbed her friend's chin and lifted the face up for observation. "Who are you and what have you done to the real Rukia?"
"That's not funny, Kukaku-dono," she replied, twisting away. Her one hand was still pinching her nose as she continued to give Kukaku a dirty look.
"Damn," she said. "The blood's really gushing over there." Hmmm…maybe she did hit her a little harder than usual. "It's getting all over your uniform."
"You think?" Rukia asked in a sarcastic voice.
"Argh!" she groaned. "Let's get inside so I can give you some fresh towels." She yanked her towards the long flight of stairs that led down to her home. "If being engaged to Byakuya Kuchiki makes you this wimpy, I'm going to have to watch it every time I punch you by the time you get married!" she whined.
"Being engaged does not make me wimpy!" argued Rukia, quite inelegantly with her fingers still pinching her nose.
Kukaku grimaced at the nasal tone in her voice.
"And you shouldn't go around punching me in the first place," she continued indignantly. "Do I look like Ichigo or Ganju to you?"
She grinned and opened her mouth to respond.
"That's a rhetorical question!" inserted the petite woman, frowning as she did so.
She smirked and led her to one of the rooms and made her sit on the mat. A servant had already arrived with a basin of water and some wash cloths. "Here," she offered, handing Rukia a wet towel to help clean her face and hands. "It wouldn't do to have you return to Seireitei looking like a bloodied heroine."
Kukaku observed as Rukia took what was offered and began the tedious process of wiping the traces of blood on her face. The idiot had finally regained enough sense to use her demon arts to stop the bleeding. She shook her head. Kids these days get distracted so easily.
"Rukia," she said, drawing the shinigami's attention to her. "Next time I see you looking all wimpy, I'm going to do more than bloody your nose," she declared. "I'll beat you senseless as well so that I don't have to stare at those wimpy sad eyes."
She watched those eyes widen at her words before crinkling in a smile. "Kukaku-nee," she said quietly.
Surprised, Kukaku met the searching eyes of her unlikely friend.
Whatever Rukia was looking for, she must have found it because within seconds, Kukaku found herself in the embrace of the shivering girl. She smiled sadly before leaning down and touching her cheek against the top of the shinigami's head. "Everything will be alright, you know," she stated with a confidence she didn't feel. She ran her fingers down the hair she had previously ruffled.
Rukia nodded. "I'm glad," she said softly. "I'm glad that you'll be there to beat some sense into me when the time comes."
To be continued.
more author's notes: again, a huge THANK YOU to reviewers new and old for taking the time to let me know your thoughts on the story and expressing your interest in the plot. I'm very glad that y'all enjoy reading as much as I do writing this story. Til next time!