I apologize for the late update... I've been busy, this winter break. I've also been incredibly lazy. I haven't felt inspiration too... but now I have it! xD
Thanks for all the reviews! I know it's kind of late, but Merry Christmas! :D
So I'm going to try to start writing even longer chapters, so I hope you all like that. I can't make any promises, though, because I'm so freaking lazy xP But, I'll try! :D
Oh and if any of you read the author's note in the last chapter (I know some of you did), I got accepted into that school I was talking about! :DDD So I'm excited and very happy!
Oh and I forgot to say this in the last chapter, but thank you tokiko76 for the picture! :D
Hmm, well I don't have much else to say, but... Have a Happy New Year! :D It's kind weird to think that I won't be updating this until next year xD But in a week it will be 2011, so this won't be updated until next year! xD
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.
In truth, Byakuya would be considered a workaholic by most. He loved to work, to put it simply. He enjoyed the fact that he could be of use somewhere, and that somewhere just happened to be his job.
Maybe it was nailed into his head at a young age, just like his cousins. He had been taking business classes from a young age, so maybe fanatically working was intended to become like second nature to him. Either way, he didn't care.
And that is why as of right now, he was frustrated. He was forced to take vacation days because he refused to. His father made him take a week off of work to relax and enjoy himself. This only left Byakuya frustrated and cranky.
In the backyard, there was a patio, a lounge, you could say. It overlooked the gardens, and even a small pool. The gardens had every plant you could imagine; exotics ones, to even the most common of plants, such as rose bushes.
And this was where Byakuya currently was.
Tanning was never his thing, but he paid no mind to it as he laid in the lawn chair, basking in the sunlight that shone down upon his pale chest. His white dress shirt was open, exposing only his chest, letting the sunlight hit him.
Rukia was next to him, and every once in a while, she would sneak a few glances at his chest. Luckily for her, he was wearing a pair of sunglasses to block his vision from the blinding, harsh sunlight. And so, he wouldn't be able to catch her gawking at him.
"Is there something you want, Rukia?" His voice broke out of the blue.
She shrunk back slightly, embarrassed that he had noticed her longing stares. "U-uh, n-no, there isn't!" She looked down and fiddled with the bottom of her skirt as she tried to avoid any stare he may of sent her way.
He smirked, reaching over for the glass that was set beside him on a small table. "Don't be afraid to look. I'm all yours, you know." He lowered his tone in case someone was listening in on them.
"O-oh, okay..." Her face warmed up as she took in his words. They kept repeating in her head, over and over.
I'm yours,
I'm yours,
I'm yours,
Rukia shook her head, mentally trying to rid herself of the words that she found so entrancing in their own, special way. They sat in silence for a few minutes, boredom seeping into the both of them as the sun's light was starting to grate on both of their nerves.
One of the things that they had in common was that they both had a short temper. Byakuya kept his cool, but if you kept prodding him, his facade would slowly start to fade away and be replaced with a side of Byakuya that's rarely seen.
As for Rukia, she had a bad temper around certain people. For those who irritated the petite girl, her temper was more likely to come out and teach them who's boss. But as for certain people (namely Byakuya), she learned to control it, and didn't even dare let that side of her be known to those precious people.
With that sense of boredom present and fresh inside of him, Byakuya, in just a short amount of time, already had an idea making itself known inside his mind. He had been pondering over this idea for a couple days now, but he wasn't sure of it until now.
It was perfect since he had the day off (actually the whole week), but he also wanted to do something nice for his little maid. And he was never going to tell her this, but he was bored, so he wanted something to do.
"Rukia, come with me up to my room. We're going some where." He took a sip of his ice tea before promptly standing up. He buttoned his shirt up, much to her disappointment, and began to walk out the door.
In just a few short minutes, they were already up in his room. She was told to wait outside of his door, to which she curiously wondered why, as he had always let her join him in his bedroom.
The door opened slightly, her body suddenly wanting to move on its own, reached out and grabbed the knob, and turned it so that the door would open more.
Byakuya stood, adorning a black suit, his hair slicked back, and a hand in his pocket, an aloof expression present on his face, a face that looked like it was marbled from the Gods themselves.
He looked beautiful, even though he was a man.
"Rukia, let us leave now." He commanded in a strong, yet soft voice, the sound reminding her that he was of regal status compared to her.
She was baffled, but she didn't question what he had planned for them, as she knew that whatever he was concocting would be (hopefully) fun or exciting. And so, she followed him, a voice in her head nagging her to ask him where they were going the whole time, but she ignored its banter and focused on staring at his clothed back.
The pitter patter of their feet against the rug adorned hard wood floor echoed around them in the large, spacious hallway, the silence between them comfortable, yet the feeling of uncertainty and ignorance was what kept her weighed down, almost to the point where she was even lagging behind him.
Byakuya, with one fluid look over his shoulder, noticed her slowing down, but he didn't stop, he continued on his way. He knew that she would catch up eventually.
And like always, he was right: she had caught up after she had decided to try to ignore the negative emotions that ran through her like the blood in her veins.
"Byakuya, where are you going with your maid?"
The pair turned, their eyes met with Byakuya's stoic Grandfather, Ginrei. He stood with a cane in his hand -an elegant cane at that- but it appeared that he had no need for it, as he stood up perfectly straight.
With the same ease and elegance he always displays, no matter what the situation (except during sex, then he turns into an animal), Byakuya parted his thin lips, "Rukia isn't feeling well. She's been feeling like this since yesterday," he explained. "I'm going to take her to the doctor to get her a check up." He moved towards a large closet that was near the front door, leaving Rukia to stand in front of Ginrei alone. She coughed a little bit to add to her master's explanation.
The elderly man raised an eyebrow, scrutinizing Rukia in a blatantly obvious way. Byakuya came back in no time with two coats, one for Rukia, and one for himself.
"Put this on, Rukia." He handed her one, their fingers brushing against each other for a brief second. She looked up at him as he was putting on his black coat.
She had always admired him for being able to keep his cool, especially around other Kuchiki clan members. They were always such a pain, but maybe that was just because she was nothing more than a maid, not an actual member, that was treated like one of them.
Putting on her coat in front of Ginrei felt uncomfortable, as she could feel his unnerving gaze on her the entire time it took her to put the coat on. She buttoned it up, making sure to look down, her hands fumbling on the buttons a little, but she had it buttoned up in no time.
"Would that be all, Grandfather?" He inquired, buttoning his own coat up as well. With a jingling sound coming from it, he slipped some keys into his pocket and put his hand in it too.
The elder Kuchiki remained the same. Passive. "Yes, that will be all..." His voice trailed off as if he wasn't quite sure. Without another word (but he was sure to give another glance at Rukia), he turned around and left the two alone once more.
Seeing that he was gone, Byakuya grabbed the petite girl's hand and lead her to the door, opening it and holding it open for her, like the true gentleman he was.
His black Chrysler 300 was out on the driveway already. He went to the drivers side and opened the door, wasting no time in getting in the car to start it. Rukia walked a bit slower, however, admiring the prestige of his car.
What surprised her the most was that when he got in the car, she couldn't see him through the windows. She opened the door, the new car smell immediately invading her nostrils as she climbed in.
The first thing she did, being the responsible person she was, was buckling her seat belt. She looked over to Byakuya and saw that he had his strapped in, too. She smiled in relief. She would be devastated if he died in a car accident, just because he didn't wear his seat belt. But seeing as he did made her feel better, knowing that he was a safe and responsible driver.
He turned the key in the ignition, his foot on the gas peddle, and slowly drove out of the circular driveway, heading on to a gravel road.
The Kuchiki manor was on the outskirts of Tokyo, where farmland lay. They resided by a small village, but they still lived in the Tokyo district. They needed a large amount of land for their manor, which they could afford.
The ride was bumpy. The dark-haired girl found herself being sprung up and down because of the gravel road. She grabbed on to the handle on the door to keep herself steady. She caught Byakuya smirking at her in the rear view mirror, which annoyed her greatly. He got pleasure from her discomfort!
She rolled her eyes and brought her attention to outside the window. She watched as fields and a few trees went by. She wasn't used to being in a car, so watching everything fly by like that was a little bit of a wake up call.
Soon enough they were on a highway. Watching other cars go by was amusing to her. Some went faster than them, others went slower, and some were even at the same speed as they were. To her, observing things was fascinating.
Buildings, many buildings were in view as they got off the highway and were at a stoplight. So many people were walking by, it was hard to drive through.
Hundreds- No, thousands of people were walking on the sidewalks, across the intersection, going into buildings, and doing so much more, she had never seen so many people.
She had never been to Tokyo herself, but she had been to other places such as Kyoto and Osaka. She had even been to small towns like Karakura.
He started to pull over to a vacant spot on the side of the road, now unable to get through the thousands of walking people. Driving in this part of Tokyo wasn't very common, as many people preferred to bike or take the bus.
But in other parts such as the Nishitama District, was very mountainous, so it was easier to drive through because not as many people were there.
Byakuya started to get out of the car, so Rukia did the same. She was in a hurry to unbuckle herself, her fingers shaking with excitement as she had to try to unbuckle herself a few times.
Byakuya waited as she tried to unbuckle herself, and soon grew impatient from waiting. He opened the door, causing her to jump and look at him. He leaned into her and pushed down on the button, effectively unbuckling her.
Her face flushed from the proximity of each other in public, but she got out when he pulled away. He took out his car remote and locked his vehicle before he started to lead them down the sidewalk, having to side step many people walking by them.
Rukia felt something touch her hand, and was surprised that Byakuya had taken a hold of it. He squeezed it gently as they walked. Feeling safe and comfortable to do this, Rukia grabbed a hold of his whole arm and clung to it, her face still flushed.
She really was enjoying this, even though she didn't know where they were going.
She received many strange looks from people, though, but others smiled, thinking she was cosplaying a maid, not knowing that she really was the maid to the man on her left.
They turned a corner, and Rukia began to keep walking forward, but was pulled to the left and in front of what looked like a store. The windows were tinted black, just like Byakuya's car, so she couldn't tell what was inside.
There was no sign of a name of the store anywhere as well. He opened the door, allowing her to go in first ahead of him.
A sharp gasp from Rukia made the employee look from her desk.
They were in what looked like a highly expensive store, as some of the most beautiful dresses that Rukia had ever seen were in front of her.
Byakuya wrapped a hand around her waist, his mouth next to her ear as he bent down. "Take your pick of any dress, Rukia."
The next chapter shall be longer! I'm going to try something new, where I work on it a bit each day, so I will try to make the next one longer. I feel so bad for this short chapter, so it's the least I can do. Dx
And I'm really sorry for the late update, so I hope you can forgive me T_T But I hoped you enjoyed this chapter... Things shall be getting even more interesting soon~
Well, please r&r! :D