A Princess and her Father
Disclaimer: Standard disclaimers apply.
A/N: I dedicate this chapter to Sphinx who requested a flashback and to see Rukia as a Kyouraku princess. I'll do the princess bit first okay?
Shinōreijutsuin only holds classes 4 days a week, the other days are reserved for training. Most of the students from Seireitei would go home during this time while those from Rukongai would stay in the dorms while studying or practicing. Rukia however had obligations to her noble house. Her education in managing the household is an on-going process, with her maid recapping certain financial and infrastructural details even as she prepared for bed. She also attends a meeting with the clan head and the elders every week (she only wishes she can be as attentive to it as she is to her lessons in the Academy). She once tried to wriggle out of her obligations by saying that it's her child who will be the future head of clan, that and her grandfather and her uncle's bound to live for several hundreds if not thousands of years more so she felt it was useless to attend these meetings. Grandfather Ryuki merely replied that no one really knows what the future holds and as such the clan must be prepared for any eventuality. The short conversation was abruptly ended by a glare her grandmother Nadeshiko pinned her on.
During the days when Shinōreijutsuin does not hold classes, other than attending the important clan meetings, Rukia's lifestyle is vastly different from her normal days. For her it was three days of elaborate kimonos, practicing how to act, sit and talk and other lessons such as tea preparation, holding a tea ceremony, ikebana, haiku writing and a study of the Kyouraku clan's history.
Decades of tea preparation and tea ceremonies made Rukia sick of tea, but she knew it was a necessary evil, "a mark of a lady well bred", according to her grandmother. "I heard that the new Lady Kuchiki could not even prepare tea or pour tea without spilling drops. The old woman said scornfully. "Obaa-sama, it does not matter if she can pour tea or not. What's important is she can make her husband happy." Rukia admonished. "I'm sorry granddaughter, I'm not usually this bitter, but I can't bear to think of the honor that went to her that should have been for you. They've been married for three years now and she has yet to bear him a child." Nadeshiko replied. Rukia allowed a small smile to grace her face and understood what it was about, her grandmother merely wished to give her the best.
While Rukia does ikebana and poetry quite well, her calligraphy needs to be worked at. It has been several decades of merely legible calligraphy but still, her grandparents believe that she will be brilliant at it (the hopes of any grandparents it seems).
Rukia often found the history of the Kyouraku family interesting, once while she was curled up in her father's office at the Eight Squad she came upon a short entry that hinted that her great-great grandfather might not be the son of the clan head but a result of the affair of his wife with another man. She pointed this out to her father who merely nodded. "It's not the blood that makes a family, Ru-chan. Blood or not, if you will read between the lines of the next entry, he loved his son more than anything else in the world." Shunsui replied, as serious as Rukia ever saw him and held his daughter in an almost bone crunching hug. "Otou-sama, you're killing me…" Rukia said in a monotone voice.
"So sorry… Anyway shouldn't you be preparing for grandfather's birthday dinner? It would take your maids several hours just to do your hair." Shunsui replied bemusedly seeing the horror in Rukia's face before she hurriedly shunpoed home.