Hello everyone, I am sorry for the late update, I am still kind of sick :( Anyway, thank you for all your reviews, and for reading my sotry, I hope you enjoy this chapter, a lot of ByaRuki in it! WIII
I do not own Bleach, if I did there'll be a lot of ByaRuki action LOL
Have fun!
Byakuya let go of Rukia's hand reluctantly, for she finally fell asleep; it's been nine hours since Mayuri gave her the serum, nine hours of torture, one for each week she suffered in the past, including the recovery; only this time he witnessed every minute of it. Now it was finally over, but she was covered in her own sticky blood, and Byakuya's heart was heavy.
He rose and left the room looking for a servant, he found his Fukutaichou sleeping on the floor outside Rukia's room; Byakuya was not surprised, for he knew there was no way in the world Renji would have left her, not that night. He smiled faintly at him and went to talk to the servants.
Byakuya instructed them to replace Rukia's futon, and to prepare a room for Renji as well, after that he went back to Rukia's room and found her still asleep.
The sight of her lithe form covered in drying blood broke his heart all over again; he kneeled beside her and slipped his arms under her tired body; as the servants walked in with the new futon, Byakuya headed for his room, with Rukia securely cradled in his arms.
Once in his room he went straight to the bathroom, placed a still sleeping Rukia delicately on a chair and let the shower run until it was nice a warm; he then took her in his arms again, holding her close to his aching heart and stepped under the falling water.
Rukia stirred a little, but did not wake up; Byakuya held her against his body, his arms around her tiny waist and let the water wash them both. He did not move, he just stood there with her until the water did not stain the floor anymore; then turn off the water and moved to the tub.
Byakuya sat down and placed Rukia between his legs, her back against his chest and her head resting over his shoulder, he filled the tub with nice, warm water and added his own special sakura oil.
Rukia's body was exhausted, she just shifted against him and let out a loud, happy sigh; Byakuya smiled and kissed her wet raven locks, then he grabbed a wet cloth and started cleaning her face softly, and lovingly.
He was still wearing his shinigami uniform, except for the haori and his heirloom scarf, but she was wearing just a plain white yukata, which was light pink due to the blood stains; but the yukata was light, and now that it was wet it clung to Rukia's body like a second skin.
Byakuya was glad it did, because he could confirm she had no wounds on any part of her body…he also hated it, because it exalted everything that was beautiful, feminine and alluring about her too.
He sighed and cursed himself, how could he be thinking about how adorable and sexy she was in a moment like this? Has he gone out of his mind? She surely won't forgive him for the pain he caused her…he surely will not forgive himself.
He closed his eyes, and encircled her waist with an arm, while dropping the wet cloth into the water.
Then he felt her move again, and opened his eyes to find amazingly bright and warm indigo-violet ones looking back at him.
"N…Nii Sama?" her voice was deep and enticing as always, and it startled him a bit.
"Rukia…how are you feeling?" he ask warmly, looking intensely into those close eyes.
"I…I feel…tired…but…great" she replied a bit surprised, Byakuya let out a relieved sigh.
"I am glad, Rukia" he replied closing his eyes.
"…Nii Sama…why are we…what happened?" she asked frowning a bit, obviously confused, but she did not even try to separate herself from his embrace.
"I made a mistake, Rukia, an enormous one" he replied looking into her eyes again, and caressing her face tenderly.
"What is it, Nii Sama?" her eyes showed concern, and true devotion, it made him feel even guiltier.
"I asked Kurotsuchi Mayuri to give you a serum, which was supposed to emulate the ryoka woman's powers…in order to…exempt you form your wounds…" he has having trouble breathing now, she was looking so lovingly and innocently at him, his heart was pounding in his chest.
"Oh…thank you Nii Sama!" Byakuya placed a finger over her lips, silencing her, which shocked Rukia a bit.
"Rukia, do not thank me…It was a horrible mistake" Rukia did not understand, he was looking helpless and sad, and Rukia never saw Kuchiki Byakuya looking helpless before…ever.
"Nii Sama, why do you say that?" she asked frowning, while straighten up some in-between his legs.
"Because the serum works much like that woman's powers, it turns back time…and even though all your wounds are gone now, I forced you to pay an extraordinary price for that, a price you did not agree to pay" he lowered his head, making Rukia even more worry, she clenched the fronts of his robes, and tried to meet his eyes again.
"What do you mean, Nii Sama?" she asked fearfully.
"Because I decided to give you that serum, Rukia, you were forced to re-live your torture and hard recovery for the last nine hours" he stated looking into her eyes again, remorsefully.
Rukia widened her eyes, and her grip on his front robed tightened; she did not say anything for a long time, just stare into his grey misty orbs.
"Did you know how said serum worked?" she asked calmly, Byakuya just shook his head, averting his gaze from her.
Rukia hooked a finger under his chin, forcing him to look at her.
"Nii Sama…why did you do it?" he did not want to answer that question, he truly did not, he did not had the strength to do it; but she was looking at him with those eyes again, those eyes which had the strange power of making him feel…home, and safe. He could not lie to those eyes, and that's why he hardly ever looked at them, because against those eyes, he was powerless.
"Because those wounds reminded me of my failure, of my inability to protect you…that's why I hated to see them so" he replied honestly, making her eyes wide even more.
Rukia could not believe her ears, was it possible that he felt just as weak as she did? She felt something warm covering her heart, she felt him, and she felt close to him.
"I hated to see those wounds too, Nii Sama…they reminded me of my own weakness, they made me feel useless" she felt his arms around her waist tightening, drawing her closer.
"You are not weak, and you are certainly not useless, Rukia" she blushed, his ice wall was melting, his mask was falling to pieces in front of her, but Byakuya just could not seem to care, not anymore.
"W…Where you…by my side, Nii Sama?" she asked shyly.
"Of course I was" he replied sweetly, caressing her cheek; she smiled and leaned on his shoulder, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Rukia…I know I do not deserve it but…could you ever forgive me?" he asked while holding her tight against his chest.
"I whish for you to believe me this time, Nii Sama…I do, I really do" she then disentangled her arms from around his neck, and lifted herself a bit to plant a soft, forgiving kiss on Byakuya's cheek.
Byakuya's heart felt like exploding in his chest, he felt happy, truly happy for the first time in years. She forgave him, she kissed him, she was still with him.
"Arigatou, Rukia" said Byakuya faintly, as she leaned back against his chest again.
Rukia smiled, it was all so strange, but she could not even begin to process what was going on, all she knew was that she was being held by Byakuya, she was resting against his hard chest, encircled by his arms soaked in warm, comforting water, which also smell like sweet sakura. She was happy, but she was also tired. Slowly, she drifted off to sleep again, a big smile on her face, and a delicious feeling of being loved inside her heart. Byakuya cared, he cared for her.
Kuchiki Byakuya woke up upon hearing his Fukutaichou's loud laugh; he sighed and rolled over on the bed, still exhausted. Then he heard Rukia's laugh and it all came back to him.
The nine hours he spent by her side, the shower he took with her, the tub... their closeness... he let his guard down, and got dangerously close to her, he wanted to kick himself.
He should have left the servants wash her clean and put her to bed, why did he do all that? How could he act to impulsively? Now it would be most awkward to be around her, now he was going to build his ice wall again.
But why? Did he not want this? To be closer to her? Of course he did, only not this much, he felt overexposed and did not like it one bit.
It was already dark outside, but Rukia woke up just half an hour ago, when Renji entered her room; now she was sitting on her futon, with Renji in front of her.
"And when I told Ikkaku I was leaving for the human world to contact Ichigo, Zaraki Taichou jumped at me and asked if he could come too to kick Ichigo's ass" told a loud and overexcited Renji, making Rukia laugh.
"Oh, kami, he is going to be in so much trouble if Zaraki Taichou ever finds him again!" replied Rukia
"He'll be fucked, the man's been talking about a return match for ages" Renji laughed harder, but suddenly Rukia averted her gaze and stopped laughing.
"Renji... how do you think they are... do you think they are going to help us?" ask Rukia thoughtfully.
"I don't know... I am not sure if they have any powers left" commented Renji, while Rukia sighed.
"Yeah, I know" she replied faintly.
"Oi, Rukia... do you miss him?" asked Renji examining her carefully, she smiled a bit.
"No, I... not anymore" she averted her eyes, and Renji could not decipher her expression, for she was not telling the truth... but she was not lying either. Renji frowned.
"What's really on your mind?" asked Renji.
"He... do you think he is still with Inoue?" Renji rolled his eyes.
"He was last time I was down there, two months ago... why do you ask?" replied Renji with a teasing grin, which enraged Rukia.
"Oi, don't look at me like that, you stupid pineapple, it's nothing like that it's just that..." she stopped scolding him and looked away again, now Renji was intrigued.
"Hey, this is really not about him, isn't it?" he asked frowning.
"No" replied Rukia sighing.
"Rukia, tell me I... I won't tell anyone, you know I won't" she turned to look at him, his expression was so true it really convinced her, of course she could trust Renji... she will always trust him no matter what. She took a deep breath.
"You know...back in Hueco Mundo while... while they were torturing me, Ulquiorra mentioned her... even though I can't remember exactly what he said I... I have a funny feeling about this" Rukia lowered her head, and Renji frown deepened.
"Rukia, when we get there... do not trust any of them, five years may be nothing for us, but for mortals it is a long time, and people... change" said Renji looking away as well. Rukia took this opportunity to break the heavy atmosphere and tease her long time friend a bit.
"I guess you are right, Renji... people can change a lot in five years... Oh, by the way! How is Shuuhei this days?" her tone was mocking, and her mischievous grin made Renji even madder.
"Oi, why do you have to tease me about it? it's not a sin to fall in love, you know?" shouted a much insulted Renji.
"Yeah, but it should be a sin to be so damn stupid it took you more than 150 years to find out you are gay, pineapple!" Rukia shouted back, jumping off her bed.
"I am not really gay anyway, it's not like I like men in general, I just like Shuuhei!" yelled Renji waving a fist in front of Rukia's face.
"Oh right! So you are not gay, but you are in love with a man... excuse me, how are you NOT gay again?" asked Rukia mockingly.
"Keep it quiet would ya? I don't want Taichou to find out about me and Shuuhei" said Renji lowering his voice.
"What... you want Nii Sama to think you are available?...DO YOU WANT TO SEDUCE NII SAMA?" yelled Rukia to a much tormented and blushing Renji, obviously having the time of her life teasing her friend.
"I DO NOT WANT TO SEDUCE TAICHOU! Tch, the man has a giant stick up his ass already, I can't see how I could fit anything else in there" commented Renji with an evil grin, but Rukia was raging, how dare that stupid baboon imply her strong and beloved Nii Sama would be the uke in a gay relationship.
"Is that so, Abarai?" a low baritone voice startled them both.
"T...Taichou!"
"Nii Sama!" Renji and Rukia yelled at the same time.
"Good evening Rukia, how are you feeling" asked Byakuya while approaching her.
"G...Good, Nii Sama" she replied smiling, but he nodded and looked away coldly.
"If you are finish discussing your perverted sex life with my sister, I have some important matters to discuss with you, Abarai" Byakuya was giving Renji his famous deadly glare, and the Fukutaichou's cheeks matched his hair perfectly by now.
"H...Hai Taichou" muttered Renji lowering his head.
"Follow me, then" he turned around and walked to the door without even saying goodbye to Rukia, who was looking at him very surprised.
She kept staring at the door long after they were gone. Was it a dream? Being so close to Byakuya, inside his arms, just the two of them in the bath tub? Was that loving and tender Byakuya just a product of her imagination? Seeing how coldly he acted towards her a few minutes ago, Rukia did not know...maybe it was all a dream; she wish it wasn't thouhg, but she had to admit it... it was almost too good to be true.
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