A.N.: Alright, folks! :D You may be asking yourselves why fluffymushrooms hasn't posted a new chapter for forever (has she forgotten about this story?! *gasps*). But no, I have not in fact forgotten about Fireworks (or No Regrets, for that matter). I have merely been busy. Very busy, I might add. My classes this term are extra difficult and require much of my time... which means I don't get very much breaks during the week, not even on weekends, because I have to study. As such, I haven't had a lot of time to write up new chapters for both my fics. So sorry about that, but I try hard to continue posting regularly, as I know there are many (I think!) of you who enjoy reading my works.
On a side note, I would like to dedicate this chapter to a classmate of mine who passed away over the summer because of cancer (she seemed so healthy, too... even able to spar with my other classmate. I would never have guessed that she was so ill). I actually just found out about this today and although I didn't know her very well (I had spoken to her several times during the classes we shared), it was still an unpleasant surprise to find out that she is no longer here anymore. So, to M: I wish that wherever you are, you will be happy and at peace.
Thanks to all of you who reviewed (BunnyMarshmallow, PAMILA DE CASTRO, Crystal-Clear Hope, poopgod, Mrs. KiBum Kim, MitsurugiChire, tuberose, mochiusagi, snowflowersister of toshiro241, ra7matigorti2, Nyanmaru94, I-Got-A-Quil, Guest, RagelvlitsOver900, and Kaotic Krystal), viewed, favorited, and followed. I appreciate your patience with this poor, overworked author here.
Fluffymushrooms presents to you Chapter 20 or Fireworks.
Disclaimers: Bleach belongs to Kubo Tite, but I own everything here which is not found in the Bleach universe.
Rukia lay stretched out on her stomach upon a few blankets with several medics from the Fourth Division and Orihime hovering next to her. Byakuya stood quietly observant to the side.
What was wrong with her? How long had those veins been etched into her back? Why were they there? What was that strange, faint reiatsu? Why had her body rejected Orihime's healing? It all made no sense. He had never come across anything like this in his whole life. His eyes took in Rukia's prone frame.
The medics had put her to sleep as they proceeded with their healing. Her eyes were closed, her long eyelashes resting against her soft cheeks. She looked so peaceful, so calm, so... weak.
Weak.
Seeing Rukia laying like this while she received treatment jolted another memory back to the surface of Byakuya's mind, one which he often tried to bury within his heart.
Hisana. Hisana lying ill and helpless upon her death bed.
Byakuya mentally shook his head. No, this wasn't Hisana dying; it was Rukia receiving treatment. After the Fourth Division healed her, Rukia would be fine. She would wake up like her usual, cheery self, blushing sweetly at him. She was never ill or sickly as Hisana had been, so she would be fine.
"Byakuya, do you think Rukia will be okay?" Ichigo's voice echoed his thoughts. Byakuya turned to look at the boy, who had moved to stand next to him.
"I do not know," he forced himself to reply. Ichigo's expressive, worried eyes focused on the medical team.
"It's weird how Inoue was rejected by Rukia's body," the boy said. "I just don't understand. Even when she dealt with really severe injuries, she was never rejected in that way." Byakuya remained silent.
"Kuchiki-taicho." A medic approached them, his head bowed respectfully. "We've found the source of the veins."
"Eliminate it," Byakuya ordered. Yet, at the same time Ichigo asked, "What is it?"
"Kuchiki-taicho, we are removing it as best as we can right now." The medic nodded toward Ichigo. "We found a narrow, sharp object just under the surface of her back. All the veins have been spreading outward from that structure."
"A narrow, sharp object?" Byakuya repeated, confused. How had something like that penetrated her back without her knowing?
"Hai, Kuchiki-taicho. From our understanding, it might resemble a long, human nail once it's pulled out." He frowned. How had Rukia gotten a nail inside her body? A long, human nail...
A long nail.
Byakuya froze, realization striking him like a ton of bricks. He knew where the nail had come from.
The Shadow.
"Where is the nail on your index finger?" He blocked a blow from a chain.
"Somewhere," the Shadow replied simply.
The Shadow straightened, pressing the bloody stumps of his hand and fingers into his robes. Flames erupted where he stood, engulfing his entire figure.
"You really are a nuisance," the Shadow spoke. "But no matter, it will be worth the wait..."
"A ripe fruit always tastes better."
Numbness spread through Byakuya's hands as he struggled to prevent his thoughts from overwhelming him.
What was going on? He flashed back upon another incident.
Byakuya aimed a stab at the man, but hit chains. His opponent leaped further away and raised his index finger.
He was missing a finger nail.
The man laughed again, "Just showing you."
Byakuya stared at the medics gathered about Rukia, coldness sweeping through his entire body at the flood of memories.
What was happening?
"The Great Kuchiki Byakuya. Captain of the Sixth Division. Head of the renowned Kuchiki Clan..."
"... can't even protect what is important to him."
Rukia had fought so many times with that entity, many of those times wound up with her being injured. The Shadow must have plunged his nail into her during one of those encounters. Byakuya struggled to recall an outstanding incident when the Shadow might have placed his nail inside her. Then he remembered.
Rukia had just given him her lap desk. His phone had rung, signifying that there was a Hollow nearby. When they had got to the site, Rukia had gone ahead first, saying that she wanted to take out the Hollow. And she did. He remembered being proud of her as he watched her run back to him...
Then she had unexpectedly fallen. Fallen even though there was nothing that could have tripped her. Immediately afterward, the Shadow appeared. Suddenly, everything began to make sense to Byakuya, like the neatly fitted pieces of a cursed puzzle. He remembered her curled up on the ground outside the Kurosakis' front garden, writhing in pain,
Rukia had never experienced pain like that before that incident with the Shadow, had she? He confirmed this by searching through his memories. She had only felt such unexplainable agony after she had fallen to the ground that day. Her pain and the nail imbedded in her back were interrelated. The veins had been slowly growing during all this time... Byakuya subtly clenched his hands into fists at his sides.
What have I done?
He should have watched over Rukia more carefully, then none of this would have happened. It wasn't even as if he hadn't been by her side all this time- he was. If he hadn't been so preoccupied with his paperwork and his then-unwanted feelings toward her, Rukia would have been well and happy right now. He had been too negligent with her safety and now she had paid the price. He should never have allowed her to undertake this mission.
Until now, Byakuya had never been so utterly disgusted with himself since Rukia's execution. Even during that time he had behaved shamefully toward her. It seemed that he was always wronging her in some way or another. And here he said he wanted to marry her...
Would Rukia even want to marry him after this? Byakuya was not so certain anymore. It was his fault that he allowed her to become like this. She had forgiven him over her execution then, but would she want to forgive him a second time? Twice was surely too much to ask for, right? He would not even be so lenient on himself.
"Hey, what's going on? Is Rukia alright?" Ichigo suddenly said. Byakuya noticed that the boy had gone to stand closer to the medics, who were speaking hurriedly to one another.
"It is a little difficult to extract the object from her back, but we are trying our best." One of the medics smiled placatingly.
"O—Oh... I see." Ichigo and Byakuya watched as a medic carefully inserted a tweezers into Rukia's back, attempting to remove the nail.
A horrible, strangled scream burst out from Rukia's mouth and her small frame lurched in agony as her eyes flew open. Blood spewed out of her mouth, staining Orihime's floor scarlet. Without thinking, Byakuya knelt by her side, pulling her away from the stunned medics and into his arms.
"Rukia?" he asked.
Ichigo shook her a little. "Rukia, are you awake? Are you okay?"
"I—It hurts..." she whimpered softly, collapsed against his chest. "I... d—don't know why... why this happened..."
A medic spoke up hastily, "Kuchiki-taicho, we will try again using another method-"
"No." Who knew what would happen if the medics tried something else? They were almost killing Rukia already...
"No, Byakuya," Rukia broke in and the medics looked confusedly at each other, perplexed by her casual usage of his name. "Let them try again. Maybe it will work this time. We need to try again, right?" She gave him a weak smile.
"Rukia-sama should not be left in this state, since we don't know how the veins are effecting her body. We promise to be extra cautious while treating her," the medic assured.
"Byakuya, just let them have another go. We have to try," Ichigo said. Byakuya closed his eyes in resignation. They were right.
"Very well," he assented. Gently laying Rukia back down on the blankets, he stepped away and the medics crowded around her again.
"We will try to dissolve the object from inside her body this time, without using tweezers to pull it out. We will not need to you anesthetics because it will not hurt at all, since we will not be intruding into her body." As the medic spoke, Byakuya wondered why they had not tried that in the first place.
A green glow was projected over Rukia's back. He watched over the healing process carefully, waiting for the black veins to diminish slowly. It seemed like eternity, standing there anxiously unable to do anything.
Suddenly, there was a loud sizzling sound and yells escaped from the medics as they writhed in pain, clutching at their hands. Byakuya clearly saw the charred bottoms of their palms.
"What? What happened?" Ichigo asked. "Why-"
"The veins..." a medic gasped. "... they've burned us."
"Rukia?" Byakuya returned to Rukia's side, lifting her up slightly. She made no response, slumping limply again his arms. She had fainted during the treatment.
"The hell is going on? I don't understand..." Ichigo turned to look at Rukia.
"Kuchiki-san? Are you okay?" Orihime crawled over to have a better look.
"She is unconscious." Byakuya withdrew his phone and punched in a number.
"K—Kuchiki-taicho? Is the healing proceeding well-"
"Isane Kotetsu, send another team of medics to Inoue Orihime's residence."
"O—Oh, hai, Kuchiki-taichou! Has something gone wrong-"
"Also, if Unohana Retsu could spare some time to come, I would appreciate it." Byakuya ended the call abruptly.
"Will they be coming soon?" Ichigo was trying to help Orihime heal a medic's hands using kido, but was failing miserably. Ichigo would be forever deficient in things like this.
It was at times like these that he wondered how he was able to preserve that emotionless mask when his heart was thumping so hard.
When he was fearful.
He hardly needed to feel fear. In fact, he had not even recognized it the last time he had felt that terrible, numbing sensation. But now... now Byakuya knew that the coldness sweeping through his gut was fear.
Fear for Rukia.
Never before had Byakuya seen a case where a patient's body so vehemently rejected healing; this was his first time. And it had to be Rukia, who deserved none of this. If he could, he would instantly swap places with her, just so that he could have the peace of mind knowing that she was safe and healthy. But unfortunately, that wasn't possible.
At that moment, the window slid open and another team of medics swarmed into the room. Behind them, Unohana and Isane stepped in.
"Kuchiki-taicho, there have been complications with the healing, I presume?" The sweet-looking woman glanced at Rukia, who lay motionless in Byakuya's arms. He nodded.
"Isane, help with the other injured medics." Byakuya transferred Rukia to Unohana, who laid her back down on the blankets. She ran a hand over the veins.
"I have never seen something like this before," she murmured. "Do you know when this started?"
"A few weeks ago," he answered. "I believe she had been secretly attacked by the Shadow."
"I see." A warm glow was emitted from Unohana's hand. "Has it gotten worse?"
"That I do not know." Byakuya's eyes drifted to the woman's hand. "What is this?"
"I am trying a different method, seeing that the medics have done all that they can."
"No. That will not be necessary." He was not about to have anyone else hurt Rukia anymore, not even if it was Unohana.
"Kuchiki-taicho, Rukia-san will not be hurt by this procedure." Unohana smiled sweetly. Suddenly, her reiatsu turned fearsome as she continued to smile deceptively at him. "Allow me to heal her." Byakuya found himself nodding unwillingly. The woman's frightening reiatsu relaxed.
"Thank you," she said in her deceivingly mincing tone.
Several minutes passed, though it seemed like forever to Byakuya. He continuously, but discreetly checked if the veins on Rukia's back were beginning to disappear, yet they nevertheless remained, marring her milky white skin. Finally, Unohana removed her hand, shaking her head.
"It is not working; her body is rejecting the healing for some reason. However..." The mild blue eyes focused on him. "I detected a foreign reiatsu mixing with Rukia-san's own. I am sure you are aware of this?"
"I understand that the Shadow drove a fingernail into her back. The reason, I am not certain of."
"I see." She looked away. "But as of the moment, I cannot do anything for Rukia. We will have to wait and see-"
"No." Byakuya took out his phone and flipped it open. "I will call the Zero Division-" Unohana snapped the phone shut, stopping him.
"Kuchiki-taicho, do you really think that they will do anything for her? They have to be ordered by the Soul King before they lend a hand to us."
A pause. "Very well." Byakuya quietly rose from his seat on the floor and walked over to the window, opening it.
"Byakuya, where are you going?" Ichigo asked, also rising. "Shouldn't you be with Rukia?"
"I am leaving to request an audience with the Soul King," Byakuya replied simply as he placed one foot on the windowsill, prepared to leap off.
"Kuchiki-taicho, stop this." Unohana's voice was sharp, unlike her normal self. "The Soul King will not casually grant an audience like this, not even for you." Byakuya hesitated, but did not turn around.
"You may be his esteemed relative, but you are mistaken to think that he will easily allow the Zero Division to leave their barracks over Rukia. Remember, the Zero Division did not come until Soul Society was virtually destroyed and you were almost dead." Unohana shook her head. "Rukia-san's situation is insignificant compared to all that-"
"No." Byakuya cast a glance at the other captain, his voice cold. "Her condition is not insignificant." Rukia was more significant than everything in Soul Society.
"That is not what I meant, Kuchiki-taicho," Unohana answered firmly. "If you request an audience perhaps the Zero Division will sympathize with you, but the King will not. There is no point going there, knowing his decision." Byakuya remained still at the window.
"Remember, Kuchiki-taicho, the King did not lend a hand to help us when we were besieged," she pressed. "It is too risky for him to allow the Zero Division to leave his side for a mere girl-"
"Leave." Unohana's eyes widened at the chilly hostility in his voice.
"If you can do nothing for Rukia, then it is not necessary for you to remain here." Byakuya did not bother to turn around. She closed her eyes and sighed, preparing to leave the house. Then her observant gaze flitted over Rukia and she knelt beside the unconscious girl.
"Kuchiki-taicho, Rukia-san is engaged?" Unohana delicately picked up Rukia's hand, the ring glittering on her small finger. Her eyes darted quickly from him to Ichigo, then back to him. Ichigo opened his mouth, about to clarify the situation, but-
"Yes, she is."
A flash of understanding passed through Unohana's eyes. "I was not aware of this," she said, placing Rukia's hand back by her side. "Congratulations... Kuchiki-taicho. Isane?" Unohana turned to her lieutenant, who seemed dumbstruck by the news. "Let's return to Soul Society."
"Hai, Taicho!"
As Isane began herding the medics out of the other window, Unohana smiled. "Kuchiki-taicho, Isane and I would like very much to be invited to the wedding." When he said nothing, she gave a nod to Ichigo and jumped out the window. Once she had gone, the boy and Orihime hurried over to Rukia's side.
"Rukia? Rukia?" Byakuya listened as he shook her. "Are you awake? Rukia?"
"Kuchiki-san? Please wake up."
Byakuya gazed out of the window at the quiet street, turning over everything that happened in the last two hours in his mind.
So even Unohana Retsu could not cure Rukia.
He had behaved rashly, thinking that the Zero Division would come to his aid. That wouldn't be possible; he knew that from first hand experience. His fingers curled into a tight fist inside his sleeves, his nails biting into the flesh of his palms.
There is only one thing left to do to save her.
"Byakuya, we'd better bring Rukia back home," Ichigo said, propping her up into a sitting position. "She can't stay here the whole night." Byakuya turned around, his eyes almost absently fixing upon Rukia's limp form.
How could something like this happen?
Why...
"Byakuya, did you hear me? Unless you want me to carry her, you'd better take her off the blankets." Startled to his senses, Byakuya knelt and scooped Rukia up into his arms.
The next instant, he had flitted out the window, leaving Ichigo behind.
Byakuya silently laid Rukia down on her bed and closed the guest room's window. He turned on the light and merged with his faux body, all the while keeping an observant eye on Rukia, She hadn't moved since she had passed out at Orihime's house. He seated himself on his bed.
She looked so peaceful, like there was nothing wrong with her at all, as if she didn't have the Shadow's nail buried inside her back. On any other day, Byakuya would have admired her cute sweetness as she slumbered. But not today. Not when he knew why she was so serenely sleeping. He reached out to take her small, curled hand in his.
He should probably go to sleep; it was very late at night and he had to finish paperwork in the morning. Yet, as Byakuya watched Rukia lying unconscious upon her bed he found himself unable to sleep- he was too worried.
And so he resigned himself to sitting on the bed, her fingers curled within his hand.
Rukia blearily opened her eyes and stared at the white ceiling of a darkened room.
Where am I? Am I at Inoue's house? She felt something warm enclosed around her hand and focused her gaze on it.
It was Byakuya's hand. Had he been-
"Rukia..." She turned her attention to the owner of that baritone voice, who had probably been concernedly looking after her all this time.
"B—Byakuya... I—I..." As she spoke, Rukia felt awful and ashamed. How could something like this happen again? Why was she always troubling him with her problems?
"Are you... feeling better?" he asked and she caught a hint of worry concealed by the usual cool tone.
"I don't know. I guess." Rukia glanced away from him, feeling more terrible about all of this by each passing second. She summoned her courage and asked, "Did Unohana-taicho... manage to help?"
Something passed through the gray eyes as Byakuya paused. "No," he finally replied. "She could not."
A mix of emotions flooded through Rukia. So many emotions that she did not know what she was feeling.
"O—Oh... I see."
Why must I always be a burden to him? Why-
"However, we realized that what is causing... your affliction is the presence of a nail within your back."
A nail? "What?" she asked. "How-"
"The Shadow must have thrust it into your skin when you were battling him some weeks ago." Byakuya's eyes met hers. "That is why you unexplainably fell."
Fell? Then Rukia remembered.
Remembered killing a Hollow and running to Byakuya, proud that she had done something to impress him.
Remembered tripping face-first onto the hard cement, with Byakuya saving her from the Shadow a split second later. Except she hadn't tripped herself, like what she had originally thought.
The force of the Shadow thrusting his fingernail into her back had sent her plummeting to the pavement.
That also had to be the reason for her strange bouts of pain which occurred occasionally, but became worse each time. That was why her body rejected Unohana and Inoue's healing. That was why she felt weaker than her usual self, why Byakuya discovered traces of a foreign reaistu on her. Everything suddenly became horrifyingly clear to Rukia.
The Shadow's fingernail was a parasite siphoning reiatsu from her.
"I—I..." Rukia looked down at her hands. She felt useless. "I'm sorry."
"Sorry?" She sensed a storm brewing beneath his composed exterior, but she did not care.
"I always cause trouble for you," she mumbled. "If I were stronger, none of this would have happened. I—I..."
"... I don't match up with you."
That was right. This was all a mistake. She shouldn't have agreed to marry Byakuya.
"What?" he asked coldly.
"Byakuya,,, this was a mistake. We shouldn't do this..." Rukia shook her head. "I—I don't know what will happen with this thing inside of me. I... I'll just be giving you more problems if I stay by your side. We... We won't work."
This incident made the gap between their abilities glaringly obvious to Rukia. She had thought she could somehow live up to his expectations, but she was wrong. Completely wrong. Her hand shook as she reached to her fourth finger, prepared to remove the ring...
And felt Byakuya's fingers lock around her wrist in a vise like grip.
"We will not work?" he said, his voice hard. "Understand that that requires both of our opinions, not only yours. And I happen to think that we will work."
"I don't want to bother you anymore with my own personal-"
"I am bothered by you rejecting me," he cut in. "Did you not profess that you wanted this?"
"I did, but-"
"As such, your personal problems will also be my problems." Byakuya moved his other hand to tighten around her fingers. "We will resolve them together."
"But this problem of mine can't be resolved!" Rukia burst out. "If Unohana-taicho can't do anything about it, no one can."
"There are still other methods which we have not tried."
"But what if those fail, too?" She shook her head, distraught. "I don't want you to be sad anymore, especially if it's because of me. You already lost Hisana-" She broke off her sentence, realizing her mistake.
"I—I'm sorry. I'm not saying-"
"You are different, Rukia," Byakuya answered placidly. "I will not allow the past to repeat itself." Rukia said nothing. She knew it was impossible for him to guarantee that she would be fine. Perhaps he knew this, too.
"I don't want you to be hurt anymore," she finally said. "Just in case-"
"That should not be a concern of yours. However I will never be hurt..." He reached for her hand, his warm fingers closing around hers.
"... because I will always remember that you love me." The gray eyes did not look away from her.
His words were meant as a comfort, yet somehow they made Rukia feel even worse. "Byakuya..." To her surprise, he stood up from the bed. She watched as he easily lifted his mattress and blankets, carrying them to the space between her bed and the bathroom door. He laid the mattress down on the floor.
"What-"
He patted the space beside him on the mattress. "Sleep here with me, Rukia," he said softly.
"Huh?" Had she heard right-
"Sleep here with me... just for tonight."
Rukia stared at the narrow mattress. "But won't you be uncomfortable? I mean, there isn't a lot of space-"
"I believe both of us will fit on the mattress," he replied.
"O—Oh..." She climbed down from her bed to sit on his mattress, bringing her blankets with her. She looked at the dimensions of the mattress and Byakuya's size. "You know, I really don't think you'll-"
In one movement, he swept her down with him, causing a squeak of surprise to escape from her mouth. He pressed her even closer to him and Rukia felt the whole length of his frame against her small body. She felt herself flush red.
"As you can see, we both fit nicely on this mattress."
"O—Oh..." Rukia tried to think of something to say, but couldn't. She found her nose resting against Byakuya's collarbones and she shifted a little, trying to distance herself from him before he felt the heat from her face.
"Is there a problem?" At the sound of his voice, she instinctively raised her head to look at him.
His face was so close to hers, so close that Rukia could see the streaks of his smoke gray irises, count the individual strands of his long lashes. The blush tinting her cheeks deepened.
She knew they had slept together like this when they had watched a movie together, but they had fallen asleep separately and woken up in a hurry. It wasn't like this. Now, Byakuya was calmly observing her with his hooded eyes, waiting for her answer.
"N—No... there's nothing wrong!" Rukia finally sputtered, then glanced away. "It's just... we haven't really gone to sleep like this before... both of us at the same time."
"Then you should start to..." He languidly drifted one hand further down her back. "...acquaint yourself with how this feels." Byakuya lifted his eyes to hers. "I believe we will be doing this a lot more often."
Rukia felt as if a fire was burning on her face. All these things he said so easily... if she wasn't personally here, lying in his arms, hearing him say them, she would never have believed that Byakuya could say such words.
It was so different than the face that he showed everyone. So different...
Her eyes widened when he softly pressed a kiss to her forehead. Before she knew it, he drew back and laid his head back down on the pillow.
"Sleep, Rukia." Byakuya murmured.
"Hai..." Rukia gazed up and saw that his eyes were closed. Very carefully, she touched her forehead and smiled. She could almost feel the lingering warmth of his lips on her skin.
I wish... that we can continue on like this... every day of our lives.
So this chapter wasn't very long compared to my usual chapters, so sorry for that. There wasn't even that much ByaRuki interactions either (except for the last bit). :[ Nevertheless, this chappie is very important for the plot's development, as we finally have a clear statement of what is causing Rukia's frequent bouts of pain. Do you remember Chapter 8, where Rukia was embarrassed after tripping herself over in front of Byakuya? Actually, she didn't trip over. The Shadow shot his nail into her back, causing her to fall. Haha... I remember some of you were asking me then why I made Rukia so clumsy... you've been fooled! *laughs maniacally*. But seriously, I'm wondering if anyone caught onto that part and suspected that something was wrong?
Anyways, back to the chapter. :] So Unohana finds out that Byakuya and Rukia and engaged! Actually that makes everything even more depressing, doesn't it? I took away angst and added it back again, to your absolute delight. ;] And about the bit about the Soul King, I'm pretty sure that if Byakuya (or any of his other relatives) asked for help, he wouldn't lend a hand. I mean, he didn't even send the Zero Squad until Soul Society was completely destroyed. So no luck thinking that Zero Sqaud will help Rukia out. I won't make the plot that easy because I don't like simple plots. You will have to wait and see how they solve (or don't solve?) Rukia's problem.
So please review, even if you didn't really like this chapter (for whatever reason). I really tried to post this as soon as possible, so I would really appreciate it if I could get a lot of reviews. :] They might even encourage me to update faster, since my life is filled with things like chemistry and math and the like. So fun. Until next time :D