WHEN
THE SNOW FALLS
by Yih
Chapter
Twenty-seven
The First Wife
"What was her name?" Rukia asked as they were walking back to their home.
"Hisana," he answered.
"Hisana," she repeated softly. "It's a beautiful name."
"Your sister was a beautiful person, you both are," he remarked, having thought carefully in the beginning when they had walked hand-in-hand in silence about what to say and how to tell her. "But you are not Hisana and she is not you. I know this. I meant every word I said back there. Your sister was the past, a good past, but that is over and I must move on. I am happy to say that knowing your sister and loving her led me to finding you and loving you. I do not think it is fair how lucky I have been in this."
"I think I am the lucky one," Rukia said and she leaned up against him on the tips of her toes and kissed him briefly on the lips. "But Byakuya?"
"Yes?" His arms were around her waist.
"Don't ever keep something like that from me again."
Byakuya nodded. "It was her request, you know, that you never know."
"Why?"
"She did not feel that she was worthy of being your sister because…" he sighed.
"Because of what?"
"Because she abandoned you in the human world because she could not care for you and that s how you came to Rukongai as a mere baby. Hisana never forgot about you and what she did. As soon as she was able to get herself out of Rukongai and become a shinigami, she started looking for you before I ever met her. She looked for you until the day she died, Rukia. She may have done something terrible, abandoning you like that, but she regretted for the rest of her life and beyond that one grave mistake – she was a very good person."
"It must have been hard to live with that," Rukia remarked, thinking about how Kaien's guilt had eaten him up when he had been forced to kill his wife, Miyako.
She never had personally experienced such a situation and she didn't now how she'd react to it – but at least she could be understanding and sympathetic. Still there was a little part of her that resented Hisana for abandoning her… she wouldn't have done what her sister had done to her.
"Yes," Byakuya murmured, "she had constant nightmares about how you would react if she did find you and told you. It is why she made me swear never to tell you." He paused. "She had more nightmares, though, of never finding you again."
"I don't know how I feel about her," Rukia remarked, "but I suppose I do have one thing to thank her for."
"What is that?"
She looked up at him, her hair in her face like it always had a tendency to be, and she smiled. "She gave me you."
-
The luncheon the servants had prepared for them on their return had been delicious, but Byakuya couldn't enjoy it because his stomach was churning with the stress of how to get the dispensation and how to interpret what Takahiro had said – approving once an heir was provided.
He had been lucky that Rukia had wanted to talk mostly about Hisana, to learn more about the sister she had never known she had. It was good that Rukia didn't ask about the dispensation or anything else. She believed everything was all right now and he wanted to let her believe that, but Byakuya was worried.
He was worried that he wouldn't be able to obtain the dispensation – it had to come from the King of the Soul Society – and he was worried that Rukia wouldn't be able to bear him a healthy heir. Hisana… she had never been able to carry any of her pregnancies to term, no matter how hard she had tried. It had worn her out, trying to provide him the heir that the Elders had wanted – that combined with her constant effort to find her sister… It had all been too much for her.
Rukia was stronger, he knew. She was a better shinigami than Hisana had ever been, far more talented than he had ever wanted. If she were like Hisana, she would retire once she was suitably married, but he didn't think Rukia would do that. It was hard enough keeping her out of a seated position and if she kept improving, he didn't think he could keep her from her rightful spot.
Byakuya sighed and stared at blank sheet of parchment that he would have to start filling out if he wanted to get the dispensation. He just wanted Rukia to be safe… keep her protected. He didn't want to lose Rukia like he had lost Hisana. In the end, it didn't matter if the Elders allowed them to be together, married or not, he would not have been with anyone except her. The only thing he wanted was to ensure they both had their freedom to be with each other.
He had severely underestimated Takahiro and what he wanted. Byakuya narrowed his eyes. He wondered why the Head Elder had conceded so easily to them being together. Of course, it had been Takahiro in the first place who had come to realize that Byakuya had been serious about marrying Hisana those many years ago. It had been Takahiro who had convinced the other elders to accept a girl from Rukongai as his wife. Byakuya had thought that Takahiro understood what love was… maybe Takahiro did understand, but it was likely just as possible that he had an agenda.
Was it really as simple as securing the future of the Kuchiki clan with an heir?
-
A/N: This hopefully ties up the loose ends from the previous chapter, and I definitely finished this earlier because of all the helpful encouragement. I'm not sure where to go from because there is nothing immediate that I need to do with the storyline. I might have to think on it, so the next update might take a little longer, but feel free to suggest away!
Released: 2/3/2009
