ARRANGED LOVE OR COERCION?
DIsclaimer: I don't own Bleach or its Characters. If I did Orihime and Ichi will be siblings. LOL
"Speech"
"Thoughts"
"Shiro/Zangetsu"
Chapter six: Doubts, avoidance and resolutions
Ichigo did not sleep well last night. After the incident with Byakuya, she had tried to sleep to no avail, her brain kept replaying everything thus the reason she has the black circles around her eyes to show for it. Splashing her face with cold water did not help. Cringing inwardly, she shuffled towards the dining room, steeling herself for the breakfast with Byakuya, but he did not turn up and only Rukia was there. When she asked Rukia about it, she said that he had left for the Sixth Division late last night and had not return since then. She could not bring herself to swallow any of the breakfast, she excused herself from the table and headed for work with a heavy heart.
When she reached the Thirteenth Division office, the fourth seat told her that Ukitake-taichou had gone to the Fourth Division, Sentarou and Kiyone had left for a mission. Ichigo stepped into the empty office, which was filled with the peace and quiet she needed in order to think,which would have been impossible to do, especially when Kiyone and Sentarou engaged in their usual quarrel. She settled herself into her desk and picked up the quill to start on a report, but her mind was kept drifting to only one image.
Kuchiki Byakuya.
The day went on without a ruckus and thus she finished early and returned to the Kuchiki mansion early to clean up and prepare for dinner.
'Maybe he will be there and then I can talk to him later this evening' she told herself and flash stepped home.
However, it seems luck wasn't on her side, because she arrived home and he wasn't there since he left already for a meeting with the elders and nobody knew at what time the meeting will be over.
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The next few days equally passed uneventfully. Ukitake-taichou had offered her a few days of leave after seeing that she was overworking herself, but she had declined. In truth, she had not wanted to be alone in the Kuchiki House, for Rukia had a one month mission in the human world and Byakuya had started giving her the silent treatment again. He often returned to his chambers or to the Sixth Division Office immediately after every meal. He had informed her that he had a lot of paperwork but Ichigo was beginning to think that he was simply trying to avoid her and the kiss incident topic, but then she consoled herself with the fact that; The paperwork involved in a division tended to pile up in mountains when one was not constantly working at it. As it was, due to Ukitake-taichou's lingering illness, she was in charge of the Thirteen Division's work, with Kiyone-san and Sentarou-kun lending a helping hand.
She saw, but did not understand the many pitying glances that were thrown her way. Each day, when she walked the long distance from the Kuchiki House to the Thirteen Division Office, many of the shinigamis would look at her with sympathy, especially when they thought she was not looking their way. She had overheard one such conversation held supposedly out of her hearing.
"Did you know, after their marriage, Kuchiki-taichou and Kuchiki-fukutaichou didn't have their honeymoon?"
"I know. They say that she probably wasn't good enough for him." The other voice snickered.
The woman sighed. "Yeah. After all, Kuchiki-taichou was one of the most eligible bachelor in Seireitei, before he married her." The woman sighed. "And now all our fantasies are all crushed."
"Their wedding happened so fast that one begins to wonder if they married for love in the first place. Byakuya-taichou's and kuchiki-fukutaichou argued almost all the time you could feel the dislike they mutually shared for each other.There are rumors that the first time they met he tried to kill her."
The two gossipy women had moved away out of her hearing, but Ichigo had heard enough.
That night, as Ichigo ate a silent dinner in the enormous dining hall with all the servants attending surrounding her, she kept a tight control on her emotions. Only when she was in the relative safety of her room , did she allow herself to relax and replay the words in her mind.
"Do I really mean nothing to him?" she thought sadly.
Ichigo wondered. If Byakuya had loved his late wife as much as the information from the rumour mills declare.
"…Hisana?"
She had known, of course, how Byakuya had loved his late wife, but the possibility that Byakuya did not love her and that he thought of her as merely a throphy wife and a baby machine hurt deeply. Added to the fact that he has been avoiding her since the kiss incident, wasn't helping to quench her doubts.
For some reason, that made an ache grow in her heart.
She closed her eyes against the headache that throbbed in her temples. How could she have forgotten that fact? Byakuya had married Hisana, a commoner against all the protests of the Council. He, who valued rules and customs, had bent them in order to marry Hisana. He must have loved her, to risk everything he had. And he had adopted Rukia into the family, against the Council's will, just because he had made a promise to Hisana.
But he had not oppossed the council when he was asked to re-marry and he picked her; the little bratty and worthless substitute soul reaper to be a substitute for his late wife.
With all those painful and disturbing thoughts she made a decision or more accurately a resolution.
"I won't try to be somebody else again for him. I won't let the Kuchiki ruin my happinrss and peace of mind again from this day on. I am Ichigo Kurosaki and an added last name won't make me into a princess in a golden prison"
"Finally Queenie I get the real you back. I was beginning to drown in your pitiful tears because of that arrogant pretty boy of an Ice king you have for a husband" her inner hollow spoke up for the first time since the wedding predicament.
"Shiro is that you where have you been all this while?"
"No it's father christmas!!! You idiot who else calls you 'QUEENIE'? What's wrong with you? You are acting like a lost puppy who lost his master don't tell me you have been giving up all this while you make me sick!!!" replied the hollow.
"Hey have some respect would you or else I will come in there and kick your ass jerk" replied an irritated Ichigo.
"He has a point Ichigo you inner world is full of black clouds and it's a flood in here, please do something." reprimended a grave voice.
"I am sorry old man I haven't had the best of days since the wedding proposal but I promise to change" she answered apologetucally.
"You better do Idiot like I will take over you body and give that Kuchiki-bastard a piece of my mind" shiro said defensively.
"Yes Shiro-kun I know you are itching to beat him up but I will take your offer as a last resort" she replied with a giggle.
" Ichigo, remember love is like a mirror you can fix it if it is broken and still see your face through the cracks" added Zangetsu.
"Thanks too Old man I feel better now that I know that you two are with me and I'ain't alone." with that she cut the link and immediately fell asleep from the accumulated sleepless nights and exhaustion.
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Byakuya Kuchiki has been called many names but never a coward. However right now he felt like one.
I have been purposefully avoiding her for days since the night of the kiss because of my insecurities" he thought dejectedly. "I feel like a jerk, I can see she is hurting, because of me again. It seems I often cause her pain and suffering; be it willing or not ."
Byakuya had really wanted to make amends for as he puts it ruining Ichigo's life by being an exceptional husband and maybe even a good friend one she could always rely on when she needed to. However, he did not foresee the fact that she will make him feel emotions he didn't know he had; concern, possessiveness, protectiveness , if he dare admit strong affection for her and even loneliness whenever she wasn't around him.
But doubt, like the creeping ugly monster it was, had settled its deep claws into his heart after the night of the kiss and he could not bring himself to look her in the eyes.
"Was my decision really for the better or was it for the peace of my conscience? " He thought with a sigh. "Is she even happy with me or has she resigned herself to the fate of being married to me?" It was these questions that brought a strange pain to his chest.
He sighed again, stretching out of his mental probe, and decided that even if it hurts him he will do the impossible to make her happy and her life better in Soul society. He entered Ichigo's room silently after he was certain she was asleep due to the stability of her spiritual energy and sat on her bed, pushing the bangs covering her brow to the side to look at he sleeping face.
"She probably hates me now ."Resigning himself to a sleepless night, he sat there through out the night and left at around 4:30 AM after kissing her forehead. He took a bath and headed for the Sixth Division, where he would attempt to finish some of the nagging paperwork in order to take his mind off his wife.
"BYAKUYA!!!"
Ichigo woke up from her slumber with a start. "Why do I feel as though he was here just a while ago? she thought." I can still feel his spiritual pressure on me he was definirely here. Byakuya what is eating you up? Why have you decided to close yourself up?"
she thought aloud with a sigh.
AND CUT SEE YOU NEXT CHAPTERSO PLZ STAY TUNED AND PLZ READ AND REVIEW!!!NAMIKAZE ICHIME