A/N: I have no idea if there is any back story to Yamada and Rukia, if they know each other from before Rukia was put on death row and Yamada was assigned food duty for her. I've only been watching the anime. Sad, yes, I know, but I hope you can bear with me.
He had thought of her as an older sister.
Had being the key word there.
She was never exactly affectionate – she was far too much like her elder brother for that. But she was better company, and actually gave marginal show of approval as opposed to a blank steel face.
He had been a few years behind her at the Academy, but their paths had crossed. He had tripped, and others had laughed at him, but she had wordlessly offered him her hand. And after that he had come to consider her as an older sister figure.
He supposed he realized he liked her more than that when she went missing. He had missed her quite a bit.
Throughout his life, others had always made fun of him for some reason. The most frequent reasons were for his lack of fighting ability and his clumsiness.
Now it was her.
Others had noticed that he missed her a lot. They laughed. Rukia was considered very respectfully as far as things concerning shinigami abilities and power went, but everyone always called her sexless behind her back. His comrades preferred Matsumoto for obvious reasons.
But he liked Rukia best.
And he had missed her.