It was the middle of August, day four of an unbearable heatwave, and Rukia was altogether sick of standing atop a wooden step in umpteen layers of tulle, silk and lace, and altogether sick of her sister being… well… Hisana.
"Would you just stand still for five seconds?" Hisana snapped as she knelt, almost prostrate, on the ground, fiddling about with hem of the asymmetrical outer skirt so that it sat right over the crinoline petticoat.
"I am standing still!" Rukia snarled back, twisting round to face her sister, creating a rippling wave of material.
"OW!" Hisana stabbed herself with a pin. "How is that standing still?" She glared at Rukia before flouncing off downstairs into the kitchen in a huff.
"DON'T YOU DARE LEAVE ME HERE! HISANA? HISANA!" Rukia daren't step down: she was surrounded by all manner of sharp, pointy things and she couldn't see any of them thanks to the dress. She resigned to grumbling to herself until Hisana got over herself. "What a… a… bit-"
"You finish that sentence and I will leave you there," Hisana threatened. She'd returned with two ice-cold bottles of Ramune.
"Is that lychee? Gimme, gimme, gimme!" Rukia tried her best to snatch one of the bottles from her sister.
Hisana put them on the dresser, well out of Rukia's reach.
"Pleeeeeeeeeease, I'm dying here. It's hotter than Satan's sweaty ballsack in-."
"Rukia! Don't be so vulgar."
"'Sanaaa," Rukia pleaded, "I promise I'll never say anything horrible to or about you ever again!"
Hisana snorted, "Yeah, yeah. Just hang on a sec, and I'll get you out of that."
Rukia sighed in relief as her sister began peeling away layers of material. "How's Renji getting on?"
"Renji is currently in the middle of a three-way arm wrestling battle with Ichigo and Ikkaku," Hisana said airily. She was stony-faced as she began reeling off collateral damage. "They were flailing about in the anemones when I was down there, plus two dahlias and a peony have been crushed. I've half a mind to crush something valuable of theirs, too."
"Noooo!" Rukia cackled, "I need Renji intact!"
Hisana grunted at her.
They'd just shimmied Rukia out of the crinoline petticoat, leaving her in only a silk slip, when they heard the front door open.
"Coo-eee!" Orihime's voice called out.
Two sisters both gasped in excitement and scrambled into the hallway.
"Did you get it?" Rukia asked, half hanging over the bannister.
Orihime grinned at them and gestured to the door. Behind her, Chad ducked through the entrance with a massive box perched on his shoulder.
"Kami, it's huge," Hisana said, surprised.
Rukia raced down the stairs for a closer look. "Wait… that's not…" Her mouth fell open and her eyes lit up. "Is that...?"
Orihime was positively beaming. "Say hello to your brand new, all singing, all dancing Vela Discolite DK-990R boombox! It lights up and everything!"
Rukia squealed loudly and pounced on her friend. "Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou! You're the best and I love you!"
Renji came running in, alerted by the commotion. He was immediately struck by his fiancée in a state of déshabillé. "Oh, hello," he purred, leering lasciviously.
"Sorry, Abarai. Wedding's off. I'm marrying Orihime."
"Really? Can I watch?"
Rukia eyed him suggestively, "You can join in, if you like."
"Eurgh, you two are-." Hisana was about to barge between the two of them when Rukia noticed something and interrupted.
"Renji, what the fuck happened to your eyebrows this time?"
His hand immediately flew to his face.
"Madarame poured lighter fuel on the barbecue to get it going," Uryuu explained from his perch in the kitchen.
Hisana huffed, "Of course he did. Moron." She suddenly balked, "I hope you didn't leave him in charge of it."
"Oh, no. Hisagi's tending to that."
Hisana froze momentarily, before pushing and rushing past Renji, panicked, "That's not at all reassuring!"
Rukia guffawed behind her.
"You know, Ru," Renji said gravely, "I don't think she's going to let us use the family home ever again."
Rukia was cutting a cucumber into sticks (some of them even made it into the serving bowl), keeping her sister company in the kitchen under the pretence of hiding from the heat. She was fooling no one, least of all Hisana.
Hisana was at the sink rinsing salad leaves and smiling wistfully. "Looks like there might be another wedding on the horizon."
Rukia peered out to see what she was gazing at. She could just make out Ichigo surreptitiously holding hands with Orihime under the table. "'Bout damn time," she muttered.
"You want to be careful; they're only going to steal your spot as 'Karakura's Cutest Couple'," Hisana warned jokingly.
"Nonsense. Renji and I aren't cute; we're sexy. Which is infinitely better if you ask me," Rukia said smugly, striking a pose in her off-the-shoulder t-shirt.
Hisana scoffed," Good job I'm not asking then, isn't it?"
Rukia blew a raspberry at her. "What about you, anyway? What's going on with you and the delivery boy?"
Hisana didn't reply.
She had her head in the oven.
Rukia was unsure whether this was coincidental to checking the sponge cake inside, or if she was avoiding the topic of conversation in the most melodramatic way possible.
"Oi." Rukia nudged Hisana's hip with her toe.
"Hmm? What?"
Rukia rolled her eyes. "What's going on with Delivery Boy?"
Hisana stared at her blankly. "What?"
"Delivery Boy."
Hisana was clueless. "Who?"
Rukia sighed. "The delivery boy! From work!"
"What about him?"
Rukia stared at her.
Hisana shrugged back, oblivious.
"Forget it."
"Well, what abo-?"
Rukia waved her off, "Never mind. Doesn't matter." She returned to watching her friends outside.
"You can go out there, you know. I'm perfectly alright doing this by myself."
"Pffft, someone has to supervise and make sure you're doing it right." It wasn't true, of course. And even if it was, Rukia would be the last person to entrust a kitchen supervisory role to. Except maybe Hisagi.
Nevertheless, Rukia was observing her sister closely. She'd lost weight again. She always did around the anniversary of their parents' deaths.
It had been a massive shock to everyone in their orbit, but none had been impacted in quite the same way as Hisana. It was already devastating to have lost both parents, but Hisana had lost even more. A once in a lifetime opportunity up in smoke, and a seventeen year old girl forced to give up everything she'd ever dreamt of, everything she'd ever worked for. And she had worked for it. She'd dedicated her entire life to it. And suddenly… everything shattered in the blink of an eye.
Hisana put on a good show, but Rukia knew. For the past seven years, she'd watched the light inside her sister fading. So much of her identity had been tied up in-.
"Earth to Rukia!" Hisana was waving a hand in front of her face. "Are you finished?"
"Wha-? Oh! Umm…" Rukia reached behind her for the bowl. Four measly sticks of cucumber remained. "Err…" Rukia giggled sheepishly.
Hisana flicked her on the forehead. "It's a good job we've got another three cucumbers in the fridge, isn't it?"
"Three?! What have you got another three for?" Rukia asked, taking one of the proffered cucumbers.
Hisana looked flatly at her sister. "I knew you were coming. Anyway, what are you spacing out for?"
Rukia shrugged and stared at the floor. "Nothing, really. Just… Just wondering who you're bringing to the wedding…"
Hisana frowned, "What do you mean?"
"Y'know… A date." Rukia risked glancing at her sister from the corner of her eye.
Hisana rolled her head back in exasperation and groaned, "Not this again."
Rukia threw her arms out, "What?! It might do you good, putting yourself out there, getting some action." She made a very suggestive motion with the cucumber.
Hisana pointedly refused to look at her. "It will happen when it happens, and not a moment before, dear sister. Stop trying to forc-."
"- By the time you get round to letting It happen, you'll be all shrivelled and dried up like an old prune. You'll drop your knickers and all the moths will come flying out!"
Rukia ducked as Hisana tried to whack her with a nearby spatula.
"Why do I need a date, anyway? I'm a strong, independent woman," Hisana said haughtily.
Rukia raised an eyebrow at her. She was trying, and failing, to open a large jar of kimchi.
Hisana shoved the window wide open, shouting, "RENJI! CAN YOU COME AND OPEN THIS FOR ME?"
Rukia leaned up against the counter, arms crossed. "A strong, independent woman, huh?"
Hisana glared at her and thrust the jar at her, "You open it, then!"
Rukia took it, and with barely any effort, twisted the lid off.
Hisana looked at the jar, and back up at her sister's face, before declaring, "I hate you. Really."
Rukia just burst out laughing.