the poison garden
by appleschan
On the first day, the warlord Kurosaki Ichigo arrives at her cliffside home with little pageantry and an angry sort of quiet hurriedness. He quickly gets to work. He orders his men to stand guard on various points of her castle and secures its entrances. His men came with black horses and wore steel faces, the warlord and his men were both infamous and effective. Lady Kuchiki Rukia could see his tense arrival from her room's engawa.
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Amidst the organized chaos happening outside her residence and the swarm of black-clad men, Lady Rukia is ushered to her receiving room and seated behind her customary screens. A protocol her maids are instructed to follow when men like Kurosaki arrive. She is served her afternoon tea not long after. The flavor is different, it's chamomile, an unusual choice for a daytime tea. It's a subtle comfort offered by her maids. Lady Rukia appreciates the gesture.
But it's Ishida Uryuu, the warlord's advisor and lieutenant, who requested to see her.
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Though a lord himself, Ishida dislikes the mechanical and cold politeness of other heads and ladies. The Lady Kuchiki is not quite a head or someone with particular responsibilities. She happens to own her private residence, educated by her private tutors, and the Kuchiki princess title. This Lady Kuchiki is mostly known as a story to many of them; hidden away and almost never leaves her cliffside residence.
Ishida couldn't see her, as etiquette dictates, she's behind a screen and 14 feet away. He can only see the hem of her neatly folded clothes - a long spread of light silver and royal blue brocade, fitting for the coming end of winter.
Kurosaki outright refused to even see her, so Ishida took over delivering the news of her new arrangement to her. He hands the Lady's assistants a letter from her clan and waits.
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The letter informs her that an allied warlord is to stand and protect her residence - a strategic location as it tethers the mostly peaceful northern lands and coastline to her family. Rukia knew that such a manner meant that the decision was made quickly by her clan elders and that can no longer interfere. They decided that the security she has is no longer enough and thought an infamous warlord could add deterrence. Kurosaki, considering how he acted earlier, is equally not happy about it.
She gives the letter back to one of her assistants and regards the man who delivered the news. In Kurosaki's stead, Rukia meets his lieutenant. Earlier, Ishida politely introduced himself and then immediately apologized for his superior's crass behavior with grace and reserve. She wonders for a minute, how could he be reporting to such a man?
"I understand, thank you," she says softly, barely above a whisper. Kuchiki women are dutiful and are taught to speak carefully but clearly, to not use more words than needed. Of course, she understands: had she been born a son.
Rukia could not clearly see his face but she appreciates him being before her, more to do with acknowledging her presence.
Ishida bows his head, thanks her, and promises her they will not tax her attention. The Kuchikis currently have no direct male heir. If she had been born a son, he thinks, she wouldn't be locked away for her clan's survival.
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Afternoon came and went, and Kurosaki's men were posted in various locations around her residence well before dinner time. She did not have to worry about the logistics of it all. Kurosaki brought with him a brigade and capable men. Ishida handled all the accommodations, accounting, and seamlessly integrated their needs into her household's means and finished months' worth of computations. Ishida is not unkind, he made sure to send her hourly reports on what changed and what did not.
The warlord Kurosaki himself, however, was nowhere to be seen. Some of her maids heard he was scouting the perimeters of her main house, a thought she nearly laughed at. He would be dead. Her sleeping quarter is cliffside. Like a well-placed taunt, her room opens to a vast, open ocean, but much like a warning, there are jagged rocks at the edge and beneath. Kurosaki could not be scouting her rooms. If he's the seasoned warlord that people say he is then he should know it's already a fortress for anything - or anyone - to go through.
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Dinner was uneventful for her and Kurosaki maintained his indifference. He made no formal introduction to her since he arrived, he did so with the intent of showing her how he disapproved of being sent here to guard her during wartime and not where he's needed. She is content to leave it at that.
Lady Rukia usually sleeps guarded. There are men at the farthest wall of her sleeping quarters - Kurosaki doubled the patrolling guards and no one is allowed to freely enter at nighttime, as reported by Ishida. But it comes with a note that Kurosaki can go anywhere unrestricted.
The next time Lady Rukia sees the Kurosaki warlord, it's late-night after his arrival.
Rukia is preparing to sleep when she notices a dense shadow outside her bedroom. Ahh, Rukia thinks and instinctively knows it's him.
She can tell, from his unmoving shadow, that he is sitting on her engawa and his back is against the stonewall of her room. She quickly notes that Kurosaki might be a bit paranoid, by the way he chooses to sit against a stonewall. But then, one does not leave an opening, she remembers her tutors: do not leave your back open for attacks. He certainly does not trust this place. She can also tell how tall he is: a sitting man with that considerable height shadowed against her shoji screens. There's another long shadow - his katana - resting on his shoulder.
She does not know the reason for his odd and brazen intrusion but remembers Ishida's reminder that Kurosaki can go anywhere. She's aware of where her katana is secretly stashed - under the tatami mat - and is mentally calculating how long it will take her to pull it. Instead of putting out her lamp, she left the oil burning, as if telling him she's watching. Rukia pulls her katana from its secret compartment. She catches his shadow - his head - inclines in her direction as if he can see her through the screen.
The moon is full tonight and it's cold, but Rukia chooses to ignore him, lies down, and rests her head on her pillow, facing his way and her katana clutched close to her heart.
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One week after Kurosaki's arrival, Rukia still hasn't met him formally. She kept her oil burning for seven nights and her katana close to her, and he continued to sit on her bedroom's engawa, against the stonewall.
She finds that Ishida kept to his word, that they will not strain her attention or disrupt her and she can go about her daily life. She wonders, as she observes them, how disciplined they are, how discreet. She knows all the daimyo lords that are allied to her family, and the Kurosakis stand out. They are not extensively politically connected nor do they have a great source of wealth. They are, foremost, ruthless warriors who run combat before blood in their veins. She suspects that even her brother holds respect for the clan's past head, the older, retired Kurosaki, by the way he spoke of him in the past.
The younger Kurosaki hasn't done anything to provoke her, and she keeps watch.
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(below the cliffs, a few dozen feet below the lady's house, there's a clearing that Ishida ordered his men to build a small military outpost on, it's not meant to be lived in but Kurosaki chose to stay in it)
"Do you mind? Don't waste my time bringing you food down here, Kurosaki," Ishida says, and throws a rock at one of the opened windows, "and while we're at it, don't scare the lady like that."
There's an angry growl from the outpost and Ishida is pleased he hit his superior. He puts a sack of koku and a crate against the wall of the outpost.
"I don't think she's scared at all, she keeps the lights on and sleeps with her sword close to her," says Ichigo, emerging from the outpost, already clad in black. He sits on one of the benches and starts putting on his pair of ashigaru.
"I hope she cuts you," Ishida says coldly. Ichigo's response is a sharp, nasty look. He finished putting his boots on and took his katana, a long, black sword. The two start walking back to the lady's residence.
"She's alright?" Ichigo asks stiffly, sometime after crossing the woods.
Ahh, Ishida thinks, this is the first true recognition from the man. "Ask her yourself, why don't you?" he answers. Kurosaki is a child, refusing to meet her formally and choosing to loiter around her bedroom at night instead, "since you practically camp outside her bedroom."
Neither of them has seen the lady in person. Ishida keeps to the etiquette and sends her non-alarming household reports. She does not know the inner workings of their military operation or the number of failed attempts on her life since they arrived and doesn't need to but he hopes to keep her comfortable enough to go about her day-to-day activities. Fortunately, the lady keeps to herself and is easy to predict for now. Kurosaki, reluctantly and angrily, takes over during late nights to early mornings, when the risk is highest. He stays as close as possible to the lady. He's proving to be an effective deterrent. Ishida knows, of course, they both know where the most vulnerable parts of her rooms are and he sits where he is physically a barrier for any attacks while she is sleeping. Ishida knows but he still gives him shit for it.
It is close to midnight and the winter wind is dissipating, there are probably two more weeks of this, if another assassination attempt is happening, the cold cover will be lifted soon, Ishida thinks.
They reach the outer gates and Ishida signals his men to prepare for the change in schedule. Kurosaki is gone, off to her sleeping quarters.
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Kurosaki Ichigo was born in a village landlocked by forest and farmlands. Villagers still hunt and smith all sorts of metal for weaponry. The Kurosaki clan presides over the land. It doesn't buy them grander estates or political connection but they have loyalty and the sharpest steel blades, it is almost the same thing. They make good trades.
Though they make considerable trade, Ichigo wasn't born into luxury, he is foremost a warlord. Blatant display of possessions and money is unsavory. After all, a man needs only his soul and a katana - these are enough. But he wasn't born into the labors of farming or hunting either. Instead, he learned to read the trajectory of a kunai thrown a hundred meters away, the curve of a slicing blade, and grew up knowing six words for red. Ichigo does not, of course, expect to be tasked with guarding a lady and her house.
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Kurosaki takes to the now-familiar pathway to the lady's sleeping quarters. Along the way, he notices the buds of some plants pushing through the light snow and ice. Ichigo knows about plants, not extensively but enough to keep him alive. He knows about oleanders, bloodroots, and lilies of the valley - all killers. It is a curious thing to be keeping these quiet poisons in her garden. Her sleeping quarter is accessed by a pathway, tree-lined and bounded by dangerous flowers - the most innocent of which is probably the white chrysanthemum. It is still winter, the wind is still brutal, but in spring, these will all bloom into dangerous weapons.
The lady resides in a sprawling residence atop a cliff where she is effectively caged in - too cruel for a non-heir.
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(Ichigo has an intense ability to sense movements and is inhumanly fast himself)
When his subordinates think he's not looking or listening, there's plenty of talk about the lady, mostly curiosity and awe. None of them has seen the lady in actuality - they all regard Ishida as some sort of god for meeting her in person and him for being near her every night. There's talk of exaggerated beauty, all superlatives. Ishida and he know: her clan is keeping her safe until she can produce a legitimate male heir for them or marry her to the next ruling family.
On the eighth night of his stay, the lady goes about her routines. She reads late into the night of what - he doesn't know, probably Ishida's neat reports or some letters from lovers. Her room almost always smells faintly of lavender and cedar. She is always served her evening tea at the same time, but he's sure to come when all her maids are gone. Tonight, there's a lingering smell of green tea in the air. The lady is quiet, keeps to her routines, and is alone. No doubt, her days are like this.
Ichigo long abandoned his discreteness, she knows he's outside her bedroom and yet, she has never ventured outside. Instead, she takes her sword and sleeps with it, wary of him. Ichigo could correct her misconceptions but decides to leave it at that. Ichigo is seated in his usual spot, his back against the stonewall.
Ichigo has an intense ability to sense movements and is inhumanly fast himself in battles, yet he doesn't react when the shoji screen slides and the lady steps out and looks at him pointedly.
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a/n: i suppose it can be a standalone here, but it's a background for a story in ao3.
i really do hope you are all doing okay.
