Where the Sky Meets the Sea
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Rukia's smile is a rare and slight thing, slow to curl along the edges and easily missed.
Like most bad habits in her life, her artistic capabilities not-withstanding, Ichigo blames it on Byakuya and her Kuchiki upbringing. The Kuchiki mask balks at the show of emotions, any emotions really but joy especially.
Yet there are exceptions.
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At the sight of the vastness of the ocean, crystal blue water clear enough to see the sand underneath it, the line between the sky and the sea so faint it blurs- she sighs, digging her toes into the wet sand, ocean waves lapping at her feet, feeling the satisfying squelch as she turns to him.
Contentment echoes in the lines of her face, her smile reaching her eyes.
"This isn't what I was expecting when you asked me to clear three days off my schedule without telling me anything else."
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Ichigo scoffs- a bottle of champagne and glasses for two in hand.
"Are you complaining though?"
"No," Rukia hides her smile in the glare of the sun, outright laughs when he slides a pretty flower into her hair and presses a kiss onto her forehead.
She eyes the bottle with a smirk and teases, "so that's where you've gone then? You sure you're old enough to be drinking?"
He rolls his eyes, "Very funny. Did it just slip your mind that you, me and Renji just went drinking last week?"
She hums, settling on the balls of her feet as she reaches for his hands and laces their fingers together. The size of his hands dwarfs hers by comparison, but he is gentle with her. He is soft- utterly weak at the curve of her lips and the pretty fluttering of her eyelashes. Ivory and gold has nothing on her, she is the spill of moonlight and stardust across the night sky- ethereal and light.
Rukia- his Light, moon of his life, his better half- has him wrapped around her little fingers and he will not have it any other way.
When she tugs at him, he does nothing but let his fingers curl along hers, willingly letting her take charge and lead.
"Come on!"
At his dumbfounded look, her grin is fierce and more than a little impish, wanting to share one of the finds she stumbled upon when she was walking along the shoreline just now.
"Walk with me. I know a spot."
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They walk side by side for a while, content with the silence, the warmth of their hands in each other.
He focuses on the little things- the way Rukia's hair dances in the wind, her billowy dress of sorts that flutters, the heat of the sun on his skin, the crunch of sand beneath their feet. Little moments like this, he looks forward to more of them in the future.
"So—" she plops down under the palm tree, lying on her front, feet in the air. The shade is a welcome change from being under the sun for the better half of the day. Even with the sunscreen on, she is half convinced that she'll turn lobster pink by the end of the day— "what's the occasion?"
He sets himself some distance away, lips curling as he leans back. Brown eyes fixated on the cut of the clothes on her- the dip in the open back, the front held together by mere strings.
What he'll give for the rest of his days to end like this—
Her in a white dress of a different sort, hair wild in the wind, soft in the smiles that she gives him; watching him watching her.
The all-knowing smirk she shoots him is a little too seductive for her own good and his reaction to it is a nervous bob of his Adam's apple before clearing his throat loudly.
"N-Nothing. Why do you think that?"
There is something digging painfully at his side, the awkward square block bulging somewhat from the side of his trousers. He hisses when his hand closes around it and nervously tries to shift it- no sudden movements lest Rukia gets suspicious.
"Tch. Can't a guy just want to surprise his girlfriend with a random getaway every now and then?"
She narrows her eyes.
"You got us champagne and you don't even like champagne."
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Damn!
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He bites the inside of his cheek.
"I-I'm in a celebratory mood."
"Oh," her voice seems to drop an octave lower, liquid heat shoots down his spine, "so we are celebrating?"
He truly is a horrible liar, she thinks as she leans forward on her elbows, diving in for the kill.
"What are we celebrating then?"
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His heart is pounding, to say nothing of his sweaty palms and the trail of sweat sliding down his nape that has nothing to do with the weather.
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The ring!
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The stupid damn thing in the velvet box is burning a hole through him and his pocket.
"Ichigo?"
He looks up to see Rukia with her cerulean eyes- staring wide and pretty at him, as deep as the ocean and twice as unpredictable.
"Ah, you see. This thing that I am celebrating—"
"Yes?"
It's the nerves. He has a bad case of it. His love for her makes his tongue thick and turns his brain into mush. He traces the edges of the box, palming it in the depth of his pocket while he tells himself to just breathe and focus!
Focus on the things around them— blue sky, marshmallow clouds, hot sun, no one around for miles.
Just him with his favourite person in the world.
The curve of her smile, a curious blend of amusement and curiosity shining in her eyes, the paleness of her skin that stands out even whilst they bask under the sun and he knows- she is the one and only keeper of his heart.
She is the one who made the rain stop and the world spin right, the one who hangs the moon and the stars and gives birth to the dawn of a new day with the press of her lips against his.
She is the reason.
And he has always known.
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"Rukia."
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He came with a plan- a list of things he wanted to say but all those clever little words, lofty declarations, witty Shakespeare anecdotes, they have no place before the rawness and the depth of his emotions. What he feels for her- what he wants for them, it is what echoes between their heartbeats- soft and tender.
The trepidation melts away and in its place, there- in all its glory, muted but no less hallowed, his wordless devotion and endless longing.
When he looks at her again, he thinks the roar of the ocean dulls in comparison to the rush of blood coursing through his veins.
"Let's get married."
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Prompt: smile/laughter & favourite scene
Heavily inspired by hashtagartistlife's rendition of the honeymoon spread and headcanon that Ichigo popped the big question there so …