A/N-Thank you to everyone who read and liked the first chapter. I really appreciate it. A shorter chapter for now, the next one will probably be this weekend. Please enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.
Ichigo Kurosaki was not very in touch with his feelings. Unless of course you were to count feelings which lead to him putting his fist in touch with someone else's face. He was very good at managing that particular subset of feelings. But the emotions flooding his system as the door to Byakuya's study closed behind him were definitely of a different category altogether.
Romance was not a subject that he was very well-versed in. Marriage even less so. He wasn't stupid, he knew that at some point or another he would most likely end up married. But he had figured he at least had a few years before he had to start worrying about that. He was still in high school for crying out loud. He'd never even been on an actual date. But to jump from that all the way to getting married in the span of one conversation? It was insane.
Never mind the fact that he was being asked to marry Rukia, someone who had stabbed him twice. And he was being asked by her brother. Who not too long ago was trying to execute her. For stabbing Ichigo the first time. And then tried to kill Ichigo himself. Life took some strange turns to get here.
The thought of Rukia made him realize that she was still standing next him. He looked over at her to see that she was already staring at him. Most likely waiting to see if he was about to freak out. In that moment Ichigo found himself staring back into her eyes. They really are beautiful. Deep. He could have gazed in those amethyst pools for hours.
His train of thought was derailed by the sound of her voice, "Are you okay?"
He blinked a few times and quickly shook his head as if to shake out the weird feeling he'd just had. "Yeah…I'm fine."
Rukia looked at him meaningfully, as if trying to determine whether he truly was alright or not. Once she seemed satisfied that he wasn't about to collapse or anything, she took a deep slow breath and said, "I guess we need to talk about this."
"Oh…yeah." Ichigo's voice still sounded distracted. "Uh, lead the way…", he gestured ahead of him. Assuming that she wanted to go somewhere a bit more private to discuss everything.
He fell in behind her as she walked silently toward her room. He wasn't sure but as they walked, it felt like the building had gotten a few degrees colder. He still had no idea what he could say about this. He was thinking a million different things about the marriage idea, but none of them were sticking around in his head long enough for him to have any sort of coherent thought. For some reason every time the idea of marrying her popped into his head, he just remembered her eyes from a few moments ago and then he lost his train of thought and had to start over. He couldn't focus.
As Rukia slid open the door to her room, Ichigo was suddenly struck with another realization. If he was expected to marry Rukia, did that mean that the two of them were expected to have kids too? Then they would have to…the thought caused his face to suddenly feel like it was on fire. He was glad to be standing behind her, so that she couldn't see the shade of scarlet his face must be.
Rukia sat down at a small tea table and motioned for Ichigo to come join her. He sat down across from her and took a deep breath to steady himself before he asked, "Okay, so what the hell? Marriage? Just out of nowhere? And why on earth did you agree right away?"
Rukia's face was slightly pink as she replied, "To be honest, I kind of expected this. Or part of it anyway."
"What do you mean?" Ichigo asked. "You said you didn't know what he was gonna say."
"I mean, that I was expecting at some point to be asked to marry some random noble. I'm a Kuchiki after all. And one who has a Bankai on top of that. Nobility tends to highly value bloodlines like that…even if I was adopted into the family." She paused, her face seeming even redder than before, "To be honest, I was relieved today when they asked you." She seemed to notice what she had just said because her face grew a few shades redder and she quickly added, "I'm just glad it isn't some creepy ugly noble I don't even know. I mean you're bad enough, but come on…" She said the last line playfully.
"Oh bite me" Ichigo retorted. "So you suspected something like this was coming, but that still doesn't really explain to me why you said yes immediately. I mean, we don't have to do it, do we?"
Rukia breathed deep. "No, I suppose we don't. But the idea behind it was good, I thought. It would definitely help cheer people up around here after…everything."
"So you'd get married just for P.R.?" Ichigo asked incredulous.
"Don't be an idiot…Not just that." Rukia responded quietly. "Like my brother said, better you than someone I don't know, right?"
"Yeah, but I mean-"
"You seem awfully against the idea, you know?" Rukia interjected, "Is there something wrong with marrying me in particular?" Her voice barely hid a hint of danger. Ichigo knew if he said something careless, he'd probably catch a small fist in his nose.
"No…there's nothing wrong with you. It's just…" Ichigo began.
"Is there someone else you'd rather marry? I wasn't aware you had a girlfriend, but was I mistaken?" Rukia asked, her voice returning to a more normal tone.
Ichigo was getting more and more flustered with each question. "No. There's no one else, I just-"
"Then what's the issue?" Rukia asked innocently. "You don't have any prior commitments, this will help people..." She smiled brazenly before adding, "You also get to marry a beautiful woman like me."
Ichigo chuckled slightly despite himself. "Yeah, lemme just throw away any semblance of a plan for the future just for a pretty girl. If I made decisions like that, I'd basically be Kon."
Rukia laughed, "Oh, he is gonna be so jealous." She smiled. "Just think of it like this- We're always gonna be around each other anyway, right? So this would just put a fancy title on it. I mean, we're stuck together forever marriage or not, right?"
"I can see what you mean, but…" Ichigo said, "I haven't exactly agreed to it, you know." He took a breath and finally said the thing that'd been on his mind since sitting down. "You know they'd expect us to have kids at some point…right?"
Rukia's face flushed scarlet. "I…was aware."
Ichigo felt his face reddening at the implication. "This is crazy, you know? We can't just-"
"Do you not want to?" Rukia asked. For the briefest moment her voice sounded worried. Like she was scared of the answer.
"What do you mean?" Ichigo asked, noting the worry in her voice and trying to be extra careful to not say the wrong thing.
Rukia shook her head. "Never mind." She smiled softly as if to show that nothing was wrong. "Either way, I will understand your decision. I…" She looked him in the eyes again and once again Ichigo had trouble focusing on anything else. " I…will be fine with whatever you decide. I'll always be around, you know? As your friend or fiancée, whichever you prefer."
In that moment a lot of memories flooded through Ichigo's mind. Their first meeting. When she gave him her powers to save his family. Those weeks they'd spent together fighting hollows. Her capture. Her saving him from her brother. The fight to get her back. He remembered feeling slightly disappointed when she had stayed behind in the Soul Society afterwards. In the span of a few seconds every minute the two of them had ever spent together came flooding back to Ichigo. A warm feeling began emanating from his chest at the recollection.
"Okay." He said simply. "I'll do it."
Rukia seemed shocked by that. "What did you just say…?"
"I said I'll do it," Ichigo repeated, "You…gave me my life as I know it. I can think of worse people to spend it with."
Rukia smiled at him, but this smile looked different than all the other times Ichigo had ever seen her smile. He'd seen playful smiles, fake smiles, sarcastic smirks…but not this. This looked completely pure and genuine, like the famous Kuchiki mask had fallen off completely and behind it was a beautiful girl just happy to be accepted. Looking at that her now, Ichigo realized that he was entirely okay seeing that smile for the rest of his life.