Rangiku gave the obi one last satisfying tug. The bow was perfect if she did say so herself. "Miyako, you look beautiful," she declared, stepping back to survey her work.
Her friend wore a black silk kimono decorated in a rain of purple wisteria and a gold obi around her narrow waist. Her hair was perfect, held in place with a hairpin of glittering amethyst formed into a branch of wisteria. She looked beautiful, but more than that she looked stately and elegant and, "You look perfect, Shiba-dono," Rangiku said, bowing low.
"Oh, don't!" Miyako exclaimed. "If anyone had told me my husband would become head of the Shiba family I think I would have reconsidered marrying him!"
"She's joking," Rangiku said, looking toward the small, dark-haired girl who was standing in the corner of the room looking very uncomfortable. "You'd better tell Rukia you're joking," she said, turning back to Miyako.
Miyako sighed. "She knows I'm joking," Miyako said. "She may look like Hisana, but she's not Hisana. She knows not to take me seriously, don't you, Rukia-chan?"
"Of course," Rukia answered, trying to look serious and sensible, but still looking mostly nervous to Rangiku.
"Poor Kaien," Miyako continued. "He hates this worse than I do. Do you know how hard it is for him to spend an entire evening not smiling? It's not fair. We could be spending Tanabata with all of you, and instead the Shiba family has decided to put on a show, and we're the main attraction."
"Well, we'll have plenty of fun for you," Rangiku promised, grinning hugely. Division Thirteen always had the best, and most child-friendly Tanabata festival. Many of the captain's relatives would being their children, and all of the families with children in the Gotei were always invited. It made the Thirteenth's Tanabata festival feel more like a festival than the gatherings of drunk and rowdy shinigami that were the other divisions' celebrations. "Gin's promised to watch the boys so I can drink all I want. Isn't that sweet of him?"
Miyako smiled. "He's probably going to drop Kin-chan with Kiyone and tell Shiro to go play and sleep through the entire festival."
Rangiku opened her mouth to argue but realized Miyako had a point. "Kurotsuchi's fireworks will wake him up when it's time to go. As long as he makes sure we leave with the same children we brought I don't think I'll complain."
"Kurotsuchi's bringing fireworks?" Miyako exclaimed. "I understand why the captain's willing to make peace with the bastard, I do, but letting him bring explosives to the division? Who thought that'd be a good idea?"
"Kaien-san said it would be fine," Rukia said, uncomfortably.
"Of course he did!" Miyako declared, heading for the door. "And we're not even going to be here to makes sure everything goes alright! That man! Does he even think?"
She was still growling under her breath as she stormed out of the room.
"Should I have asked Miyako-san instead of Kaien-san?" Rukia asked, looking worried.
"It's fine," Rangiku said. "Miya-chan is very protective of Captain Ukitake, and I don't think she's gotten over Captain Kurotsuchi poisoning him, but there's nothing to worry about. Nemu told me Kurotsuchi's decided Captain Ukitake would be an acceptable father for her children so he's not going to be picking any more fights."
Rukia's eyes widened. "Father?" she repeated, nearly choking on the word.
Rangiku picked up a brush and turned Rukia around so she could work on her hair. "That's just the way they talk, Nemu and Captain Kurotsuchi; you can't take them seriously. They'll give you nightmares; they really will. It was years before I convinced Kurotsuchi to stop calling Shiro-chan a fascinating specimen."
Rukia looked even more shocked by Rangiku's words, but the older woman didn't seem to notice. "Kurotsuchi is only ever thinking about his next experiment, but since he got in trouble a few years back we really don't have to worry anymore that he might perform any unauthorized experiments on shinigami. It really is a lot more comfortable that way. Plenty of people weren't willing to go to his division alone before that. Not that I blame them, even I was careful to always tell Gin before I went, just in case I turned out to need rescuing."
"You needed to be rescued from a captain?" Rukia said, her horror only increasing the longer Rangiku talked.
Rangiku laughed lightly. "Of course not. Gin knew I was there, and Kurotsuchi knew he knew. Even if he wanted to include me in an experiment he'd never dare. Kurotsuchi knows Gin's the only other man in Seireitei capable of matching him for creative nastiness."
"Oh," was all Rukia managed to answer.
"Most of them could be pretty nasty if they wanted to-what do you think of your hair like this?" she asked as she pinned Rukia's hair back with a flowered comb. "I bet your brother would go for the slow, painful kill, if someone ticked him off, and that'd be enough to convince most people not to mess with him, but with a freak like Kurotsuchi you have to be even scarier and completely unpredictable. He's probably already worked out a way to deal with Captain Kyoraku if he tries to trap him with kido again-but you can't plan for Gin-hell, even I can't plan for Gin, and I've known him since we were both kids. But that's the only thing that can make Kurotsuchi think twice, being completely unpredictable-anyway, that's the best I can do with your hair. I really think you should try growing it out or something. I can't help but think it's got to bother your brother, seeing you look so much like Hisana all the time. If you grew out your hair you wouldn't look so exactly like her-you're shorter than she was, but you two could've been twins."
Rukia was feeling her hair nervously. "You think I bother Nii-sama?" she asked, the worry in her expression only increasing. "I can change my hair. I could grow it out or cut it all off if you think that would be better? Maybe I could dye it-people do that, don't they? To change the color of their hair?"
Rangiku smiled. The girl would obviously do anything to please her brother. Too bad her brother was Kuchiki Byakuya. He'd adored Hisana, and Rangiku had seen quite a lot of him then, but she still couldn't remember him ever smiling. "Her hair was lighter than yours, but honestly, I probably shouldn't have said anything. It might bother him less if you looked less like her, but something is always going to bother him. I'm afraid Captain Kuchiki is one of those unfortunate people who really just can't be happy. He probably thinks happiness is an emotion for the common rabble, and he's much too dignified for such nonsense."
"That's not true," Rukia argued. "I'm sure he was very happy when Hisana was alive. Everyone says he loved her very much."
"He did," Rangiku had to grant the truth of that. "But I don't know if that was enough to make him happy. He definitely didn't show it if he was, so try not to worry too much if he seems less than pleased with you. He's not going to smile at you or tell you what a wonderful sister you are, but he must want you around, or he wouldn't have brought you into the family in the first place so try not to look so nervous. And remember, you're a Kuchiki; you don't even know what fear is."
Rukia nodded, not sure if she felt better or worse after Rangiku's rambling speech, but she was right about that last bit, Kuchikis did not show fear. She turned to face her reflection head on and frowned. She did look frightened. With an effort, she drew herself up and forced the emotion from her face. She could do this. She could be a Kuchiki.
"Look at that," Rangiku said as she looked on. "You look more like a Kuchiki already."
The door opened behind them and they both turned Miyako, peeking in and looking more than a little harried. "Are you ready to go? I'm afraid we're going to be late-Rangiku, two of the captain's nephews dared Toshiro to walk across the pond and I'm afraid Kin-chan followed him, and he's soaking. I'm sorry I didn't have time to do anything about it, but I sent Toshiro with Kin-chan to find Gin so it should be alright."
Rangiku sighed. "Out of diapers and we still need extra clothes. I hope we brought some-try to have fun, Miya-chan, Rukia-chan, and just be glad you don't have children."