yui-no – engagement ceremony.
rokuyō – a series of six days often found in Japanese calendars that predict whether there will be good or bad fortune that day.
taian – the luckiest day of the rokuyō.
Substitute Affections — A Bleach Fanfiction
by Akane-Rei
Part One: The Betrothal
Chapter Five: The Morning After
When dawn first began to appear in the horizon, bathing his room with its light, Renji wondered what his captain would say if he appeared late for duties that day. Whoever the idiot was that said that things always looked better in the light of day, didn't know what the hell he was talking about.
Look better in the light of day?
What a load of crap!
What the hell did the light of day have to do with anything? Because coming from someone who was awake during the transition from dark to light, the light of day might as well have been nothing but a flashlight for all the good it did to his mood. Damn philosophizing fools!
Thinking about the day in front of him, he groaned. He might as well get up at this rate. He certainly wasn't going back to sleep. What little sleep he did get was fitful and he wasn't going to waste his time trying to catch a few more minutes of rest.
He sat up slowly, staring at the window before him.
Gods, what the hell was he supposed to do?
What the hell were they supposed to do, for that matter? While it had been a brilliant idea to put their heads together and attempt to devise ways to convince Rukia what an enormously stupid, idiotic, dim-witted mistake she was making in agreeing to marry Byakuya Kuchiki, their little plan fell short. In the planning stages, that is.
If he had the energy, he would have slapped his forehead right now just thinking about all the stupid, idiotic, dim-witted ideas he and Ichigo came up with the night before. At this rate, Rukia'll be married to his captain and pregnant with their third child by the time he and Ichigo came up with a plan.
He cussed at the mental picture that brought up. As if he needed any help getting sick this morning.
But damn if he wasn't feeling stupid, too. When he thought back to all the little scenarios he and Ichigo thought up the night before, he began to wonder whether all that shinigami work might have led to more than a few dead brain cells. He groaned again. Too bad he couldn't quite forget all those ideas they had from last night.
Renji closed his eyes and fell back in bed. Maybe it was the sake. What else in god's name would have possessed them to think that they needed to practice what they were going to say to her?
Scenario One: The Direct Approach (Ichigo's brain child)
Renji: Rukia, we've got to talk.
Ichigo (pretending to be Rukia with a high-pitched voice): Oh?
Renji: I've been meaning to say this for some time now.
Ichigo as Rukia: Go on!
Renji: But I didn't quite know how to tell you.
Ichigo still as Rukia: Uh-huh…
Renji: Rukia, I want you to know that I think you're—
Ichigo: Stupid, you sound like you're about to declare you're undying love for her!
Renji: What! I was building up to it!
Ichigo: Building up to a what? A confession?
Renji: Oh, and I suppose you could do better?
Scenario Two: Still the Direct Approach (still Ichigo's brain child)—revised
Ichigo: Rukia.
Renji as Rukia: (bats his/her lashes)
Ichigo: Ya got something in your eye?
Renji: Shut up. I'm pretending to be Rukia.
Ichigo: By having something in your eye?
Renji: By fluttering my eyelashes, you fool!
Ichigo punches him.
Ichigo: What the hell do you think you're doing? Since when did Rukia flutter her lashes?
Renji: Now that you mention it…
Ichigo: Argh! Do over!
Scenario Three: Still the Direct Approach (still Ichigo's brain child)—the short version
Ichigo: Rukia.
Renji as Rukia: Yah?
Ichigo: You're brother's an ass. Don't marry him.
Renji: You can't say that about Captain Kuchiki!
Ichigo: You got any better ideas?
Scenario Four: Still the Direct Approach (still Ichigo's brain child)—last take
Renji: Rukia.
Ichigo as Rukia: …
Renji: I think marrying your brother is a big mistake!
Ichigo as Rukia still: He's not actually my real brother, you know.
Renji: Even if he isn't, I still think marrying Byakuya Kuchiki is a big mistake!
Ichigo still as Rukia: Please do not insult Nii-sama in my presence!
Renji: What the hell?
Ichigo: Hey, she said that to me just awhile ago!
Renji: Fuck!
Ichigo: Listen, I don't think this direct approach of mine is going to work.
Renji: Ya think!
He groaned as more scenes flashed before his eyes. It was going to be a long day.
When Ichigo woke with a splitting headache, his first thought was that he was back home in Karakura and he had been just a little too slow to avoid one of his father's morning greetings, often consisting of something heavy (usually his own father) landing on his face. The pain didn't go away, however, and no accompanying wailing noise followed. And so, even in his sleep-induced stupor, he was finally able to quickly situate himself to the present. Stretching and yawning, his mind tried to remind him of something else; something he was missing as he groggily lifted himself out of bed.
Blinking against the brightness of the morning sun, he took one step forward before the memories of last night came crashing down on his head and he found himself staggering across the room in surprise.
Maybe, just maybe, it didn't really happen. Maybe it was one of those surreal nightmares that he just needed to wake up from. Damn, for all he knew, he might be dreaming right now.
He clenched his fist.
Nope!
Fist is tender, which meant he must have hit Renji. Not surprisingly, that guy had a hard head.
Bracing his hand against a chair, he rubbed his eyes with his free hand and stared outside his window, trying to distract himself from thoughts of last night. The morning was just beginning for Soul Society. If he listened carefully, he could hear the bustle of activity that accompanied the start of a new day. He could hear the training of different squads from different divisions as they began their morning exercises. He could hear the greetings that people threw at each other in the streets beneath his window.
Everything outside was so normal. Soul Society ran as it should.
Did he expect something different?
In the light of day, given the events of last night, did he really expect something to be just a little off? For a moment, he felt a sense of déjà vu. Back when he was still human, back then when Rukia had first left for Soul Society, hadn't he felt this same sense of strangeness? Back then, hadn't he thought it strange how the world went on about its business despite Rukia's disappearance?
And now, it wasn't as if Rukia disappeared, but…wasn't that what her marriage would do?
Strange as it might seem, there had always been two Rukias ever since he'd known her. Back in the human world, there was the Rukia he knew as a shinigami and the Rukia who was his classmate. Which was alright. He knew the role she thought she had to play to make herself fit in with his schoolmates and friends. When he finally came to live in Soul Society, however, he was more than surprised to realize that yet again, there were two Rukias. There was the Rukia that he and Renji and some members of the Thirteenth division knew, and then there was the Rukia that the rest of Soul Society (and most especially Byakuya Kuchiki) knew.
He shook his head as if to clear it.
He could remember the evening with vivid clarity when he and Renji had been invited to dine at the Kuchiki main house. He'd only recently been a fulltime shinigami of Soul Society and he could recall Renji giving him some snide remark about not embarrassing Rukia in front of her brother. He hadn't really paid attention then, dismissing Renji's dire warnings with a wave of a hand. He had fought Byakuya Kuchiki before and had treated him no different than he would any opponent. How could dinner at the Kuchiki house be any more intimidating than a battlefield?
Except that it had been.
It had begun with Rukia, who had greeted them with her oh-so-soft voice and downcast eyes. He remembered his jaw dropping at the sight of the surprisingly demure shinigami as they were led to the main house. Renji had to elbow him to remind him to shut his mouth. Of course, thinking back, he shouldn't have been too surprised. After all, he did know the Rukia of old, the Rukia his classmates knew. But to see that Rukia in Soul Society, only just that much more…stiff had been quite a treat.
It was a damn sight different from the Rukia who whacked him in the head with the butt of her sword for teasing her about her ladylike behavior hours later, that was for sure.
Looking back to that night, dinner had been a stiff, awkward, and formal affair. But then, Byakuya Kuchiki had a way of doing that to any event. Ichigo's surprise, however, had been at the flawless act that Rukia put on as the Kuchiki hostess. Had he not known any better, he would have sworn that Rukia had a twin.
And from then on, he had to almost always stop himself from doing a double take whenever he saw Rukia walk by in the streets or in the hallways of Seireitei, especially when she was with her brother. He remembered Renji leaning against him with the words, "It takes some getting used to, huh, to see her with Captain Kuchiki?" while he found himself nodding as both their eyes followed the progress of the Kuchiki clan down the street. While Rukia didn't quite have Byakuya Kuchiki's arrogant look down pat, there was an air of other-worldliness that surrounded her. Anyone looking at the way she walked or held herself would never mistake her for anything other than a noble of Soul Society.
But he'd always thought of it as an act.
Because the Rukia that he knew was fun and loud and demanding. She was bossy to the point of being overbearing, opinionated to a fault, and willful to the point of stubbornness.
That was the Rukia he fell in love with back in his substitute shinigami days.
That was the Rukia that was missing whenever she was with Byakuya Kuchiki.
And now she had just agreed to marry the man.
He kicked the chair he leaned against clear across the room, cursing under his breath as he did so.
And somehow, he had a feeling that the Rukia he knew will no longer exist after such an event.
By the time she left her bedchamber that morning, Rukia had almost been able to convince herself that everything would be okay. Surely by this time, Sanada-san and the rest of the Kuchiki advisors would have come to realize what an utterly ridiculous choice she was as a bride for Nii-sama. She was from Rukongai, for heaven's sake. And while it had been decades since she had been adopted into the Kuchiki clan, no amount of paperwork was going to change the fact that she grew up in the poorest of districts as one its strays.
Taking a deep breath, she braced herself to join her brother for breakfast. Like every morning she woke up at home, she knew that her brother would always be at the breakfast table already way before her. No matter how early she seemed to wake up, she often arrived not long before Nii-sama would take his leave and go about his way.
This morning, however, she had the added surprise of Sanada-san and the rest of the Kuchiki advisors.
Pausing by the entrance to cover her surprise and the uncontrollable hope blossoming within her chest, she gave a polite bow to the elders before making her way to her place.
This is it! They were going to tell her that everything had all been a big mistake, a huge misunderstanding.
"Rukia," Nii-sama greeted.
Sanada-san gave her a nod. "It's good that you're here," he stated. "As I was saying, a yui-no ceremony would be most appropriate soon. The next taian is in three days and I see no reason not to take advantage of it. As there is only the Kuchiki family to consider—"
"I have asked Ukitake to act on Rukia's behalf on this matter," her adopted brother interrupted. He looked at her closely. "I'm sure that is acceptable," he stated.
"Of-of course!" she replied, surprised she had been able to say anything at all when her mind was still reeling at the idea of a formal engagement ceremony.
She looked at them in dismay. Okay, so this wasn't quite what she had expected.
She mentally kicked herself for that little bit of understatement.
Not quite what she expected? Try not even in the same world!
A yui-no?
What did one do in those things? More importantly, what did the nobility do? Although she had been part of the Kuchiki family for decades, she could hardly remember going to any weddings, let alone any engagement ceremonies. And why were they even considering it? Weren't they supposed to be here to tell her that they had made a humungous mistake?
"Still, since there really is just the Kuchiki family presence to consider, there is no reason for delay," Sanada stated. "I'm sure Captain Ukitake could find the time to attend at the given day."
And at that point, she found herself the recipient of all their stares.
"I'll confirm it with him today," she informed them, feeling her life flash before her eyes as she imagined her conversation with her captain.
Oh by the way, Captain Ukitake, you wouldn't happen to mind attending a yui-no in three days, would you? I know you're quite busy as well as being an invalid, but I would really appreciate it if you…
Could somehow convince the Kuchiki clan what a disastrous wife I will be to Nii-sama!
"Now as for the wedding date—"
"Wedding date!" she screeched. At least she thought she might screeched have given the way everyone seemed to stare at her.
Sanada gave her a questioning look. "Is there something you would like to contribute, Rukia?" he asked.
Yes! she thought to herself, all the while shaking her head vehemently.
"As I was saying, arrangements could be made to have everything prepared by next month," he continued matter-of-factly.
"Next month?" she repeated faintly. And again, she found herself the center of attention.
"Rukia?" her brother inquired.
And again, she found the words she wanted to say, were desperate to say, stuck at the back of her throat. Her panicked look must have made itself known to her brother, however, because his next words were—
"Is a month not enough time to prepare?" he asked her, his head tilted to one side.
"Oh, but you may leave all the preparations to me and my servants," answered Sanada for her. "I understand how busy shinigami captains and vice-captains are so you can leave all the details to me." He peered at her through his glasses. "You need not worry, Rukia. There are enough females in our clan that can take care of the bridal matters such as the kimono and other attires and such."
Kimonos? Who was worrying about damn kimonos? Come to think of it, was she supposed to worry about kimonos?
She looked back and forth between the head Kuchiki advisor and the head of the Kuchiki clan. Both of them stared at her impassively.
"Did you have any other concerns, Rukia?" Nii-sama asked.
Concerns? Of course she had concerns! She felt…she felt like she was drowning! She had to say something…anything! Her brother just gave her an opening, for heaven's sake! If she didn't know any better, she would have said he was actually trying to help her.
"It's just that," she began slowly so as not to insult, "I had thought that the engagement would last at least a year." She gave them a sickly smile. Well, if she were totally honest, she had thought that this particular engagement would last a day before Sanada would come to realize the folly of even suggesting it.
"But what for?" asked Sanada.
She looked at him in askance.
What for? What did he mean what for?
"You've both lived under the same roof since you've been adopted in this clan. You're not strangers who are getting to know one another. In fact you've known each other for decades!"
She thought that maybe her eyes were beginning to widen in disbelief. This couldn't be happening to her, could it? "Ah," she agreed with a sinking feeling at the pit of her stomach. What else could she say? "What you say is true, Sanada-san."
"Well then," he continued. "As I was saying—"
And after that, she listened with half an ear to whatever else they were discussing. She didn't think they needed her input, anyway. Everything seemed to be all in order. A yui-no ceremony in three days and a wedding in one month. With shinigami duties in between, she had a feeling that if the hollows don't kill her first, then Sanada with all his infernal planning just might.
Unlike Rukia, who paid scant attention to the morning meeting they had been subjected to, Byakuya paid full attention to the words that were coming out of Sanada's mouth. While he wasn't particularly concerned about the minute details of the marriage itself, there were appearances that need to be kept up and duties that needed to be performed. Weddings were quite an event in Seireitei, and noble weddings even much more so. He almost gave a bitter laugh at the irony of it all.
When he had married Hisana, Sanada had been one of the more vocal objectors to the union of a noble family to what he considered to be peasants. The chief advisor had eventually accepted his decision, of course, but Byakuya remembered fighting tooth and nail to get his way. And now, in a reversal of roles, Sanada was the one who was driving the union between him and Rukia. For what most likely won't be the last time, he wondered at Sanada's insistence on this marriage. While he understood the need for an heir eventually, this was Soul Society. There was time. He was relatively young and he had centuries ahead of him. Why push this issue forward now?
Not that it mattered. He supposed he'd always thought that he would remarry eventually. He just hadn't had the time or the energy to actively look for a suitable candidate for the job. In a way, he should probably thank the family advisors for taking it all out of his hands. At this point in his life, marriage was nothing more than a convenience. Love was the reason for it in the past, but that's over now. He had grown older and wiser. And so, as he stared at the discomfited Rukia, he wondered whether she was of the same mind. After all, why else would she agree to such a union?
Byakuya wasn't sure whether he should feel sorry or amused at the woman sitting before him. As she sat there with a glazed look in her eyes, he was reminded of…a fish. Her wide, panic-stricken eyes coupled with the constant opening and closing of her mouth all served to make him think of a fish caught in a fisherman's line. Not the most groom-like of images, to be sure, but in this case, he must be forgiven for his thoughts. It was hardly his fault that his bride-to-be seemed to be having some…difficulty accepting the pace at which Sanada had deemed appropriate for their betrothal.
He wondered whether he should feel insulted. Clearly, from the look on her face, she wasn't pleased with the unexpected speed at which the events were occurring. However, it was one thing to be surprised by such things, but quite another to let your surprise show.
Perhaps later he would remind Rukia the prudence of hiding one's thoughts.
"Is this acceptable then?" Sanada voice droned on after carefully explaining the schedule he had planned.
He nodded his head in assent and watched as his somewhat dazed fiancée did the same.
"Well then, we will take our leave at this time," he said dismissively before doing just that and leaving him alone with Rukia at the breakfast table.
He watched his soon-to-be bride furtively, noting the way she picked at the food that the servants had unobtrusively brought over during their discussions. Her mind was elsewhere, but that was nothing new. The times when they've actually encountered each other at breakfast were numerous when both of them were at home, but the number of times they had actually said anything to each other in those encounters were few and far in between. For the most part, he had been busy reading the morning reports and she had always seemed…somewhere else.
Or at least she always seemed to wish she were somewhere else.
Even living together for this long, they had never reached a point where they could be comfortable in each other's presence. A fact he never gave much thought of until Sanada had pointed their current living arrangements out as a reason for the short engagement.
He heard the clatter of chopsticks before he noticed Rukia stand up abruptly.
He looked at her inquiringly.
"I believe I shall head out now," she stated quietly. "I have a multitude of things which I must take care of for Captain Ukitake today."
"Of course," he replied. "Will you be coming home tonight?" he asked, not really out of any need to know, but more out of having nothing else to say.
He watched her hesitate before deciding on an answer.
"I'm not quite certain," she responded. "But it is more likely that I would spend the night at headquarters. There are…pressing matters which I must attend to." She paused. "I will send a message should there be any perceived delays to the plans Sanada-san has implemented."
He nodded in response, all the while wondering whether he should say something to the young shinigami. Should he warn her about the attention she would most likely receive regarding the news of their betrothal? Should he remind her to guard her thoughts so as not to expose any weakness either in her or the family? Or should he just wish her a good day at work as most families seem to do for each other?
In the end, he said nothing as he watched her retreating back. He had never said anything before and…to start now would be awkward for both of them.
Besides, old habits were hard to break.
author's notes: THANK YOU for all the wonderful reviews/encouragements/suggestions you guys have for this story. i've tried to respond to any questions that have come up by using the "reply" feature in this site. I hope those worked and and i hope i've done an adequate job of answering any concerns you might have. As always, whether you like the story or hate it, feel more than free to let me know! Til next time!