Title: My only love sprung from my only hate, Part 1.
Disclaimer: While I wish I owned Byakuya, I sadly do not.
Spoilers: Minimal hints, up to Soul Society arc in anime and some post-Soul Society in Manga.
Summary: Since I know some of my reviewers were overjoyed to hear Byakuya would be in the next chapter (yes, I'm referring to you, Nil, ruuki, SwordOfTheJedi, Green Amber, and Newind), I thought I'd give you all a little taste. This is part 1 of probably 2, possibly 3 if Byakuya inspires me. As he often does. ;)
Karin had a twisted sense of humor, Ichigo decided as he snuck down the hall. She had introduced Rukia to another "wedding tradition," the pre-wedding diet. While he thought that Rukia on a diet was ridiculous– she was tiny enough already! – she tended to latch onto any tradition his sisters mentioned to make sure that her wedding was perfect. He normally would be happy to sit back and watch her try to carry out her crazy ideas, but she had decided both of them were going sugar and junk-food free until after the wedding, and for that, he was a bit resentful.
The coast was clear in the kitchen. He paused a moment, feeling out Rukia's reiatsu, which was for the moment still peacefully asleep in his sisters' room. The little brat liked to lay in hiding and sneak attack him whenever he tried to break "their" diet.
As Ichigo reached into the cupboard, he drew a big sigh of relief. Cookie salvation was only a moment away…
"Kurosaki."
The bag of cookies went flying into the air and Ichigo followed it, somehow spinning around mid-air to face his assailant. Instinctively, he thrust his fist out at the dark figure.
Kuchiki Byakuya easily side-stepped the wild punch, gripping Ichigo's arm and using it to catapult him out into the hallway. Ichigo lay against the wall for a moment, trying to figure out what just happened, before something clicked. That bastard was in his kitchen!
When Ichigo returned to the room, eye twitching, he found Rukia's brother sitting at the table, the tea-kettle already on the stove and the cookies elegantly laid out on a plate. He felt his eye twitch again.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
Kuchiki raised his eyebrow at Ichigo's orange shirt and purple pants, and chose to ignore the question. "The water should be ready for tea in a moment. I believe it would be proper for you to provide the appropriate china for our visit."
Ichigo turned to the cupboards, trying to refrain from slamming the doors as he found the teacups. The last thing he needed was for Rukia to hear the noise, come down stairs, and find him having tea and cookies with her demented older brother. It was beyond him why she wasn't already awake, but maybe fate decided – for once! – that it would be too cruel to make him deal with two Kuchiki's at the same time.
He set the cups on the table, if a bit harder than usual. "How'd you get in?"
Kuchiki sent him a superior look that needed no translation. Do you expect a human door would prove troublesome to a Kuchiki?
Now Ichigo knew where Rukia learned that glare.
Kuchiki patiently waited while Ichigo poured him his tea. He sniffed disdainfully at it, and Ichigo tried to suppress a growl. What, now his tea wasn't good enough for the snotty bastard?
"Rukia has informed me that she has been occupied with the wedding preparations."
The comment was monotone, but Ichigo felt his hackles go up. "Yeah." Want to make something of it?
"I understand that she has chosen to conform to your family's traditions." Kuchiki ignored the clear challenge in the tone. Really, did the hot-headed youth really think he would fare any better in verbal combat this time around? "While I am…surprised…by the choice, it is a good gesture to symbolize that she does not feel that your family's limited heritage is somehow inferior to the Kuchiki traditions."
Ichigo gritted his teeth. Must not punch smug bastard. Fiancée will dropkick me.
"However," Kuchiki's voice was grave, "I have come to discuss family matters of utmost importance."
Ichigo felt some of his ire drain away. If it was so important…
"I have come to discuss the guest list."
Ichigo blinked. Surely he hadn't heard what he thought he heard. "Huh?"
"The guest list." Kuchiki produced a scroll from his robes. "This is a Kuchiki wedding, even though the bride is marrying decidedly beneath her standing."
Oh, Ichigo could feel the temper coming back. And the eye twitch. Rukia's damn brother was giving him a damn eye twitch!
"As a Kuchiki wedding," Kuchiki smugly ignored the slowly boiling orange-hair, "it is expected that certain guests be included in the ceremonies." He slid the scroll across the table to Ichigo.
Ichigo glared at the scroll for a moment, not touching it. Maybe if he concentrated hard enough, the damn thing would burst into flames and Kuchiki would have to march his prissy ass back to Soul Society to write-up a new guest list.
No such luck. He reached out and picked up the scroll, and began to unroll it. And unroll it. And unroll it…
"How many names are on this damn list!?!"
Kuchiki drank from his teacup to hide a smirk. "It includes the noble families, along with their closest retainers, as well as the sitting members of the Gotei 13. I believe there were at least two hundred fifty names listed, though the exact number escapes me."
"Two-hundred and fifty!"
"It may not be comprehensive." Kuchiki looked thoughtful. "Your appearance in Soul Society several years past, along with your involvement in the Arrancar War, appears to have given you a bit of a name among the younger generation of Shinigami. I imagine the list for the reception should total over four hundred."
Four hundred? Ichigo sat back, stunned. If that was the case, Yuza wasn't going to be making the food for the reception any more. And they would need to get a wedding cake taller than Rukia.
"Of course," Kuchiki continued as Ichigo opened and closed his mouth in failed attempts to speak, "tradition dictates that the ceremony and reception be sponsored by the bride's family."
"If we're inviting over four hundred people, you're damn right you're paying for it!" That brought his voice back!
"So, it appears most logical that the celebrations be held in the Kuchiki estates in Soul Society."
"Oh, hell no!" While things were not as scary in Soul Society as they were the first time he went there (after all, only a few Shinigami were trying to kill him now, versus the hundreds when he first arrived), there was no way he was letting either of his sisters go anywhere people with less than perfect sanity waved around big swords and blasted things with giant spirit energy. In fact, he wasn't too thrilled about going back there himself!
"It is infeasible to have the guests travel to the mortal world, even if you could find a suitable area to host the numbers." Kuchiki's eyes narrowed slightly. He was severely displeased. "The spirit balance would be heavily upset, and even the disguised reiatsu of the Gotei captains' would be enough to traumatize any normal human within a five mile radius."
Ichigo crossed his arms, glaring fiercely. "Then shorten your damn list!"
"This is a Kuchiki wedding," Kuchiki's voice was calm, reasonable. "As such, there are expectations to be fulfilled."
"Fine," Ichigo sulkily kicked at a chair, but brightened as an idea occurred to him. He gave a slightly evil grin. "We'll hold it at Sandal-hats'."
"Urahara?" Kuchiki pronounced the name with even more distaste than he gave to Kurosaki's name, which Ichigo didn't know was possible.
"Yeah." He was really warming up to the idea. "He has this big spirit room under the store, and there's a gate to Soul Society there, so it's a nice little jaunt across Hueco Muendo for all you Shinigami. And he can transform the room to fit his needs, so the two of you can decorate all you want."
"It seems…acceptable," Byakuya grudgingly agreed. He could think of no logical reason why not to hold it at Urahara's shop, despite his best efforts.
"Great!" Ichigo grinned, leaning back in his chair. "You can go talk to him."
Urahara felt blurry. It was five in the morning! What idiot was around to pound on his door that early? And why weren't they scared off by all the defense magic he kept around?
And where were Tessai, Jinta, or Ururu? Surely one of them could have gotten the door instead of letting the thudding wake him from his beauty sleep.
He cursed as he stubbed his toe on a wooden crate. That's it! Whoever it was, they were getting the full taste of that new curse he had been experimenting on.
He slammed the screen open then took a full step back as he realized who it was.
"Kuchiki-san!" Urahara waved his fan wildly in front of his face. What was the 6th Division Captain doing on his doorstep?
(To be continued…)
I think this round may go to Ichigo.
Note: In case you're confused about why during this chapter, I refer to Byakuya as "Kuchiki," but refer to him as "Byakuya" in chapter 1, it's due to the point of view. This chapter is largely from Ichigo's POV, and I can't imagine him ever referring to Rukia's brother by his first name. I think the reverse probably holds true for Byakuya, hence the disdainful "Kurosaki."
And though I think Byakuya is delightfully arrogant, even he would not refer to himself as "Kuchiki" in his own head.