second chappie. hope you like it. reviews would be nice but aren't necessary, i'll keep writing even if you guys think i'm crap xD just to annoy you xD

Promises

Byakuya watched as his adopted sister stepped tentatively into her brother's office. He watched her face as it changed, ever so slightly, adopting a more closed expression. She walked over to him and waited patiently for him to acknowledge her.

Without taking his eyes off the paperwork he had been doing, Byakuya held out a certificate to Rukia.

'I have called you here to inform you that you have been promoted to the position of first seated officer in your division'

A short gasp escaped her doll-like lips which she quickly muffled down. Byakuya pretended not to notice. For a second, his eyes flickered to meet hers then fell down again onto the piles of sheets that covered his desk.

'Niisama, I…I'm honoured…I don't know what to say…', the shock was evident in the slight trembling of her voice. But there was something else that was evident, pride, joy.

'I have asked for you paperwork to be left on your desk. See to it that it is completed. That will be all'

Rukia nodded and turned away. It was by the time she got to the door that he called her back. He could not leave unsaid the words that were burning in his throat.

'Rukia…congratulations. You deserve it'

Her face lit up and for a moment there, Byakuya saw Hisana and remembered their wedding day, the joy in her face, her beauty. At that moment, Rukia resembled her deceased sister almost identically. Then, as if afraid she might let even more emotion escape from her usually reserved self, Rukia turned on her heels and walked away.

Byakuya watched the petite shinigami until she had disappeared from his view.

Was he doing the right thing? The position of 1st seated officer held great promises but also…great dangers. Byakuya had sworn to Hisana that he would always protect Rukia; by allowing her this would he be breaking that last, sacred promise he had made to his dying wife?

But it was so hard to ignore the joy in her eyes when he had spoken of it to her. She had not meant to let that scrap of emotion escape, he could tell by the way she immediately calmed herself, as if someone had turned off a switch inside. But Byakuya knew that behind the frosty, collected demeanor was a young girl, bubbling with happiness.

And he knew, yes he knew that it was entirely his fault that she had been denied this right for so long. Kuchiki Byakuya was not a man to shirk from his mistakes. His only defense was that he truly believed in his heart that he was protecting her. Now Byakuya knew that this so-called protection was much like a knife, one side of the blade was clean against the skin, drawing no blood, while the other cut deep, deep into the flesh, creating scars that can take years to heal.

He had never meant to hurt her. In fact, he had always been of firm belief that he had always done everything he could for her. He had given her food, clothing, training, a roof above her head. It was more than she had ever had on the filthy streets of Rukongai. What more could she have wanted?

But Byakuya knew what more she had wanted. It was even possible that he had always known.

Family. To Rukia, this one word meant a kaleidoscope of colours, a garden of blooming flowers. It meant the world and more. It meant…a dream that would never come true.

Byakuya had watched as her initial joy turned into weary indifference, watched as she learned to speak the word 'Niisama', a word she had once cherished, now with a dignified detachment devoid of feeling. He watched…and could do nothing.

It was not that he would not show affection towards her but more the fact that he could not. When Hisana died she had taken with her everything that was good and beautiful in his life. Just as she had broughtthe sunlight and happiness into his world, she had sucked him dry of it all with her departure. She had been his purpose, his reason for living. Without her, he was nothing. A blind man, he moved desperately and recklessly, tying to feel his way through this new world devoid of warmth. He had waved his hands drunkenly into the darkness and clutched onto the first thing that came into his frantic reach – society, rules. He used these to try and make himself into half the man he had been, attempted to give meaning to the pathetic existence he called life. But it was no use, he was too far gone. He was no longer a man, but a robot.

Then he found Rukia. With a wide-eyed honesty she seemed to look past his hostile mask and intohis soul. Those violet orbs…so like Hisana's…she crept into his heart when he wasn't looking…

Finally, after denying it for as long as he could, Byakuya admitted it to himself; he had a new purpose and that purpose was to protect Kuchiki Rukia.

It was this new purpose that gave way to yet another fear in his heart. Being 1st seated officer meant that Rukia would have a lot more freedom. Byakuya had not failed to notice that Rukia had been spending most of her free time in the human. He knew the allure the human world held for it; it was embodied in the form of the Vaizard boy, Kurosaki Ichigo. The closer she drew to the boy, the further away she moved from him. of course he knew Kurosaki would cherish her, protect her, perhaps even better than he himself could but… that didn't interest him. What troubled Byakuya was that protecting Rukia was his job and his job alone. He refused to have her snatched away from him, just as he had started to begin to learn about the amazing person she was.

Deny it though he would, Kuchiki Byakuya knew it was only a matter of time. She was slipping, like quicksand through the gaps of his fingers. Kuchiki Byakuya had been given forty years to win Rukia but his pride and despair over Hisana's death had not allowed him to. Now, he would have to reap the consequences of those crucial actions he had not committed.

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