Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or the characters! Thanks to CrystalRaindrop007 for Beta'ing!
Our prints in blood, I'll hold your hand. You fell, I smiled, I'll help you stand.
Before The Rain — XIV
Ichigo stood to his feet and walked into the living room whereByakuya had said that he wanted to meet him. He took a deep breath before standing before him. Byakuya motioned for him to sit down. Ichigo did.
"Um . . . why exactly am I here?" Ichigo asked, not so much scared of the older man than he was nervous; Byakuya held a lot of power over both him and Rukia.
"I want to talk to you about my sister."
Ichigo gulped. He said,
"I know I'm a slave, and I'm not . . . I don't deserve her. I don't honsetly think anyone does, but I love her, and that's more than I can say for Ichimaru Gin. I've seen him; he uses women. He uses them and then leaves them, and I will do anything, anything, not to see him do that to Rukia." Ichigo paused and let his fists unclench. "Byakuya, by the way, why are you letting me marry your sister? The first impression you gave me was that you hated slaves. So . . . why?"
Byakuya seemed to think for a second, as if carefully choosing his words, then said, "I, too, broke the rules for love. Who am I to say that Rukia can't?"
Ichigo didn't say anything, and let Byakuya continue.
"If she really loves you, and you really love her, I am willing to put aside my feelings for her happiness. She is all I have left in my family. My wife is gone and so are my parents. If I can do anything to make Rukia happy, I will. Even if it means letting her marry a man that is not worthy of her. But . . . of all the men I know, you are the closest of them of earning Rukia's love. And if she wants to give it to you, to give herself to you, then she can. And I won't stop her. But make her happy, or you will be forever in pain and anguish that I will be sure to cause."
Ichigo pulled at the suit collar. He grimiced as Byakuya slapped his hand away. He then groaned and droped into a chair as Hitsugaya, who was over in the corner, laughed at him. He snapped,
"It'll be your turn in a few weeks."
This shut the white-haired man up, and, satisfied, Ichigo went back to pulling at his collar. He had never worn a suit before, but Byakuya had insisted that Ichigo show up decent at his sisters wedding. And . . . considering that Ichigo was the groom, he enforced it more. But he had, in Ichigo's opinion, tied the tie too tight.
Frowning, Ichigo sulked as they waited.
Women took way to long getting ready. That, and he had the jitters.
Bad.
"Sit still," Byakuya growled, his eyes following the pacing Ichigo back and forth on the floor.
As he sat down in the chair again, Ichigo sighed and clapped his hands together, putting them in his lap.
It had been a week since the day that Byakuya had told him and Rukia about Hisana, and since then, nothing too exciting had happened. Ichigo visted Yuzu in the kitchen everyday, Rukia and Ichigo walked in the garden everyday, someone caught them kissing almost everyday, and Byakuya had been pretty neutral about the whole thing
But what surprised Ichigo most was Byakuya's attitude about his marrying Rukia. He had been cool about the whole thing, and didn't threaten Ichigo with his life too many times if he didn't take care of Rukia; only three or four. When Ichigo had asked why he was so cool about the whole thing, he had said simply, that he, too, had broken the rules for love. Who was he to say that Rukia couldn't?
Ichigo smiled as he thought about Rukia. Right now, she was being, in her words, shoved into an oversized dress and having her hair piled on top of her head like an ice cream cone.
The wedding was going to be small. Only a handful of people were going to be there: Rukia and Ichigo, of course, then Byakuya, Hitsugaya, Hinamori, and the local doctor, Unohana, who had been invited by Hinamori; they knew each other from previous visits. Upon Rukia's insistance, Yuzu, Orihime, Ururu and Ishida were to come, and even Renji had been invited, but as of yet, no one knew if he was coming or not. All in all, they were expecting nine guests, but they couldn't afford to have more, as the wedding was to be a secret until afterward, when Ichigo and Rukia would go into hiding for a while; Byakuya would claim that they had eloped.
Ichigo was snapped out of his thoughts when Hitsugaya threw a brush at him.
Growling, Ichigo threw it back. It missed by several feet.
Hitsugaya smirked while Ichigo frowned.
Hitsugaya would have commented, but at that moment, Yuzu bounced through the door, saying,
"Ichi-nii! It's time!"
Byakuya shook his head as he followed Ichigo out. He was going to be giving Rukia away, as he was her brother. And as he looked around, he realized that almost half of the guests were slaves. It was insane, but what else could he expect at his sister's wedding? She had become friends with almost all of the slaves in the castle, and a few that worked in the fields, too. And he couldn't deny his sister if she wanted her friends to be there; he could be annoyed, however. Letting his sister marry a slave was one thing, a big one, so how was letting her invite her slave friends worse?
It wasn't.
Soon, the ceromony had started; since it was such a small wedding, they were holding it inside the castle. Everyone was in one small room, and Rukia was being led in through the entrance doors.
As soon as Ichigo saw her, he was sure he had turned into a gaping fish.
She. Was. Beautiful.
Her ankle length dress was a light, cream color and it strapped around only one shoulder. He hugged her small body tightly, showing off all of her curves. Byakuya was holding her hand, and placed it in Ichigo's before stepping back and muttering in his ear,
"If anything happens to her, you die."
Ichigo swallowed and nodded, his eyes straying to meet Rukia's. She blushed sligtly, but he wasn't sure why. The priest started talking, and Ichigo drained most everything he said out until he asked them to recite their vows. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he began.
"Rukia, I've known you for all of a month, but I am hopelessly, truly in love with you. When I first saw your smiling face, I was in a new place that I knew nothing about. I was worried and even slightly nervous, but when I saw you . . . you washed that all away. You showed me that I could believe in hope and that I could believe in you. You helped me stand in a world of darkness and you helped me live. I love you. I know this is fightening to you, to me, too, but I'll always hold you and throughout our lives, I'll never let you go. I'll be with you through sickness and through trials and tribulation."
Rukia smiled and began her vows. They had both requested to say their own.
"When I first met you, I was on my way to my secret place, and when I fell over and you offered your hand, I took it and I felt happiness. I had decided to walk through a place I didn't know well, and I'm glad I did because I met you. You were a constant friend, and when you first kissed me, I felt as if my shattered world was complete. You picked up the pieces and put them in place and you re-shaped my life."
The priest said,
"Do you, Ichigo Kurosaki, take Rukia Kuchiki to be your wife? Do you promise to love, cherish and protect her, forsaking all others and holding only unto her?"
"I do."
"And do you, Rukia Kuchiki, take Ichigo Kurosaki to be your husband? Do you promise to love, cherish and protect him, forsaking all others and holding only unto him?"
"I do," she said, smiling as she stared into Ichigo's eyes.
The priest smiled and pronounced them husband and wife, and Ichigo kissed Rukia like she had never felt before. It was short, but a promise of more to come. Then, Rukia turned around and smiled at the small crowd as she threw the boquet of flowers at the group of girls in the middle of the room . . . and the three boys.
Ishida caugh it.
Blushing deeply and pushing his glasses up further on his nose, he turned around and handed the flowers to Orihime, who grabbed them happily and kissed him. His face went redder, if that was even possible and his eyes went wide. Rukia and Ichigo laughed at him as Orihime pulled back, suddenly turning as red as he was. Ichigo turned to Rukia, saying,
"When do you think there'll be another wedding?"
Rukia smiled and playfully jabbed him in the ribs.
Ichigo smiled back, but turned his gaze around when he heard footsteps. Then, he heard a voice that seemed to freeze everything.
"Startin' the wedding without me? Mm. But I'm supposed to be the groom."
Ichigo turned around as fast as he could, and he gasped when he saw the smiling face of Ichimaru Gin, who had his hands clasped behind his back. Everyone fell silent as they stared at the uninvited guest. Even Byakuya was silent. Rukia gasped, and put her hand over her mouth as she hid behind Ichigo, who had a determined look on his face as he glared at Gin and said,
"You weren't invited."
"Should I need an invitation? Rukia belongs to me."
"Rukia doesn't belong to anyone," Ichigo growled, stepping closer to Gin, who just continued smiling. Hitsugaya turned to everyone and said something under his breath to the girls and women behind him, and soon, Yuzu, Ururu, Orihime and Hinamori were being led out of the room by Ishida; he didn't want them there in case trouble appeared.
The only people left were Ichigo, Rukia, Byakuya and Hitsugaya as Gin began to advance on them.
"Don't you dare touch her," Ichigo said, frowning as Gin kept coming closer and closer.
Then, a sixth person entered the room.
Sosuke Aizen.
Ichigo turned around and grabbed Hitsugaya by the collar, muttering in his ear,
"Take Rukia out of here and make sure she's safe until we take care of this."
Hitsugaya nodded, and pulled a reluctant Rukia from the room, leaving only Ichigo and Byakuya with Aizen and Gin. No one moved until Aizen spoke.
"Rukia was to be married to Gin. What is going on here?"
Ichigo stared Aizen right in the eye, suddenly not caring that the older man held a hell of a lot more power over him and could have him killed in an instant. All that mattered to him right now was Rukia, and that she was safe.
"Rukia is not marrying Gin. Not over my dead body," Ichigo growled, stepping closer to Aizen. Byakuya stood back and watched; he would jump in if he needed to.
"We can have that arranged," Aizen said calmly. "But Rukia comes with us. It is a good thing we came today. I'm guessing that, in marrying Rukia, you think that you can save her from an arranged marriage, am I right, you filthy slave? And you, Kuchiki-sama, probably think that since Rukia is not related to you by blood, yes, I do know, that she can get away with this, don't you?"
Byakuya didn't answer, but Ichigo said,
"I am not just a slave. I'm just like every one of you. Rukia taught me that. She taught me that even the people you call slaves are human. We're people just like you who are being worked nearly to death. And it was people like you . . . no, it was you who killed my father. You worked him to death and beat him each day until he could barely walk. I was nine when it happened, and dammit, you did it in front of me until I was moved! And it was people like you who thought that, just because you held a small amount of power over people like me, that you could kill my mom. If anyone here is filthy, it's you, you bastard!" Ichigo growled, his fists clenching tightly as he lunged one of them out and caught Aizen right in the face.
Aizen smirked as he stared at the enraged Ichigo. He reached a hand up to his face only to take it away and see blood.
Before he could see what had happened, Ichigo gasped in pain as he felt a knife enter his abdomen. As quickly as it had entered, it was taken out and Ichigo slumped to the floor, his warm, red blood spreading out beneath him. Byakuya took a step forward, his own knife drawn, when he felt something cold pressed to his neck. He looked up to see Aizen, blood still running from his temple, holding a knife to Byakuya's throat.
"Ah ah. Don't move."
Byakuya stiffened as he watched Ichigo's blood spreading out all across the floor, mixing with the few flower pettels that had fallen from the flowers when Rukia had thrown them.
Gin just looked down at Ichigo, smiling, as he took a step away to avoid the spreading blood.
Then, Byakuya watched as Gin's eyes widened the smallest bit as a bright, blinding red glow began to surround Ichigo. It expanded a few feet and glowed brighter than ever.
Aizen removed his hand from Byakuya's throat to shield his eyes from the light, and Byakuya took his chance to pull out his own knife, the thing he had closest, and aim for Aizen.
Everything happened in seconds. The red glow receded, and Ichigo slowly climbed to his feet. Gin took a step back, his confident smile wavering as Ichigo stepped toward him, his eyes glowing once again. But this time, instead of only his eyes glowing, in his hands, Ichigo held a sword that seemed to be made completely of air. It was shaped perfectly, and as Ichigo swung it around, it left behind small waves of red light.
"Die, filthy human!"
His voice was deep, scratchy, and even more distorated than the last time.
And as he began to charge upon Gin, he let out a shattering scream that made everyone in the room cover their ears.
But before his sword could pierce the heart of Gin, it clashed into a second sword that stopped it three inches from it's victim.
"Am I too late?"
The voice belonged to Renji, and as he used the sword he was holding to knock Ichigo's out of the way, he pushed Ichigo to the ground and put his foot on his throat to hold him down.
"Did I miss the wedding?" Renji paused and scratched his head. "Because for the past few days I've been mentally beating myself up over everything I've done. I guess . . . if Rukia wants to marry this boy in order to be happy . . . I'm OK with it. I'll heal over time." He paused again. "And . . . Kurosaki, get a grip, will ya? That's not freakin' you in there, so would you please pull your ass out of there and take care of my girl for me?"
The light in Ichigo's eyes dulled, and, satisfied once the blade had dissapeared, Renji took his foot from Ichigo's throat, but didn't move his sword from Gin's body. Renji glanced over at Byakuya, who had turned to tables on Aizen and was holding him on the ground, his knife to Aizen's throat, and said,
"Where'd everyone go to?"
Byakuya grunted.
"Safety. Tie him up," he said, throwing a coil of wire at Renji.
"Uh . . . where did you get this?" he asked, shrugging as he forced Gin on the ground with Ichigo's dazed help and began to tie him up.
Byakuya didn't answer as he hauled the now-tied-up Aizen to his feet and pulled him along to where Ichigo, Renji and Gin were standing.
"Party's over, man! Time to go home," Renji said, giving Gin a swift kick in the butt to get him moving.
And, this time, Gin wasn't smiling.
When they came into the living room, where everyone was waiting for them, Rukia gasped and jumped to her feet, running over to Ichigo, who was being helped along by Renji and was still covered in blood.
"What happened, Ichigo?" she asked frantically, grunting under his weight as Renji switched him over to her shoulders. Ichigo yawned tiredly and sat down on the floor with Rukia's help.
"Don't worry, I healed myself."
She frowned as she inspected the spot in which he had healed. The skin was smooth and perfectly fine, and as she sat down beside him, she asked quietly,
"Did that . . . did that. . . happen again?"
Ichigo nodded.
"Yea. Sorry 'bout that. Guess I can't heal myself without that happening."
"Well, from now on, then, let me heal you, you stubborn idiot."
Ichigo smiled.
"Whatever."
Rukia punched him on the arm, and the mood in the room suddenly lightened as everyone saw that he was fine. Hitsugaya asked,
"What happened in there?"
Ichigo said, "Lots. But they won't be bothering us again, hopefully. We sent them, tied up, back to their castle in a land far, far away with one of the guards driving them. We're not pressing charges."
With the last sentence, Ichigo shot Byakuya a half-glare and slumped his head against Rukia as he breathed in deeply, closing his eyes. She wrapped her arms around him and held him tight as his breathing began to slow in semi-sleep.
Hinamori piped up, "Well, I should hope my wedding isn't so full of drama."
Everyone laughed. Well, amost everyone, minus those who were incapible of laughing; Ishida and Byakuaya, and those sleeping; Ichigo and Yuzu, the latter of whom had passed out on the couch from exhaustion while trying to stay awake, worried about Ichigo.
Rukia then turned her gaze to Renji, and said softly,
"You came?"
Renji was about to say something when Ichigo said sleepily,
"Yup. And I've gotta take care of his girl for him."
Renji blushed as Rukia raised her eyebrows and laughed. Even Ichigo, who was nearly asleep, smiled and muttered,
"He's a drama queen."
Even Byakuya looked amused.
Nope! NOT the end! I have an epilogue to go! It's gonna be shorter, but hey, aren't most epilogues? I thinkith so. And did I do Gin and Aizen even CLOSE to right?
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