I was just having a conversation with some friends about how as a child in Korea, I learned there was a rabbit in the moon and was upset when upon moving to America people insisted it was a man, not a cute rabbit.
Found I was recycling a lot of ideas/themes but bear with me, I'll get it out of my system!
Disclaimer: I own nothing and am merely mooching of Tite Kubo's genius.
Man in the Moon
"Look, Rukia nee-chan." Yuzu chimed, laying one hand on Rukia's folded knee while pointing with the other. "See? It's the bunny in the moon!"
Shooting an alarmed look at the young girl who was comically almost the same size as she, Rukia blinked up at the moon. It hung low and full in the night sky, ringed by a halo of its own soft light; but as far as Rukia could make out there was no adorable fuzzy animal there.
"I see no bunny." She shook her head at the girl and turned her curiosity on Ichigo. "Do you see it?"
Ichigo cracked one eye open from his spot lying back against the roof with his hands folded under his head. He snorted, "It's not an actual rabbit, it's just a bunch of…" he squinted while searching for the word. "Holes. You know, craters."
Rukia was about to ask another question when Yuzu piped, "I'm going to get the tea! The meteor shower should be soon."
The sound of her footsteps as she shuffled off faded to silence as Ichigo closed his eyes again and Rukia tilted her head to scrutinize the moon. The pale orb loomed, and sure enough she could make out the darker areas potmarking the surface, mapping centuries of resilience and battering. But nothing else.
Her intent inspection didn't go unnoticed and Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "Oi, I'm serious, it's just people seeing something out of nothing. It's a rabbit here, but people in the west call it a man in the moon."
The bridge of her nose crinkled slightly. "A man? You mean that Armstrong fellow we learned about?"
"No," Ichigo sighed impatiently, and paused at the sound of Yuzu's return. "Just people's imagination."
Cradling a thermos and mugs, Yuzu sat between the two of them and picked up the conversation. "I think it's a nice thing. That way people don't have to feel so lonely."
Ichigo didn't say anything. His sideways gaze slanted towards Rukia whose frown turned from Yuzu to him and back to the moon. She often struggled to comprehend a lot about this world. How many times had he heard her talk of strength and duty, of remaining steady and even unattached? A great deal of the things he struggled to explain to her had to do with the whimsies born from human extravagance. Rukia was a Death-God. Her life had been slum streets and stealing to survive, then cold steel and the unheard flutter of black wings, and despite all her years of traveling to and from the human realm he couldn't imagine her understanding the romanticism and sentimentality that the living enjoyed. Even Yuzu, whom he had watched force herself to grow up so quickly after their mother's death, couldn't help but occasionally delight in little fairy tales and oddities.
"Do you have a wish ready?" Yuzu looked expectantly from her brother to Rukia.
"Wish?" Rukia was starting to feel quite lost.
Nodding vigorously, Yuzu demonstrated by clapping her hands together. "When you see a shooting star during the meteor shower you make a wish."
Awkwardly, Rukia touched her white fingertips together before pressing her palms against each other. She thought it wasn't so unlike a kido.
Yuzu suddenly gasped, face upturned. "I saw one! Look!"
Even Ichigo opened his eyes to scan the vastness and sure enough, a streak of sharp light passed over them and disappeared. And another soon after. When he glanced over, he was surprised to see that beside bright little Yuzu, Rukia sat like a dark echo. Her slim legs were tucked beneath her and her head was bent gracefully over joined hands, eyes closed. Ichigo let his eyes linger a little longer before turning back to the stars, a small half-smile on his face.
Rukia might not be a romantic, but perhaps even shinigamis could afford to have wishes.