A/N: Thanks to everyone who left a review for my last chapter. I decided to try writing a different point of view here, tell me what you think.
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.
Incompatible
The boy was late.
Byakuya had told the boy he would be arriving in the living world at exactly 4:00 pm, and yet now it was 4:06 and the boy was nowhere to be found.
This type of unreliability was exactly why the boy was unfit for his sister. Before Byakuya had left for his weekend in the living world Captain Ukitake had accosted him in the gateroom and suggested to Byakuya that if he would only keep an open mind and give the boy a chance he would find out what a "Fine young man" the boy had matured into.
Unlikely, Byakuya scoffed to himself if the beginning of his weekend was any indication. Clearly the boy had no respect for other people's schedules, just like Byakuya's chronically late lieutenant. No doubt when the boy finally did show up he was going to offer some pathetic excuse about how his lateness was not his fault.
Byakuya looked down at the watch which had been provided to him by Urahara, along with his suit of human clothing. Ten minutes. The boy was ten minutes late now.
Five minutes later the boy finally came barging in.
"You are fifteen minutes late."
"I know I'm really sorry." The boy said.
Ah, cue the pathetic excuse now.
"There was an old man who collapsed when he was crossing the street and so I stopped to give him CPR and then afterwards I waited with him until the ambulance came."
…That excuse was actually rather good.
"Very well, I will accept your excuse. Let us go now."
Upon their arrival at the house the boy had informed Byakuya that they only had two bedrooms, so Rukia would sleep in her bedroom, and Byakuya would sleep in his, while the boy would sleep on the couch. Byakuya had been wary about this arrangement at first but was surprised to find the boy's bedroom to be immaculately clean, almost as if it was never slept in.
"When will the servants be preparing dinner?" Byakuya inquired after he had finished putting away his stuff.
"Actually, we don't have any servants. We can have dinner when Rukia gets home."
Byakuya bristled. Clearly the boy was lazy and was making Rukia do all the housework. "I will not have you make my sister cook after she has been out all day performing her Shinagami duties."
"Actually," The boy said, "Normally I do all the cooking. I just wanted to wait until Rukia got back so the food would be warm for her."
The meal the boy cooked later that night was actually quite good, and Byakuya noted that the boy managed to get through the entire meal without spilling anything on himself or talking with his mouth full.
Begrudgingly Byakuya had to admit, as he waited on the couch downstairs for the boy and Rukia, the boy had been a good host so far. Tonight the boy was taking him and his sister out to what Rukia had informed him was a very fancy restaurant for Karakura.
The boy finally came downstairs and…What was he wearing! Clearly the boy had terrible taste if he was planning on wearing that monstrosity in public. Perhaps he was wearing it on purpose just to embarrass Byakuya…
"Are you planning on wearing that in public?"
The boy looked down at his tie with little white bunnies and pink hearts on it and chuckled. "It's awful, I know. But Rukia gave it to me for my Birthday and I didn't want to hurt her feelings by not wearing it."
Oh. Byakuya shuddered and prayed that his sister never bought him clothing as a gift.
"Ichigo, I told you we cannot drive over that bridge today!"
"RUKIA! We are not taking the long route when we can take the bridge and be there in THIRTY MINUTES!"
"Kurosaki Ichigo, why are you yelling at my sister?" Byakuya demanded as he appeared in the kitchen and gave the boy a death glare. How dare the boy yell at his sister!
The boy however appeared unfazed by Byakuya's appearance and pointed an accusing finger at Rukia and said "Because she wants to drive all the way to the other side of town to get to the Cherry Blossom Festival which will take an hour, when we could just take the bridge and be there in thirty minutes!"
Taking the more efficient route certainly seemed like the most reasonable option to Byakuya, however surely his sister had a good reason for why she wanted to take this other route. "I see. And why do you want to take this different route Rukia?" Byakuya asked
"My horoscope told me that I was going to have horrible luck if I travelled over water today."
"Your horoscope?" Byakuya asked. He was unfamiliar with this term.
"The humans, they have a way of telling the future based on the stars." His sister said excitedly.
"It's a load of mumbo-jumbo." He heard the boy mutter under his breath.
After listening to his sister explain for the next fifteen minutes about what horoscopes were, and how she was a Capricorn, and Ichigo was a Cancer, and how technically these signs weren't supposed to be compatible with each other, and because Rukia was a Capricorn she shouldn't travel over water today, Byakuya was forced to agree with the boy's assessment. This horoscope business certainly did not seem very reliable.
"We will take the bridge." Byakuya declared with a finality that even Rukia knew not to argue with.
"It is very rude of the boy to not be here to see me off." Byakuya said as he and his sister walked into the Urahara Shoten. Not seeing a guest off was the height of bad manners.
"Nii-sama, Ichigo had no choice. He has to make up a test that he missed last week." Rukia explained.
"If the test was so important then he should not have missed it to begin with."
"His sister was sick and he had to go and take care of her." Rukia answered, "Family is the most important thing for him."
Hmmm.
"So how did your visit to the living world go?" Captain Ukitake asked Byakuya after the Captain's meeting.
"It went well."
"I see. And Ichigo? How did you find him?"
"He was an…adequate host." Byakuya begrudgingly admitted.
"Did this change your mind about him?" Ukitake asked.
"No. He is still completely unfit for my sister."
"And why is that? Was he rude? Did he not treat your sister well?"
"He…" Byakuya began. He what? He was a good Samaritan who helped others in need? He did his share of the chores at home? He obviously cared enough about Rukia's feelings to wear a hideously ugly tie? He was a reasonable individual? His family was the most important thing to him?
"You don't have a reason do you?" Captain Ukitake asked.
"Of course I do." Byakuya said indignantly. It was not as if Byakuya was simply prejudiced towards the boy.
"And that reason would be?" Captain Ukitake inquired.
"Rukia is a Capricorn and Ichigo is a Cancer. They are completely incompatible."
Note on Astrology: Technically according to astrology Cancer and Capricorn are supposed to be compatible in some cases, but I decided to make them uncompatible for this story. Personally I agree with Ichigo about astrology being a load of mumbo-jumbo. There is a horoscope section in the daily newspaper that is given out at skytrain systems near where I live and I will always remember when they made the amazing prediction that "Somebody's internet is down." (What an astounding insight! Somewhere somebody's interent is down! LOL) and then another time it advised me "Don't walk near trees otherwise you will get bogged down." (WTF?). Sorry that's just my little rant about horoscopes.