Rukia was stuffed. All that food, settling down at the bottom of her stomach. She felt bloated as she settled on her bed, replaying the dinner scene. Her family and friends had contributed their all to making a mini-feast. Fettuccine, caesar salads, a pyramid of sushi, fruit kebabs to dip in a fountain of mouthwatering chocolate; fried pieces of chicken and barbeque sausages, fried prawns to dip in sweet and sour sauce; chocolate brownies and strawberry ice-cream. And of course, the piece de resistance - a two layered red velvet cake with white chocolate icing, milk chocolate flakes, and strawberries.

Yoruichi Shihoin and Shunsui Kyoraku came in later on, bestowing their own congratulatory remarks and gifts, along with their own sake bottles. Yoruichi was a striking women with dark caramel skin and regency purple hair that tickled her waist. Kyoraku was far more flamboyant and easy-going, having a tall statuesque appearance, with brown hair tied back and slight stubble along his jaw. Rukia held them both in the highest regard and found them entertaining. Whenever Kyoraku wasn't pressuring Byakuya into drinking, he was reminiscing with Ukitake about their youth, urging Kukaku into an arm wrestle. When Yoruichi wasn't chatting to Rukia, she was teasing byakuya, making funny faces and regaling Hisana with embarrassing stories of old 'Bya-bya' during their youth. Her nii-sama had not taken kindly to that.

Rukia nestled into her bed, wearing her grey hoodie, navy mesh shorts, and black socks. Despite all the fun she had today she was glad for this moment of peace and quiet. Her room was nice and sophisticated. grey walls with sponged blue glitter paint. a neat bookshelf filled with classic literature, sketchbooks, manga, and albums. A wardrobe in one corner, and drawers beside it. A mahogany vanity that served as a pedestal for the shrine of her Chappy memorabilia.

Rukia pulled out a battered red leather-bound journal from behind her headboard, entitled 'dream journal'. She'd been given it by her brother-in-law for her seventh birthday. She had a certain knack for remembering the vivid details of her dreams and formed a habit of writing as much as she could into this journal. Skimming through the early entries, she chuckled about how random some of them were; Her and Renji battling as the power rangers, a boy with orange hair riding a pony while wearing a ridiculous hat on his head. the later entries lost their randomness and centred more around a certain place.

A realm of light, she'd written, with islands floating in the air, and rivers flowing down into frosted clouds. Pillars ascended up into the starry-skies. Strange people inhabited this dream-world. A man with red skin, blue hair and flames bursting from his mouth; a woman wearing furry clothes with cat ears and a tail arguing with a girl in a kimono, heavy bells dangling at the ends of her sash.

All of her dreams were mostly about this place. And she couldn't help but find it disturbing. Most people had different dreams, never experiencing the same thing more than once. She even asked renji if he ever had the same dreams over and over again, and he was assertive that everything was different unless he thought real hard about what he wanted to dream. None of that applied to Rukia. She flicked through some of the recent entries.

Hisana and the lightning man were talking again. They stood on two stone pillars at the edge of a thriving city full of wandering figures.

The man had his lightning blue hair pulled into a half-up top not, wearing laminar armour and spaulders engraved with wolves. The rest of his hair trailed halfway down his back.

Hisana spoke to the man about 'the inevitable war that would come', and inquired about how soon his twin would begin training the 'other descendant'. The pale gold-eyed man muttered that she will begin soon, and prayed that 'she fares better than her predecessors'. The sky rumbled, shifting from violet sunset to midnight blue storm. Flashes of silver and gold danced in the air as Hisana bowed down to the man.

Rukia shut the book. It was frustrating for her to dream these things. And she didn't want to confront hisana about her fears, lest she turns out to be wrong.

"Its just stupid dreams," Rukia mumbled.

"Knock-knock." Hisana waltzed into the bedroom, holding an elegant white long box wrapped in a blue gold ribbon.

"How are you feeling?" she asked genuinely.

Rukia shrugged. "How does anyone feel on their birthday?"

Hisana laughed, letting it ring through the air like clear crystal chimes. Rukia loved her so much, and aspired to be like her. She was strong, both physically and emotionally, knew what to do in every situation, and even had a man who worshipped her as queen, which is what she deserved in every right. She pushed the box over to Rukia.

"Byakuya knows how long you've set your sights on this," she said as she unwrapped the box. "Out of all the things in his collection, you were fascinated the most by this. And both of us believe that you might as well have, seeing as you've matured enough to know how to use it."

Nestled in purple satin, a pearl-white handled katana sat in the box. It was resting in it's purple scabbard with silver flowers and snowflakes etched into the case. A long white ribbon extended from the tip of the handle, nearly two metres in length, with a heavy gem at end and tassels flaring out. Rukia remembered when Byakuya had scolded her heavily for playing around with this. he'd stated that until she had matured enough, she would never set her eyes on it ever again. Since then, she'd been straining in all her activities, throwing herself in all forms of martial arts, making her way to the top in her academic learning, developing her skills as a swordsman in kendo, and maintaining her job as a dance tutor.

Her eyes glistened slightly at the sight of the sword. To others, it might just be some old relic that could be used for props in some play, but for her it was a sign of approval from her brother-in-law.

"Arigato nee-san," she said reverently. I will not cry, I will not cry . . .

"Oh Ru-ru," Hisana said lovingly, embracing her sister. "It was the least he could do."

Hisana stood up and left the room, placing the katana on her vanity. Rukia snuggled further into her blankets, thanking her lucky stars for the family that she had been born into.