Don't own Bleach. Boo.
I'm attempting to make the updates as regular as possible and each chapter roughly the same length. However, future events are still in the kinks so I don't know how that will work. This is all in an attempt to actually finish a story for once.
Also, I just realized…I don't understand why I titled this story "Love and…" I think I just like that I could play with completing the phrase for each chapter title.
"Love And…"
Ch 2: Love and Compromise: the battle to stay single (and employed)
Rukia smiled in satisfaction. The surprisingly powerful freshly transformed arrancar was demolished in a matter of seconds. She caught sight of a strange glimmer on the ground where the arrancar had perished. Carefully, Rukia approached it and found a piece of black rock. It ever so slightly pulsed with a familiar feeling energy, but it seemed harmless enough so she picked it up. Rukia whispered thanks to her zanpakuto and let herself change back to normal.
Suddenly, there was clapping. "Nicely done, Rukia!" a familiar voice congratulated.
"Yeah! Way to go, midget!" another voice called.
Rukia turned around to see the soul reaper turned shop keeper Kisuke Urahara jogging up to her. Not only was the shop keeper accompanied by his employees, but Ichigo, Orihime, Ishida, and Chad.
"Long time no see!" she waved. Rukia closed the distance by giving Ichigo a swift kick to the shin.
"Ah, geez! I was complimenting you, not making fun of you!" Ichigo hopped a little, clutching his injured shin.
"Yeah, sure, which is why you called me 'midget'," she replied. She turned to greet the rest of the gang, but when she got to Orihime, Rukia gasped and cried out "Kiyone! Sentaro!"
She sprinted back to her fallen comrades. "Orihime! Come quick! They need your help!"
After the 13th division third-seats were all patched up (but still quite unconscious, mind you), Rukia asked why everyone was there.
After an hour of question and answer time, Kiyone and Sentaro managed to wake up. The basics of Urahara's explanation of just what had happened to the hollow that they had faced and the implications of this information were given to them. The three 13th division reapers agreed that they should get back and report this to their captain immediately. No more time could be wasted. They bid good bye to their living world allies and left.
"Geez…I didn't expect the hollows left over from the war to be so…strong." Ishida shook his head. "To think that the hougyoku would still be functional even after being broken. Even though it was such a small piece the effect was tremendous…"
"Yeah," Chad agreed. "And I didn't know Rukia had her bankai, did you guys?"
"You know, I think she might have said something about getting it during the war, but before I could ask her about it, all the fighting was done and old man Yama had us sent back here." Ichigo replied.
"Really!?!" Orihime exclaimed with wide eyes of wonder. She stared at the spot where their friend in question had disappeared. "Wow…that was Rukia's bankai. She looked suuuuper cool."
"As cool as it looked," Urahara sighed, "it's gonna be a pain to clean up after it. We can't have normal humans wondering about all of this; it's spring for crying out loud."
The group stared around at the snow covered battlefield.
"Wait, is that why you brought us along?" Ichigo whined.
Urahara merely fanned himself in a very poor attempt to hide his grin. "Nooooope! Orihime was needed just in case of severe injuries! Just you guys were needed for the clean up."
"Damn midget!"
-------------------you know, I've read other stories where these divider lines show up crystal clear and not deleted at all. You readers are stuck with this, muahaha----------------
The moment the 13th division reapers set foot on Soul Society ground, they immediately headed towards their captain's office. What mind-blowing information they had learned in the living world! Such a simple mission gone awry!
"You two still alright?" Rukia looked over at Kiyone and Sentaro. Orihime did a wonderful job as always, but on the safe side it'd be nice for her superior officers to get a check up over at 4th division….
"I feel fine," Sentaro replied, "though I don't know about Kiyone, here."
"Shut up!" she shouted. "If anyone needs to be worried over, it's you beard-o!" Kiyone slapped Sentaro's back and continued, "Maybe I should take him to see the healers!"
"Oh, please, if anyone needs to go it should be—"
"Maybe both of you should go." Rukia said. "Just to get checked up. I don't doubt Orihime's abilities, but this was a weird mission…you can't be too safe."
Her companions were about to protest, but she continued, "If you both feel ok, then it'll go super quick and you can meet up with me to report everything to the captain."
"Rukia—"they began.
"Nope! You're our squad's third seats!" Rukia began to push them in the direction of 4th division. "We don't have a vice-captain…Captain Ukitake and everyone else has to rely on you! Go!"
The two grumbled an "okay" and began to race each other to their new destination.
Rukia shook her head. She heard a low whistle from behind her.
"Ordering around you superiors, Kuchiki? That sort of disrespect is punishable."
"Don't you have paperwork to do?" Rukia turned to face Hitsugaya.
The white-haired teen snorted. "Finished it."
"Including your vice-captain's share?"
"Shit." Hitsugaya slapped his forehead. "Knew I forgot something…"
Rukia chuckled. Her friend glared. "Look, you—"
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Rukia rolled her eyes. "You're so straight-laced sometimes, Captain. Walk me back to 13th?" Rukia resumed her walk towards her division.
"Hmph," Hitsugaya snorted. "I still have paperwork to do, remember?"
"Don't be such a baby!" she called over her shoulder.
Hitsugaya smirked and caught up with her. "Fine. I'm only going because I need a break."
"I feel so honored, oh great Captain Hitsugaya."
"Shut up!" the young captain shoved his friend to the side a little. The two continued their walk in an amiable silence when Hitsugaya suddenly said, "Hey! You're still calling me 'Captain.' I thought we talked about this already."
"Sorry! Respectfully addressing your superior is a hard habit to break when you're Byakuya Kuchiki's younger sister…"Rukia giggled. "Besides, that sort of disrespect is punishable."
Hitsugaya rolled his eyes at the quote. "Yeah, yeah, but we're friends now, right? You don't need to call me Captain all the time."
"So…" his young lady friend glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes. "Does this mean I have permission to call you by anything less formal?"
"I would think that would be obvious, Kuchiki."
"Captain Grouchy-face!" Rukia crowed. "No, no! I'm sorry, that's still addressing you as 'Captain.' Mister Grouchy-face is better!"
"That's not what I meant—" Hitsugaya was cut off.
"Rukia, that is no way to address your superior officer."
The pair froze in their tracks. The air had suddenly become thick. Rukia and Hitsugaya could swear that the sky became darker for just a second before reverting back to its original bright springy blue. They turned around.
Low and behold, Byakuya Kuchiki towered over them. Rukia mentally rolled her eyes. God did it suck to act like an ultra-polite, ultra-reserved noblewoman. She knew what was coming and beat her brother to the punch.
"Please forgive my rudeness and informality, Captain Hitsugaya." Her voice was soft and cold as opposed to her usual loud and lively tone. A deep bow accompanied the foreign voice.
Hitsugaya blushed. 'And she calls me straight-laced.' He thought. Here he was trying to get closer to Rukia and her hoity-toity noble brother just had to come along and make it weird. And don't misunderstand about being closer—the young captain only wanted to be better friends and nothing more. Nope, nothing more than friends…Yup, friends…'Cause, trying to take things further might ruin everything they had right now and gosh darn it, he loved what they had right now, but not that he loved her, but wait, don't misunderstand that there might be something wrong with Rukia, he loved her, he just, wait, no—
Never mind.
"Rukia, you don't need to apologize." Hitsugaya pulled Rukia out of her bow and turned his gaze towards Byakuya. "She was simply joking around, Captain Kuchiki. What's a joke between friends?"
Byakuya frowned. "Friends or not, a lady of Rukia's status should behave as such." He turned to Rukia. "Rukia, I have some important news to discuss with you."
"Hmm?" Rukia was a little startled as she was introduced back into the conversation. "Yes? Ah! Important news!" Rukia bowed to her brother and waved to her friend. "I need to hurry back and report to Captain Ukitake! Kiyone, Sentaro, and I found out some good information on our mission today!"
Both males shunpoed* in front of Rukia. The poor girl nearly crashed into them.
"What do you mean 'important news'?" Hitsugaya asked. "Did something happen to you over in the living world?" Panic began to latch itself onto the two captains.
"Don't worry, it was nothing I couldn't handle," Rukia replied. "And everyone is fine now." She side stepped the two and continued her journey to 13th division.
"Everyone is fine now?" Byakuya repeated.
"As in they weren't before?" Hitsugaya added.
"You'll probably hear about it later! It's pretty important for all the cleaning crews to know!" (see chapter 1)
-------------------------bibidybopityboo! Goodness gracious, me oh my! Time is elapsing for this story!---------------------------
Rukia was fidgeting. She couldn't help it! Captain Ukitake didn't need to have her sit through the promotions portion of this meeting just to report all of the happenings in her living-world mission. This was just an irritation since she knew her brother blocked any and all attempts at her advancement in the ranks. She glanced over at her friends. Renji seemed to be just as fidgety as she was; he caught her looking and flashed a grin. Kiyone and Sentaro were in some silent contest to prove who was better. Matsumoto looked ready to fall asleep while an annoyed Hitsugaya tried to stay as focused as possible on the meeting instead of smacking her. She shook her head and smiled.
"Well, then," the head-captain cleared his throat. "Now that the rest of the empty positions have been settled, our last promotion to be agreed upon will be that of the 13th division vice-captain. Up for this position is Rukia Kuchiki."
Suddenly, it seemed as if all eyes were on Rukia and her brother. Rukia looked genuinely shocked—did they forget her brother's talks? The head-captain's last statement caused her to choke on her own saliva. She coughed and spluttered out "Me?" It was almost cute how surprised she was and the reaction made most smile.
Byakuya, on the other hand, was not so much fun. Everyone knew how overly protective he was about his sister, but this was ridiculous. Not even a twitch from the nobleman's face had surfaced. Shouldn't he be more freaked out?
"Is everyone in agreement?" Yamamoto asked.
Everyone was about to accept the promotion when Byakuya said, "I disagree."
Everyone sighed. "On what grounds?" Ukitake said. "Rukia is an accomplished fighter, good with her fellow reapers in the 13th squad and always manages to get her paperwork done on time."
"On the grounds that Rukia is soon to be wed." Byakuya responded. "As you all know, once a noble woman weds, she is subject to the demands of her responsibilities to her new family." Byakuya could not let himself look at Rukia's face. He hated himself for this decision, but he hated the thought of her going into dangerous missions even more. Better for her to be alive and safe in the arms of some schmuck husband he could control and intimidate than out in the world fighting monsters. "She will have to retire from her soul reaper duties, and we will again need to vote on another replacement. There is no point in promoting her to vice-captain when she will need to be replaced so soon."
Everyone, from the most unconcerned 11th and 12th division captains to the very surprised and angry 10th division captain and vice-captain, had the same thought: what a load of bull.
All eyes were again on Rukia. Her mouth was agape and her shoulders slumped. Her gaze was wide-eyed and confused. In a flash, she shut her mouth, her shoulders tensed. Her eyes no longer held the phrase "What the fuck!" and her hands had turned into fists. That certain brand of spunk that carried Rukia through her days in the streets, the academy, and the tough times as a soul reaper reared its head and finally shoved the "stuffy reserved lady of good breeding" parts of her into the trash can for good.
"You never said anything about getting married." She turned to her brother, blue-violet eyes blazing.
"Rukia, this is not the time to discuss this." 'Be rebellious another time!' Byakuya pleaded mentally.
"On the contrary," she responded in the coldest tone she could muster, "it is. You obviously pointed out that this pertains to my career as a soul reaper. More importantly, it pertains to my life. I can't have an arranged marriage!" Rukia did her best to breathe evenly and speak calmly. Meetings were not the time to fly off the handle…even if she did want to blast her brother's face off with a hadou spell.
"Rukia, you are of one of the noble houses of Soul Society. This is only natural."
Rukia knew what this meant. It meant 'shut it or I will make you.' For a moment, no one uttered a word—not her captain, not her friends… The young girl's world seemed to slow to a stop. How could this happen? Didn't her brother care? She watched everyone around her get rewarded for their abilities while she got set aside and received nothing! No, the subject was closed for now, but if Byakuya wanted to play this game, Rukia decided she would take him on full force.
Byakuya watched Rukia smile, as did everyone else. What was she thinking? This was a very sexist and unfair thing that was happening to her! Was she going mad from being trapped with that uptight clan for so long?
Only a few people seemed to get that the wheels in her head were turning. At that moment, Hitsugaya wanted nothing more than to peek insider her head (and for her not to get married to some rich weirdo) to see exactly what she was planning. He was fully prepared to leap to her aid if she decided to finally stick it to her brother.
Rukia's smile had become a very wide, maniacal grin before she finally responded, "Very well then, dear brother…I shall quit my job and marry whatever man you have chosen for me…"
Byakuya nearly sighed in relief before she continued to say, "…but only if he can beat me within the span of 10 minutes. As you know, I would do anything in my power to help a friend. This gets me into trouble, which my husband will have to help me out of. If my future husband is unable to beat even me, then he really can't be that suitable of a protector and provider at all."
'This will be perfect!' Rukia thought. 'He probably doesn't really want me to be married just to get me out of this job, so he'll probably take it on the chance of not really having me married, plus that protector provider junk makes sense…and everyone will gossip if he turns it down—it would be the head of the Kuchiki clan saying that none of the noble families are able to produce a warrior strong enough to fight little ol' me, that would be a major slap in the face and the clan would have a field day doing damage control…and if he does accept, gossip will still spread and he'll have to deal with suitors coming and asking me to fight, something that will bug the crap out of him!' If it was physically possible for Rukia to smile wider, it would have happened already. 'Any one really powerful enough to beat me won't be interested in marrying me, so I can keep my job and not have a forced wedding!'
"What?!?" it was Byakuya's turn to choke on his own spit. The room as in awe to see the stony Byakuya visibly distressed. They had to fight hard to keep their laughter hidden—this promotions meeting was getting more and more ridiculous!
"You heard me," Rukia replied. "You bring the suitor, I'll bring the pain. Think of it as a very elaborate wedding gift."
"Bahahahahaha!" everyone turned to see the head-captain slapping his knee and shaking with laughter. He wiped tears from his eyes and said, "Byakuya, I think this is the best you're going to get from her. Hahaha!"
The elder Kuchiki knew the truth in the head-captain's giggling words. After years of being siblings, Rukia could tell that she had guessed his reaction correctly.
When Byakuya finally agreed to this fighting match to marry business, Rukia clapped her hands and cheered, "Wonderful! Each fighter must get permission from you and then he shall fight me for 10 minutes! If he can't beat me within that time span, he can't have me!" The siblings shook on it.
"Great!" Ukitake exclaimed. "And in the mean time, Rukia can work as my vice-captain!" he clapped a hand on her shoulder.
Byakuya almost pouted. Almost. 'Ah well,' he thought, 'it can't hurt to try this little compromise out for a bit.'
"Ah, well," Yamamoto commanded everyone's attention. "Unless there are other complaints, since the captain of the 6th is the only dissenter, Rukia shall work as the 13th squad vice-captain until she is married—unless her husband deems otherwise." The old man gave a cherry smile through his beard and mustache at the girl before declaring, "Now, let's have a fifteen minute break before listening to the report 13th has to give on some new found information. It's been quite an unusual promotions meeting."
End CH 2: Love and Compromise
Once again, language decisions. Shunpo sounds cooler than flash step to me. Flash step makes me thing of Flash Dance, one of the lamest movies I have ever had the displeasure to see. No offense if you like it.