Chapter 3: The White Haori
Byakuya could not believe his eyes.
As the girl with violet eyes raised her arm, she stumbled, struggling to keep her balance. His eyes caught on the flash of light her necklace made when the sunlight caught on it. Byakyu flashed to her side and his hand came around to grasp her penchant. His eyes widened as he saw that it was in a shape of a lock. Byakuya watched as she turned her head slowly to regard him, her reaction sluggishly slow.
Byakuya felt something inside him fall suddenly as he saw how much she looked like Hisana. The cheekbones, the set of her lips and the way her eyes curved, gently leading to her small nose. He was momentarily stunned, reliving memories of Hisana in the face of her sister.
Hisana
He saw her eyes flash with confusion at first, and then with anger when she realized the shinigami was holding her necklace. Her hand moved to swat his away.
"That's mine," she growled viciously, her voice only a little louder than a whisper.
Rukia's hand hit his but he quickly took her wrist captive. Her eyes widened at the shinigami's speed. He looked down at her, his slate gray eyes hard.
This was bad. The girl is going to die at this rate, Byakyu noted. He needed to hurry and get her back to Seretei to heal her. Byakuya mentally berated himself for being so careless. In his fury, he had acted rashly and violently, harming Rukia.
"Speak, girl. What is your name?" he commanded.
Her eyes narrowed and she tugged at her hand, trying to free herself. My hand. The pain was overwhelming and she did not know how long she could remain standing. The figure in front of her was already blurring.
"My hand… give me back my hand you jerk," she breathed out.
Byakuya sighed inwardly in frustration that the girl was not cooperating. He was sure this was Hisana's sister; the resemblance was so strong. Plus, she had the locket… He frowned as the girl struggled weakly and then shifted her leg back in preparation to kick him. He could feel her reiatsu falter and wane as he took in her injuries.
"Be still, Rukia."
Immediately, the girl did so. For the first time since Byakuya had met his sister-in-law, he saw fear of him in her eyes. He felt the hand he was holding captive flex as she spread her fingers and shoved against him desperately, her hand reaching up to touch his chest. Byakuya felt the rest of her remaining reiatsu gather there and his eyes widened, amazed that she still had energy left. There was a warm glow from the kido she was attempting to release at him before it was suddenly extinguished, her body too tired to carry through.
Dark violet eyes widened, and Rukia panicked, not understanding as she fell toward him, thoroughly exhausted with pain taking a hold over her body. As her eyes slipped shut, she felt a pair of strong arms catch her.
Her last coherent thought before succumbing to unconsciousness was an image of a dark haired woman.
Who…are you?
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What do we live for?
Happiness? What a cruel lie.
How can there be happiness in the world without you?
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Byakuya's wince was unnoticeable as he realized that he had dealt all the injuries on to the girl and he inwardly cursed himself for losing control. He had not expected to meet his sister so soon, only a year after Hisana had passed away. Assessing the situation, Byakuya concluded to bring her back to Seretei and have her healed by the 4th division taichou, deciding to spare the other two thieves.
After a moment's thought, the 6th division taichou decided to take the other two children along, predicting that Rukia would be unwilling to stay and difficult to keep without further incentive. Byakuya had already seen the protectiveness and fierce loyalty Rukia held toward her fellow thieves (though he did not understand it) and reasoned that she would very likely stay on the threat that they would be executed by his hand if she did not.
Byakuya handled Rukia's limp body carefully, setting her gently on the ground as he crouched down to assess her injuries. Her shoulder wound was bleeding profusely and he needed to stop the blood flow before she lost too much blood. By the harsh, uneven breaths she was taking, he concluded some of her ribs had broken, maybe even puncturing a lung. His gaze stopped at her broken wrist, where her hand was twisted at an odd angle.
The captain thought back to their small fight. He marveled at how different Rukia and his Hisana were. While Hisana was gentle, soft, and kind, Rukia was loud and determined, her behavior brash and her mentality, strong. Byakyu was secretly amazed at the power Rukia contained, being able to fire a kido without saying the incantation and still being able to achieve a high-level blast. It made him wonder why Rukia had decided to stay in the poverty stricken Rukongai when she could have become a shinigami.
He shook his head slowly.
The girl was an odd one. But she was Hisana's sister so therefore Byakyu would protect her.
By now, the streets had cleared, everyone being too frightened of the powerful captain and the blood that was spilled. Byakuya straightened himself and turned around, his eyes falling on the fallen boy.
He scoffed at the stupidity of the blue haired girl who had stayed behind at the boy's side, trying unsuccessfully to rouse him.
The hair on the back of Rin's neck stood up as she snapped her head up to see the shinigami coming towards them. She could feel tears come to her eyes as his overwhelming reiatsu stole all the energy out of her body and she fell with her hands to the ground, her head bowed down low.
His sandaled feet stepped into her line of view and she swallowed.
"P-please forgive us, shinigami-san," Rin whispered, choking on her fear.
"Hn," was all she heard before she was dealt a swift, sharp blow to the head and darkness overwhelmed her.
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Rukia's sleep was fitful.
She dreamed of the white walls, as usual, but something was different this time. There was a sharper sense of urgency this time, and the need to reach the end was overwhelming. Again, she saw the white haori fluttering down from the distance.
Why…why am I running?
Rukia decided to stop. Her running feet came to a halt and she took a breath. Abruptly, the whole scene changed. Instead of white walls, everything had turned to black. She could hear a roaring around her and then a sudden unpleasant screeching. Rukia clamped her hands to her ears, shutting her eyes tightly, trying to block out the horrible sound.
"S-Stop it!" she cried out, kneeling over, not able to handle the invisible pressure that was pressing down on her. Rukia's eyes snapped open as she realized something was latched onto her shirt. Her eyes widened as she saw an unrecognizable figure cover her.
Rukia kicked out and pushed away from it, screaming.
"GO AWAY!"
White, bone pale arms reached out to her and she kicked at it and scrambled to her feet, then resumed running as fast as she could, screaming the whole time.
"LEAVE ME ALONE!"
The figure began to wail as Rukia ran farther from it but Rukia did not stop. She could feel her breath running out and her feet start to falter but she could not stop.
All she knew was that, she could not stop.
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Rukia woke up screaming. Captain Unohana had to come in to the ward when Isane couldn't stop the girl from thrashing out of the bed and injuring herself further.
Unohana immediately cast a kido over the screaming girl, paralyzing her so that she could not move and waited patiently for her to calm down. After a few harsh breaths, Rukia slowly came back to herself and stilled, her eyes taking in where she was. She immediately tensed, remembering what had happened. A few seconds later, she let out a soft groan feeling her muscles burn.
"It is best that you remain still, Rukia-san. You will reopen your injuries," Unohana spoke while releasing the spell on the girl.
Rukia flinched visibly and swiveled her eyes to look at the woman. She calmed a little bit when she saw how kind the woman's eyes looked. Rukia nodded slowly.
"H-how do you know my name?"
Captain Unohana smiled gently and then turned to make her way to the other two figures in the room.
"Rukia-san, I think you will feel better that your friends are safe here, healing also," Unohana said, turning back to Rukia and gesturing to the two still children.
Rukia gasped and immediately sat up. "Rin! Kubota! They're okay?" she cried before suddenly bending over, gasping in pain, her hand coming up clutch her stomach. She groaned again.
"Rukia-san, please stay still. You broke three ribs and your lung is still being repaired right now. However, the worst is over, I have stopped the bleeding from your wounds and sealed them up. Please just rest now. You're friends will be fine."
Rukia straightened carefully and then looked over to Rin and Kubota. They were both sleeping and seemed all right. Shyly, she raised her eyes to the 4th taichou and nodded slowly before closing her eyes and dropping her head.
"Th-thank you…unh…I-I'm sorry, I don't your name," Rukia whispered.
The woman smiled. "You can call me Unohana-taichou," she informed Rukia before coming to her side to lay her down gently. "Rest now. When you're feeling better, I'll explain what happened."
Rukia nodded dumbly and found her eyes slipping shut against their own accord as she drifted off to sleep once again.
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Byakuya visited Rukia a little while later. He nodded to Unohana and then came to Rukia's bed.
"How is she faring?" he asked, observing for himself her recuperation progress.
Unohana regarded him carefully. "Kuchiki-taichou, her injuries were very grave. We are lucky that she is safe now. Would you like to detail me further how she came to be this way?"
Byakuya stayed silent.
"She is very much like Hisana-san, is she not?" Unohana pressed him.
The dark-haired man looked up and nodded. "Yes. Could you keep a secret, Unohana-taichou? I have a promise to fulfill my wife."
Unohana smiled gently and nodded. "As you wish, Kuchiki-taichou."
"Yes. It is as you suspected. This girl here is Hisana's sister. I have finally found her and now I intend to adopt her into the Kuchiki family. I ask that you would not tell her that she is related to Hisana. Hisana willed it to be this way."
Unohana nodded. "You will be met with opposition yet again, Kuchiki-taichou," she informed him gravely.
"That I am already aware of."
Unohana nodded again. After a moment of silence, she inquired, "Are you scared, Kuchiki-taichou?"
Byakuya looked up at her, his slate eyes questioning. "What do I have to fear?" he asked with a hint of arrogance.
She gestured to the sleeping girl. "Rukia-san has Hisana-san in her. You will have to interact with her everyday. Are you prepared to do that without telling her who she really is?"
He stared at her.
She coughed lightly. "Maybe I should rephrase. Can you handle being around her without being affected by past memories of Hisana-san?"
Byakuya stiffened. "Are you questioning my abilities, Unohana-taichou?" his voice holding a sharp edge.
"Not at all, Kuchiki-taichou. I will press you no further. I will leave and give you time alone with Rukia-san." She glided gracefully out the door, bidding the captain farewell.
After the 4th Captain left him alone with the sleeping Rukia, he moved closer to the bed to observe her.
She really did look like Hisana.
He immediately felt the rusty creaking of his heart beat unsteadily as he gazed down at the face of the woman he loved. It was exactly the same. He frowned fiercely, berating himself not to confuse Hisana with Rukia. As he watched, he noticed that Rukia's eyes were moving rapidly under her eyelids.
She's dreaming?
Byakuya briefly wondered of what before he crushed the questions inside his head surfacing and turned his back on the sleeping girl. It had been so long since he had seen Hisana's face and he found it difficult to control his emotions around Rukia. Calming himself outside, he readied himself for the complications of his clan beliefs and rituals, for he now had to adopt Rukia into the Kuchiki family.
With confident and purposeful steps, he exited the ward without a backward glance, his haori billowing out behind him and his long black hair rustling with his movement.
Rukia stirred and woke up to that disappearing image. Her sleepy eyes widened.
"That's…"
The picture from my dream.
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I'm falling to pieces.