YAY! I got reviews! I have to say, it may not be the million reviews that every author wants to see appear in their mailbox after posting a chapter, but it was more than enough for me - thanks guys, I'm beaming with happiness!

Alright - here is the second part to Paper Wings...there isn't really much to say about it - after having taken so long on the last one, this one was easier to write. And yes, from Rukia's character again - I just couldn't change it - I love writing Rukia. She's such a dear...

And HEY! One of you guys actually mentioned my inspiration for this fic, it was totally inspired by the calendar that came out with all the characters featured as feudal era people...yes, so congrats to teshichan...it wasn't a happy accident that they lined up perfectly with the calendar ;) You win a virtual cookie!

Anywho - hey, have any of you guys heard of Rock Musical Bleach? Guys - you MUST watch it! Go to YouTube, first look up andromeda881 and search their profile for the subbed version (The order is: Saien, Dark of the Bleeding Moon, Live Bankai Show Code 001, No Clouds in the Blue Heavens, The All, Live Bankai Show Code 002 and Live Bankai Show 003) Guys...it is the most awesome thing EVER! (Well, besides Bleach itself). And yes, it it a musical - which might sound hokey to you now...but just go watch it - it is unbelievable - AND HEY! If you really want to, you can go to my profile (FictionPM) and I have the first three subbed saved as playlists :D

Okay, back to this.

I still don't own Bleach. Or Rock Musical Bleach. But, I can look up a part where Aizen, Byakuya and Toshiro are all singing a very, very sexy song :D

Is this the life that you lead,
Or the life that's lead for you?
Will you take the road that's been laid out before you?
Will we cross paths somewhere else tonight?
Somewhere else tonight...

And I can't tell if you're laughing
Between each smile there's a tear in your eye
There's a train leaving town in an hour
It's not waiting for you, and neither am I

Paper Wings II

Begin Chapter Six:

"What the hell is that?"

Rukia clenched her fingers into a fist, trying very hard to suppress the urge to hit him. It was strange…she had been feeling more and more inclined to violence since she had begun her odd friendship with the thief known as Kurosaki Ichigo. Not that she particularly minded, but – sometimes it reared its ugly head in places that it shouldn't. Like when her betrothed (She cringed at the term) arrived at her home early in the morning to invite her to spend the day with him, and she had no choice but to accept (one could only fake sickness so many times before they were found out) and had to listen to him prattle about such dim things while they rode to whatever area he had chosen for them that day.

Mostly, though, it showed when she was with Ichigo – there was something about him that had all of her perfectly set walls of calmness and self-control - crumbling down around her, leaving everything that she thought had frozen long ago bare and slowly thawing out. Like her short, wicked temper and violence. Things that, if her Nii-sama knew about, would mean being sent away for a very long, very strenuous season of re-learning how to act as a proper Kuchiki with her distant relatives - the same people who had taught her Nii-sama.

The last time she had went, she had been eleven and had made friends with some of the children in the area. Her Nii-sama hadn't approved of her choice of comrades...well, she wondered what he would do if he found out about her latest friend, and the influence he was on her.

"It's a rabbit!" Rukia turned slightly and glared up at the orange-haired thief who was was lazing in the sun across the top of the Kuchiki wall, wishing that he would fall off.

"What?" He demanded, squinting, "No way - it looks more like a pig."

"A pig?" Rukia had to fight to keep her enraged shriek down to sub-sonic levels. It was a nice morning in the very back of the Kuchiki gardens, and it would be a definite downer if the guards came running to her rescue and Ichigo had to escape his death. Actually, at the moment, with him irritating her so, she considered setting the dogs on him. "You..." She almost let a curse slip past her lips, but reigned it down in time. Instead, she threw a dirty paintbrush into his face was deadly accuracy.

"Pfft," Ichigo snorted, wiping off the black paint with a glare, "Sorry your Highness, I didn't mean to accidentally offend your horrible, deformed drawings." his sarcastic mutter caused Rukia to smile slightly to herself. She hadn't realized how much she missed being around real people who didn't treat her like she was a member of a noble house...Ichigo didn't seem to care about that at all. In fact, he teased her for it more often than he respected her for it. He was real...which made her feel more real in return.

"Watch it," Rukia murmured, her voice laced with less anger than she had wanted, "Or I'll draw a portrait of you."

"Oi," Rukia expected another sarcastic or witty remark - or at the very least a threat. That was usually how their time spent together went, but instead he seemed to be in a conversational mood today. Odd, but it didn't really matter. Ichigo was Ichigo, whether he was yelling, teasing or just yapping like an old woman.

"When's that suitor of yours coming by today?"

They didn't especially talk about that part of her life - any time it came up, Rukia was usually complaining about Takiando-san and his antics.

Immediately, Rukia's mood darkened, being reminded that Takiando-san would be coming to whisk her away...and she would have to plaster a small smile on her face and pretend that she was having a wonderful time - when really, she was contemplating using Ichigo and his less-than-noble occupation to her advantage. Takiando-san wouldn't be a probable suitor if he didn't have the near limitless fortune and high social standing that her Nii-sama would look for in a match.

"Near midlight." Rukia grumbled, turned her head to gaze at the sun - wishing that it would just stay put where it was and let her be free for as long as she wanted. Her life was so strange at the moment – on one side, Rukia was downcast; terrified about the future and the cage that she was going to be shoved into before she even had a chance to live - on the other side, however, her fleeting moments of joy were more powerful than she could imagine. Ichigo had a way of making her laugh - of helping her to survive the Kuchiki cold that had set in years ago.

What was she going to do with herself after she was married?

Immediately, Rukia pushed the thought out of her head - she didn't have to think about that now.

"Jeez." Ichigo muttered, "He's a real annoying bastard, isn't he?"

Not wanting to appear too malicious, Rukia just sighed. She agreed with Ichigo...but that didn't mean that she would bad-talk another person behind their back...not that she didn't want to, she did, but it seemed too dark; too...Ichigo. Not that Ichigo was a bad person - he was just more free with his emotions than Rukia was.

She wasn't sure if she was envious of that fact, or relived it was true.

"Do you have to spend time with him?"

Rukia put down her brush and turned to look at Ichigo, a small smirk on her face, "Yes, Ichigo. I've declined the past four invitations he's sent me, remember?" He should remember - he was the one who practically ordered her to decline, and they had spent the days by the river. Rukia had tried to teach Ichigo how to swim...it hadn't worked out too well for either of them. Rukia had ended up frustrated and insulted, while Ichigo had ended up embarrassed and pout-y. Sometimes Rukia couldn't believe how much of a child he was.

"Damn! Today's going to be so boring!" Ichigo's face fell into a pout again, and Rukia laughed to herself, but it was flat laughter. In the back of her mind, she was thinking about how much she wished she could decline again...but she couldn't. She wouldn't. And Ichigo was just going to have to find something else to do.

As long she wasn't being forced to go anywhere, what was wrong with amusing him and herself?

"Ichigo...would you like to try?" She offered him a canvas and brushes, grinning when he turned to glare at her, his eyes immediately saying no, but she knew that he would give it up eventually. As always, she was right, and after grumbling to himself, he slipped down behind her Nee-chan's blossoming tree and began to run the brush softly against the canvas.

Rukia watched him out of the corner of her eye, surprised at how he seemed to know what he was doing. Had he done this before?

"My mother used to paint for us..." he explained after she had asked, his back hiding his face, "She would take me and my sisters out, teaching us how to properly hold the brush."

Rukia didn't have to ask; the ache in Ichigo's voice relayed it perfectly. His mother was someone he loved very much...and she was gone. It was a tone that Rukia knew well – she had heard it ringing in voice when her Nii-chan had passed away. Rukia didn't bring it up again - there might be a day that they shared those types of deep things with one another, but that was not today.

The sun moved too fast in the sky, and before Rukia knew it, she was being summoned back to the courtyard; Takiando-san had arrived for her.

"Goodbye," Rukia murmured as Ichigo disappeared over the wall, just in time, as it was. Takiando-san had become impatient waiting for her, and had come to retrieve her himself. Rukia greeted him with the proper amount of abashment, trying to hide her intense irritation, smile a little stiff. "Hello, Takiando-san." She refused to greet him more familiarly than that - he had attempted to persuade her to do so, but she outright refused. She might have felt a little horrid about it, if she knew that he didn't look at her as if she was just a royal-blooded, social-status boosting, child-bearing Kuchiki. Rukia had to admit, thought, he might love her. He might cherish her but...that wasn't enough for her. The way he treated her was almost too caring; too sweet.

Just as she thought this, he stepped forward to wipe her bang back into the rest of her hair, talking to her in a soft voice, "We're meeting with my Otou-sama and your Nii-sama today, Hime."

Rukia scowled - unable to stop herself. "Well then, let's be on our way Takiando-san." And get it over with.

She hoped that the meeting wouldn't last long - but her instinct was telling her to prepare herself to be seated and still for a long while. Her instinct was correct, it turned out, as she sat a half-an-hour later, trying not to fidget while listening to the old, slow voice of Takiando-sama, the honourable father of her suitor. They had spoken of the future, and about the history of their family; now doubt trying once again to impress Nii-sama, something that they shouldn't bother with. Rukia rolled her eyes discreetly. Nii-sama wasn't impressed by such things, and neither was she.

Finally, the conversation took a turn towards something Rukia could pay attention to- the date of her and Takiando's wedding.

"We've taken into consideration your previous anxiousness to get married," Takiando-sama said slowly and Rukia felt panic welling inside of her - that wasn't anxiousness to get married, she wanted to say, that was anxiousness to not be married - the want to be free. "The date has been changed. You will be wed the day after tomorrow."

The day after tomorrow. The day after tomorrow. The day after tomorrow. It rang in Rukia's head like a funeral dirge. Her stomach churned and her throat closed up; she had been counting on her engagement continuing on for months, and if she played her cards right, maybe years - but her trial was set now. Her prison was created, and she could see it looming ever closer. Somehow, she managed not to show her panic, not to lose all of her self-control and yell and scream like she felt like doing. Instead, she took it all - locking up her emotions inside her, just like a true Kuchiki. Her Nii-sama would have been proud.

She hadn't been able to completely concentrate on the rest of the meeting - her Nii-sama and Takiando-sama had finalized the plans, leaving Rukia and Takiando-san to themselves. Rukia had been too shocked to bother responding to his many attempts at holding a conversation - he was lucky she didn't express her internal maelstrom physically, there were plenty of samurai swords decorating the room for her to take care of her problems permanently. It had taken too long, much, much too long in her opinion for her Nii-sama to finally announce that they were leaving. Distracted and distant, Rukia barely managed a nod goodbye. She didn't even flinch or grimace when her Nii-sama reprimanded her for such behaviour when Takiando-san had momentarily left then to gather the horses.

Her mind was wrung - spinning so fast Rukia couldn't pay attention to what she was going - where she was going. She just wanted to go home and try to get her world back upright. She wanted to see her Nee-chan; she wanted to close her eyes and pretend that everything was just a horrible dream, and surprisingly, she wanted to see -

Rukia was suddenly very aware of her surroundings; dragged out of the darkness of her mind roughly and suddenly, giving her a headache, but be knew what was happening. She was leaving Takiando-sama's with her Nii-sama; Takiando-san was catching up to them - he stood next to her, grasping her arm gently.

And she was also hallucinating.

Nii-sama and Takiando-san were walking on either side of her, guiding her to the horses, but there was something wrong...Ichigo seemed to walking towards her - up the long path to Takiando-sama's and he was grinning a her with a look the devil himself would have approved of. Rukia stared back - shocked, her mouth going dry. Takiando-san stiffened, no doubt in reaction to the wicked look on Ichigo's face.

Was he...was he going to kidnap her?

It seemed like it had been so long ago that Ichigo had teased her about it - just teased, because Ichigo was honourable - too honourable to not repay for her saving him life. At the time, Rukia had been relived - glad that she wouldn't fall victim to him; but that day hadn't been the day before her wedding - before her cage dropped into place, trapping her for life. Without any consideration, without any second thought - only her immediate and most irrational emotions raging inside her, Rukia realized in astonishment that she wanted Ichigo to kidnap her.

It seemed so easy...just a small step away...Rukia stared at Ichigo was a hopeful look, breath hitching and heart galloping.

Then, the want to be stolen away finally landed in her stomach with a resounding thud, and Rukia realized that she was insane. What was she thinking? She began to struggle; kicking and squirming, she didn't care if she hurt him. When his iron-grip didn't loosen, she resorted to biting him, and it was then he seemed to acknowledge her existence.

"Ow! You stupid chibi! What the hell?" His offending appendage was quickly removed from her mouth, allowing her to begin to yell.

"Put me down, right now Ichigo!" She tried to make herself sound threatening. When Ichigo didn't hesitate in answer, "No way, Hime." she realized she might as well have been telling him to stop making fun of her drawings. He wasn't ever going to listen to her.

"Ichigo."

This tactic was less obvious than the first one - she was going to try something she had never done before. She was going to talk nice. "Please, Ichigo -stop this." With much chagrin, Rukia realized her voice sounded so pathetic...and thought that she would rather stick to yelling. To her amazement, however, Ichigo stiffened, the horse's path swayed slightly - and Rukia hoped that she was finally getting through to him. The horses steady gallop was starting to make her feel sick - considering she was laying stomach first on Ichigo's knees, the jostling and pounding was going to make her sore in the morning.

"Ichigo." She said his name one more time, and finally the horse slowed - slowly enough for her to wriggle out of his grasp and slip harmlessly onto the grass.

"Oi!" Ichigo yelled, jumping off after her, "Don't run away!"

Snorting, Rukia crossed her arms, stepping towards him to glare more menacingly, "I'm not going to run away," she growled. He reached for her once more, and she slapped his forehead, pushing him away. "What the hell are you doing?" Her demand was a shriek - she couldn't stop herself. She was infuriated - and embarrassed at having been hauled away in front of her Nii-sama like she had been.

This time, Ichigo snorted, mimicking her movements as he crossed his arms, "I'm kidnapping you, stupid. You're coming with me and my gang; tonight we're leaving this land - at first light we'll be gone."

Something deep inside Rukia shifted painfully - Ichigo was leaving? Of course she knew what he was saying was impossible - she couldn't go with him. Since the day they had met, Rukia had known that their friendship was numbered - for so many reasons. She was engaged - she belonged to another man, and after the wedding, she wouldn't be able to sneak away as she did under her Nii-sama's semi-protective gaze. Also, because Ichigo was a thief - a wanted man, and a nomad above all else. Rukia had been surprised he had stuck around so long - months must have seemed like forever to him.

Their meeting had defied all natural laws - all social laws - it was all wrong.

But, it had felt so right.

"I can't." Rukia said quietly, shaking her head, "I'm...I'm a Kuchiki; I just can't abandon my title!"

Ichigo's face flashed with shock, confusion, and then disgust finally rested on his features, "You know, Rukia, I can't understand it - you loathe that bastard; you hate everything about being a Kuchiki - but you still follow every rule, go along with every whim of that master of yours like a damn puppy!"

"It's my duty!" Rukia gasped, outraged that he would say such a thing, "I was born here, born as a Kuchiki, raised as a Kuchiki and expected to live as Kuchiki, and that is all I will ever be! I can't just run away from the things I dislike because I want to!" Kami, if she could do that she would have done it ages ago.

He looked just as infuriated as she felt; his next words were spit with such venom, that Rukia almost recoiled under the heat, "So you're just going to wait around to marry him? To live and die unhappy?"

His angry questions ruffled her pain from earlier, reminding her that Rukia wasn't going to be single as long as she had wanted to be. He saw the pain ripple across her face - confusion blossomed slightly in his hard gaze.

"Ichigo," Rukia refused to let her emotions best her, but she didn't know how to tell him what was wrong without going into another rage or breaking down completely. "Ichigo..." She said again, quieter, "Tomorrow...tomorrow..." Dear Kami! Rukia clenched her hands into tight fists, furious with herself, why couldn't she say it? It shouldn't be difficult, this was the truth! This was something that she was eventually going to have to come to terms with...Rukia shuddered. She was going to have to come to terms with it before tomorrow.

"You're getting married." He said it bluntly, and hearing the words out loud stole Rukia's breath away and caused a fresh sheen of tears to flood her eyes, threatening to fall and officially label herself as a coward.

"How do you know?" Rukia whispered, horrified and tearful.

He didn't answer immediately, something that worried Rukia. Ichigo never had problems saying anything - he was crude and blunt and loud-mouthed, hardly ever holding in what he wanted to say. Her intuition flashed briefly, and she realized it was probably something he didn't want to admit to. Like watching her carefully, or even having someone from his pack of thieves watching her for him. It should have worried her that he would put so much effort into knowing her, but it didn't. Instead, Rukia just felt hollow - she had felt too much in one day, too much grief, horror, chagrin, and even earlier in the day, happiness.

"Ichigo." She didn't know what to say - she didn't know what she was going to do. No...actually, that was the one thing she did know. She was going to be married, and then locked away until her dying day. Rukia felt like cursing again, but what use was it? This was her life...she was a Kuchiki...

"I am a Kuchiki," Rukia said again, feebly, trying to make him understand the level of devotion she held to her clan.

His eyes were still dark, "Yeah," he said sourly, "A damn Kuchiki."

Feeling even emptier than she had before, Rukia gave up. She wasn't willing to fight with him anymore - she couldn't put up with the emotions that it took to try and make him understand; to try and make herself understand. She turned after a moment, not bothering to say goodbye. It was too much for her.

"I'll offer it one more time," Ichigo began softly, "We leave tonight, before dawn. I won't wait for you." And then the horse began to gallop away, leaving Rukia to her misery.

She didn't cry - Rukia had never been an emotional girl. The last time she had shed tears was when her Nee-chan had passed away, leaving her to the cold, hard world all alone. Since that day, she had never felt the need to cry; all her warm, human tears had frozen up behind her eyes, and turned into cool, cobalt ice. But damn that Ichigo - his warmth and fiery disposition...he had changed all that.

Rukia didn't cry. But she wanted to.

She wanted to forget everything and fall into a well of tears -

No! She wanted to be strong, she wanted to survive -

Her Kuchiki pedigree raged against these very new, very troubling emotions, and with neither side managing a victory, Rukia simply felt strangled. Nii-sama had posted his guards; circling a wide radius of the Kuchiki castle, meaning that it wasn't long before Rukia, wandering aimlessly in the forest, was found and brought back to her home. Nii-sama hadn't greeted her; she had received a warm and satisfied welcome though one of his servants, before being escorted back to her room.

How fitting for him...how Kuchiki.

Rukia's respect for the title was dwindling, and she found herself cursing Ichigo again.

Her room had never felt so cold - so empty - so pointless. Rukia sat down in front of her Nee-chan's shrine: a large painting with burning incense. How Rukia longed to flee from her cold room and visit her Nee-chan's resting place in the garden, but leaving her room now would not be permitted. Sneaking out was her last resort - she would do it only if she absolutely had to. But, Rukia told herself to be strong; she couldn't rely on her Nee-chan forever, and today was an excellent day to begin gleaning of off her own strength.

After all - starting after tomorrow, Rukia was going to be on her own forever.

The thought had her teeth clamping down against her lip in agonizing panic; in something akin to fear. And then there was her sadness. A great sorrow had taken hold of her soul - taken hold before she had known what was truly happening. There was pain - worse than the seemingly all powerful pain of her fear. It hurt, and she didn't know what to do with herself. No comfort came with time - the hours dragged on, the night fell upon her - leaving her in the darkness, and Rukia felt more like a prisoner than ever. And then, she couldn't stop herself from calling out to her Nee-chan.

"Hisana-Nee."

Her Nee-chan had been so happy; Rukia now wondered how that had been possible. How had Hisana-Nee managed to live, smiling and happy in this Kuchiki dungeon? Then again, Rukia rationalized, her Nee-chan hadn't been trapped like Rukia was going to be. Hisana-Nee and Nii-sama had married out of love.

The seconds ticked by in silence; slowly, Rukia's eyes widened. Nee-chan hadn't married Nii-sama because she was a noble who had to - her Nee-chan had come from a poor family, from a lower social status...and Nii-sama had married against his family's wishes. Her own Nii-sama hadn't lived by the Kuchiki laws as Rukia herself had.

Suddenly, everything Rukia had once taken for granted began to dissolve away - with an almost audible snap, Rukia felt her consciousness re-awaken and her feet stretched out beneath her, almost toppling herself over with the force that she stood up with. Her legs carried her halfway out the door, before she paused, reconsidering herself.

The note she left behind explained her true feelings to her Nii-sama, how she refused to be part of something she didn't truly care for. She told her Nii-sama that, regardless of how he might feel about her, she still loved and admired him - but she wasn't who she was pretending to be, and she was tired of keeping up with the facade. She apologized for being more like her Nii-sama than he had ever hoped.

That part had put a small, half-smile on Byakuya Kuchiki's face when he read it in the morning - knowing that it was true, and that his beloved wife's little sister was happy. And because of this small decision, he was freed form the promise he had made his family; to always uphold the Kuchiki law. Rukia could be free now - and he hoped with all his heart that she would never be forced to come back again.

She was a Kuchiki, but she was also Rukia. And unlike the Kuchiki's, Rukia didn't want to marry for convenience. No, she wanted something a little more adventurous - something that was perhaps as binding as an arranged marriage, but not as suffocating. Something that her beloved Nee-chan and stoic Nii-sama had found, and taken for themselves, regardless of the consequences.

Her heart jumped and picked up triple time as she stole her way to the garden, pausing at her Nee-chan's grave before leaping up the tree and over the wall.

"Sorry, Nee-chan." She regretted having to leave her Nee-san this way, but she still wouldn't change it. "Thank you."

The sun was peeking across the tops of the trees, cascading across the forest floor; Rukia anticipated pain. She hadn't even bothered to use the tree for her climb down, she was too rushed and disoriented from her epiphany to think of it - but it turned out she didn't have to worry about it.

Warm arms wrapped around her middle, catching her safely before her feet came anywhere close to the ground. Her mind didn't struggle long to figure out what was happening. Had he been waiting for her all night? Elated, Rukia wondered if she had been right in thinking what she was looking for would be less suffocating - at the moment she felt like she wouldn't ever be able to breathe properly again. Gazing upwards, she met his face - smiling when she finally got a good look at him. His eyes were warm - the fire was simmering, moving slowly - like lava - a slow burn that instantly warmed her not so frosty heart (not lately, anyway). Immediately, all of her fears and worries; her insecurities about her decision, melted away.

"I thought you said you weren't going to wait for me, Kurosaki Ichigo." She teased as he set her down, releasing all of her but her small hand, which he kept encased in his own.

"Heh," He grinned, "I guess I lied, Kuchiki Rukia."

Rukia shook her head, still smiling, "Not Kuchiki; not anymore. Just Rukia."

End Chapter Six