WHEN THE SNOW FALLS
by Yih

Chapter Two
To Shelter From the Storm

It was late in the night and Byakuya was still in his office, doing tedious and necessary paperwork. He had sent his Fukutaichou home early, saying that there wasn't much left. He had lied, there was a lot to do, but there was no reason to make the poor woman stay when she had a husband and children waiting for her.

Byakuya had just finished inking his name onto a document that he would need to send to Yamamoto-sou-taichou tomorrow morning when he heard soft knocking on the door. He turned and saw the shadow of a silhouette.

"Who's there?" he called.

"It's me," Jushiro answered. "You asked if I could come to see you sometime. I felt now would be a good time, if it's a good one for you as well."

Not exactly, but Byakuya might as well get this business out of the way, the sooner the better. "Come in."

Jushiro slid the door open and stepped in before sliding the door close. "I see you're still working."

"Just some paperwork." Byakuya gestured for him to take a seat on a mat.

"Ah," Jushiro remarked, sinking to the floor gracefully. "What is it that you wished to speak to me about?"

"It's about… my sister."

"Kuchiki Rukia," Jushiro murmured, "I saw that she was assigned to my squad this morning. I've heard she excels at kido."

Byakuya shrugged at the compliment to Rukia. He knew everything about everything that Rukia did. He knew that she was close friends with Abarai Renji, Kira Izuru, and Hinamori Momo – from what he had heard, all were very talented. Unfortunately, Rukia was not as skillful with a zanpakuto as her friends were. Still he was proud of her for learning to be competent with her zanpakuto and to build on her strength in kido.

For some reason though, he had always found it hard to actually talk to her. They often would sit at the dinner table and eat their meal, yet never say a word more than the cursory polite chitchat that was a given. It wasn't that he didn't want to conserve with her, he just didn't know where to begin. So he said nothing when there were many questions that he would wish to ask her.

"What about her?" Jushiro asked.

"I understand you are a fair taichou."

"I try to be, to the best of my abilities."

"Unfortunately, I'm asking you to disregard that quality. I'm asking you to make Rukia ineligible for a seated position. I can't ask you not to allow her to take the test, but I can ask you to judge her harshly enough to keep her from a seated position. Will you do this for me?"

"May I ask why?"

"Consider if you had a sister and you wished for nothing more than to protect her from harm. Now do you understand why I'm asking you this favor?"

"I'm surprised you'd come to me for it." They both knew Byakuya could push papers behind his back and make Rukia ineligible for a seated position through other means.

"I figured you'd be surprised if your recommendation for Rukia becoming a seated officer was vetoed and start asking questions. I judged it best to tell you upfront."

Jushiro nodded, not bothering to deny what Byakuya had said. "Not all seated officers are assigned dangerous missions."

"Even the so-called easy missions are much less safe for a seated officer than an unseated one, considering the seated officer is the leader and is responsible for the shinigamis under him."

"I can see your concern. Even on the easy missions, it's impossible to guarantee anyone's safety."

"Will you make her ineligible for an officer seat?"

"For the time being," Jushiro stated. "I never do think it's wise to let a new shinigami rise quickly through the ranks. It makes them too cocky and such arrogance has led to the demise of more than a few highly talented shinigamis. I won't promise you that I will always make her ineligible, but I can promise that her progression will be slower than most. She won't be promoted until she's too qualified for the position."

Byakuya said nothing to what Jushiro had said. He was getting what he wanted, for now and when the time came that Jushiro thought Rukia was ready for a seated position, well then Byakuya would just have to block Rukia from such a dangerous possibility.

"Thank you for your understanding. I'm sorry that you had to come here so late, but I appreciate you taking the time. If you will excuse me, I still have some papers I must tend to before the night is over."

Jushiro inclined his head and rose to his feet. "Byakuya," he said, waiting until Byakuya's gaze was focused on him, "you can only hold her back for so long, I hope you know that."

Byakuya watched Jushiro leave, staring at the closed door for several minutes, thinking about everything. Life was very much what it had always been before Rukia had entered his life. One thing was different, he had one more thing to worry about – Rukia. Another obligation should have been another annoyance, another tiring task, but it wasn't. He didn't like worrying about her safety, but he rather enjoyed thinking about her when he wasn't worried.

Rukia was the one bright light in his otherwise dark world.

-

A/N: I'm getting a lot of hits and that's great! However, if you're reading if you wouldn't mind reviewing to let me know if you like it, that's great because if no one's interested, I'll probably just write this story in my head and save myself some time. I'm rather busy, being a med student and all . Thanks for reading once again!

Released: 11/09/08