WHEN THE SNOW FALLS
by Yih

Chapter Four
When the Light Shines

Byakuya didn't know what had possessed him to actually agree to teach Rukia the art of shunpo and perhaps, senka if she could master the basic skill. While he did care a lot for Rukia, which extended to him being extremely overprotective of her, he had never shown that to her. He never voluntarily spent time with her either.

It wasn't because he disliked her. No, the problem was that he liked her too much. As much as Rukia looked like Hisana, when he saw Rukia now – he saw Rukia, not her sister. Rukia had slowly wormed her way into his heart, whereas Hisana had been like a sudden storm. It wasn't Rukia's fault he had been slow to warm up to her. It was his fault he had avoided her as much as possible. Still he had found himself caring far more than he should be.

Spending more time with her wasn't going to help either. It would probably only make things worst, he thought. Too bad he had already promised her that he would meet her here today at dusk. Maybe she would forget, too busy honing her skills with Shiba Kaien to remember to meet him. Maybe she wouldn't come and he wouldn't find himself drawn even more to her.

But, of course, she would come. Byakuya could see her slim, billowing robes in the dim light of the moon. She was shorter than Hisana, he had noticed this just yesterday when they had been standing side-by-side, but her reiatsu – quite powerful – made her seem larger, bigger than Hisana had ever been.

"Good evening, Nii-sama," Rukia greeted, bowing politely. "I hope you haven't waited too long for me."

"Only a little," he replied, even though he had been here an hour prior to her arrival.

He liked to come to this part of the forest, to stand and mediate, to let nature soothe his worries and doubts away. It was here that he had learned shunpo from Yoruichi and here where he had always lost to her when they played tag. He would never equal her and it was unlikely Rukia would be his equal, but that didn't mean he couldn't pass on the knowledge or the skill. Maybe this might save her life one day.

"I have learned nothing of shunpo," Rukia confessed. "Shiba-fukutaichou thought it best when I told him you would teach me that it was best that I didn't learn any bad habits."

"That was wise of him." Byakuya didn't much like Shiba, mainly because he was too brash and loud for his tastes. "I will show you first what you will learn." Byakuya shunpo from in front of Rukia to behind her.

"With shunpo," he began, smiling faintly when he saw her eyes widen with surprise, "your body and mind must be quick. Most shinigamis believe that it is all in the body, but it is also here." He tapped his temple. "You must think fast to get somewhere fast. You must gather your reiatsu and use it to push you forward. Instead of using your reiatsu to push others away from you or to bind or attack someone, you are using it on yourself. That's the difference and that difference is what separates shinigamis who can use shunpo and those who can't."

Rukia hadn't even seen where Byakuya had gone until she heard his voice behind her. How was she ever to learn shunpo if she couldn't even see him move? "I don't even know where to begin. I'm not even sure if my reiatsu is strong enough to learn shunpo."

"Strength doesn't matter," Byakuya lied, keeping his face composed without a trace of emotion. The power of one's reiatsu was the greatest predictor if one could learn shunpo or not. Rukia had enough raw power, but he didn't want her to know how strong she was. "All you need is control over your reiatsu."

"I understand what you're saying, but I have no idea how to do it," Rukia said.

Byakuya had always been a swift learner and teaching was hardly one of his strong points; however, Rukia was quite adept at kido and kido required consummate control over reiatsu.

"Do you remember when you first learned kido spells?"

"Of course."

"Using shunpo is like using a spell on your body, except no incantation is needed. You just think about moving fast and push your reiatsu through your body to allow it to move as fast as you're thinking. Does that make more sense?"

"It does, but understanding something doesn't mean you can always do it," Rukia said. "But I'll give it my best."

She closed her eyes to concentrate and Byakuya watched her, thinking of how lovely and delicate she looked in the forest. The moon was now high up in the sky, glowing softly down on them, reflecting lightly off Rukia's shiny black hair. Her violet eyes popped up and suddenly she was moving fast, not as fast as shunpo should be, but much more swiftly than even the fastest shinigami could run at full speed.

The best shunpo should be nearly impossible for another person to see where you were going. Rukia was nowhere near that, but it was a very commendable first try.

"How was that?" she asked, her big violet eyes staring up at him. Her eyes were so beautiful.

Byakuya looked away from her in disgust at himself. He couldn't believe he had allowed himself to think about Rukia in that way. She was his sister and moreover, she was Hisana's sister. He couldn't think of her that way. It was wrong.

"Nii-sama?"

Byakuya blinked and turned back to Rukia. "It was sufficient for now. You will need more practice for you to actually perform shunpo the way it is meant."

"I will practice very hard," she promised.

"See that you do," Byakuya murmured before he shunpo back to the safety of their home, to his room, where he could forget of how close he came to thinking for Rukia as someone he could fall in love with.

It was unthinkable, to fall in love again, especially with her.

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A/N: Now you can finally see Byakuya's interest in Rukia. But what about Rukia's interest in Byakuya? Let me know what you think and please keep reviewing! It really inspires me! Thanks again and I hope you enjoyed the chapter .

Released on: 11/13/08