WHEN THE SNOW FALLS
by Yih

Chapter Fourteen
The Good Afternoon

Rukia felt like she was living in a dream, even though nothing much had changed about their routine. They began their day by eating breakfast in the main dining room, unless it was one of the mornings he had a Taichou's Meeting to attend. They conversed as usual about their upcoming day, although she found it more intimate than before. Then they left for their respective posts.

She reported to Squad 13, took on her assignments for the day, ate lunch with her fellow squad members, and then late in the afternoon most of the time, she would spar with Kaien like nothing had changed. Of course, they had though. Kaien still wasn't his usual self and he had yet to resume his Fukutaichou duties. He had retreated home to his sister and brother and refused to return to the Seireitei.

It would take time and Rukia knew that Ukitake would give Kaien all the time that he needed. Unfortunately, the co-4th seats Kiyone and Sentaro didn't run Squad 13 anywhere near the level that Kaien had. They were too busy arguing or trying to outdo the other, especially in the presence of Ukitake-taichou.

Rukia sighed and gave an encouraging smile at the new recruits that she had taken over the training of since Kaien had left. It didn't leave her as much time to improve her own skills, which was slightly disappointing.

Although she still practiced with Kaien, it was more about doing something that was reassuring to him than training her. If it helped him, she didn't care how much time it took, but Rukia had the feeling it wasn't helping at all. Kaien was just going through the motions, trying to recapture the life that he'd lost when Miyako had died.

At least she had Byakuya, even thinking of him made her cheeks warm up and her eyes glow with joy. Rukia had never thought that being with someone would make her so happy, but it did. Maybe it was just Byakuya and the fact he cared so much about her. She had never noticed before, but he did so many little meaningful things to show her his affection.

Too bad Byakuya was also rather busy with his squad and didn't have as much time to help train her. And to be honest, the time they did have she would much rather spend with him romantically. Despite the difficulties, she had progressed to her second dance. Rukia still couldn't perform it as powerfully or as consistently as she would like and Sode no Shirayuki was as exacting as she was. He wouldn't let her move on until she had mastered this dance.

"Rukia-san!" Kiyone exclaimed with Sentaro right behind her.

"Ukitake-taichou would like to see you!" Sentaro said before Kiyone could.

"If you have a spare moment!" Kiyone interjected.

Rukia smiled apologetically at the new recruits. "I'm afraid we'll have to continue this some other time."

"Don't worry about them," Kiyone declared, "I'll take over for you and show them how to wield their zanpakuto."

"I shall supervise them as well," Sentaro added.

Rukia gave them a weak smile and she could see the strain in the new recruits. Kiyone and Sentaro were good shinigamis – they just had a tendency to want to outdo the other. "I think they've had enough for today," Rukia remarked. "I'm sure you both have very important things that need to be done."

"Lots of paperwork," Sentaro said and Kiyone actually nodded in agreement with him.

"We never knew how much work Shiba-fukutaichou did," Kiyone responded. "I guess I better finish my part and start yours."

"I'll do mine and yours!" Sentaro exclaimed as they headed to their joint office, which in actuality was Kaien's, but theirs for the moment.

Rukia shook her head and turned back to the new recruits. "Keep practicing and I'm sure you'll improve enough to be sent on your first group mission soon."

"Thank you, Kuchiki-san," a couple of them told her. "For everything."

"It's the least I can do," she responded graciously, remembering back in the day how she had felt when Kaien had helped her with mastering zanjutsu. "I should go see what Ukitake-taichou wants. Practice hard."

"We will, Kuchiki-san!"

Rukia waved at them and took her leave. She quickly headed down the hallway to Ukitake's office, knocking politely and entering swiftly once he gave her permission. "Ukitake-taichou? Kiyone-san and Sentaro-san said you requested my presence," she said, sinking to the cushion on the floor in front of his desk.

"I did," Ukitake confirmed, looking at her with his kind eyes, "I wanted to tell you how grateful I am for all the work that you've done recently. I know it hasn't been an easy two months for you."

Rukia didn't bother to deny it. The last two months had been hard, but they had also been the best two months of her life thanks to Byakuya. It was just too bad they didn't have more time together. It could be worse. They saw each other most nights at dinner and afterwards they would talk about their day and if they weren't too tired… Byakuya would help her with her zanjutsu, her kido, her shunpo.

"I have asked a lot of you recently and you have done it all with such willingness," Ukitake continued. "I've noticed too that your zanjutsu has improved quite a bit recently. I'm curious, who have you been practicing with?"

"Kuchiki-taichou," Rukia answered. "He's… been training me since that incident with the Hollow."

"You've excelled under his tutelage," Ukitake remarked.

"Thank you."

"Although your first solo mission didn't go as planned that was hardly any fault of yours. That Hollow was exceedingly strong and clever, enough so to deceive both Kaien and Miyako. I have been meaning to send you on your next mission, but unfortunately I have a greater need for you elsewhere. The new recruits need to go on their first group mission and I think that as their mentor you being with them would be a great boost to their morale.

"Don't worry," he said, "I realize the new recruits aren't ready yet, but I believe they will be soon and I want you to start training harder if you can to be prepared to protect them as their senior."

"Ukitake-taichou, I—"

"I believe in you and your abilities," Ukitake declared. "You might not be a seated officer, but that doesn't mean you don't have remarkable talent. You've come a long way in the few years that you have been in Squad 13 and I'm very proud of you."

Rukia didn't know what to say – all she could do was look at him with her big violet eyes. Her Taichou was simply wonderful.

"There's one last thing I need to ask of you."

"What is it?" she asked, knowing she would do her very best to fulfill whatever he asked of her.

"I hear that you visit Kaien often."

Rukia nodded. "I do. He's doing better."

"Yes," Ukitake agreed, "I visited him a week ago. He seems to be doing well enough. I don't expect him to ever forget the unfortunate situation, but what he is doing, isolating himself at home – it's not good for him. I think it would be best for him to return to the squad." He paused and looked at her. "I need you to approach him."

Rukia had thought the same thing, but hadn't been able to bring it up to Kaien yet. "I'm not sure how to do that."

Ukitake smiled kindly at her. "You know him better than anyone in the squad. I'm sure you'll find a way."

"I'll do my best."

"And that's all anyone can ask," he murmured. "Now take the rest of the afternoon off and enjoy yourself. You deserve it for all the hard work you've been doing recently."

Rukia had been thinking of visiting Kaien this afternoon, but since she was leaving early from her duties she thought she could visit Byakuya for a short while before heading to the Shiba house. Rukia bowed politely to Ukitake before taking off to the other side of the Seireiten where Squad 6 was based. She used shunpo and was there before she knew it.

She nibbled on her bottom lip, wondering if she was going to make an imposition on Byakuya, not thinking that he might be really busy and not thinking about the fact that they were keeping their relationship hidden for the moment. She was about to turn around and leave when the Fukutaichou of Squad 6 saw her and waved.

"Have you come to see Kuchiki-taichou?" Kinomoto asked.

Rukia nodded and Kinomoto gestured down the hallway to Byakuya's office.

"I don't think he's too busy, just doing some paperwork like always. I'm sure he won't mind if you disturb him," Kinomoto said with a smile.

"Thank you," Rukia said and headed down the long hallway to his office.

Byakuya's fukutaichou was polite and nice, the perfect fukutaichou for him. Rukia didn't know all that much about Kinomoto, but she had always found her to be exceedingly courteous. Rukia was glad that Byakuya had someone like that to help him out with his duties as Taichou.

Rukia knocked her hand on the door and smiled when she heard Byakuya's voice: "Who is it?"

"Rukia," she answered.

"Come in," he said, so she slid the door open and entered. He smiled at her and she was glad that he was happy to see her. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Rukia blushed as she always did when Byakuya flirted at her in his own subtle way. "Ukitake-taichou told me to leave early, so I thought I would come see you before I went to the Shiba house."

"Come here," he beckoned and Rukia moved closer to him, but not close enough it seemed because he pulled her to him and bent his head down – tracing her lips with his tongue before really kissing her. "Good afternoon," he said and she laughed.

Yes, it truly was a good afternoon.

-

A/N: This chapter was a bit of a change of pace. Hopefully, it didn't bore you and that you enjoyed it. I'm curious to know what you think of the story and how it's going so far. The timeline of the story seems to have slowed down quite a bit for the last several chapters. I'm not really sure when it'll speed up, but we'll see. I'm currently in the middle of exams right now, but I still have one more completed chapter to release before I'm out and another one that's half complete which I'll likely finish at the end of exams… unless I happen to procrastinate. ^_^;;

Thank you for all your reviews, they mean so much to me, especially when I'm going through such a crappy two weeks of studying and exams. I'll release the next one sometime next week when I can find a spare moment!

Released: 12/12/08