WHEN THE SNOW FALLS
by Yih

Chapter Eighteen
The Progression of Life

Nothing ever it seemed went according to plan. Had it really a year since Miyako's death? Rukia stood at her sempai's grave with Kaien in the pouring rain, watching respectfully from a distance as he mourned the loss of his beloved wife. It was sad, having to see his continual pain, but he was getting better however slow and gradual it was. At least he had returned to Squad 13, though it had taken him nearly a year to take up the duties of a fukutaichou again.

Kaien stood up after praying at Miyako's stone marker and turned to Rukia. "Thank you," he said, "for everything that you've done in the past year. I appreciate it and I know that Miyako does too."

"I did what I thought was best," Rukia said softly. "I'm glad you're better now. Squad 13 needs its fukutaichou."

"It also needs a 3rd seat," he remarked, turning around to face her. "I'm recommending you to Ukitake-taichou for that position."

Rukia looked at him in astonishment. "What?"

"Don't look so surprised," he said. "It's something I should have done several months ago when I knew I wouldn't take up my duties as soon as I thought. You have basically acted as 3rd seat, taking on and training the new recruits and much more. You deserve this position, Rukia. There's one else in the squad that deserves it more."

"But I haven't even mastered my shikai release yet." She looked down at her zanpakuto, brushing her fingers over the hilt. "I'm hardly worthy of a seated position."

"Zaraki-taichou doesn't have bankai and he's a taichou," Kaien said. "Why must you have a complete shikai release for a seated position? I believe your combined zanjutsu and kido skills are superior to Kiyone's and Sentaro's." He put his hand on her shoulder. "I can see that you don't believe me, but I've already arranged for a qualification test because I knew you were going to be like this. I don't understand, why don't you have more confidence in your abilities?"

It wasn't necessarily that she didn't believe in herself or her abilities; it was just that seeing Byakuya practice in the forest at night when he thought she was sleeping, she could understand the gap in their power. She was never going to be as strong or as skilled as he was, no matter how hard or how long she practiced. It wasn't all about hard work – talent and reiatsu had a lot to do with it as well.

Neither had it helped that she hadn't been progressing that much with either kido or zanjutsu. She was too busy with her duties at Squad 13 that when she got home, she was too tired to take Byakuya up on his offer to help her with her shikai release. Of course, exhaustion wasn't the only reason she didn't want to practice. She didn't get to spend as much time with him as she wanted and she only had herself to blame.

Rukia had taken over more and more of the day-to-day running of Squad 13 when it became apparent to her that Kiyone and Sentaro weren't capable. At the same time, she hadn't wanted to hurt their feelings and had quietly undid their damage and redone it. She was fairly certain that only Ukitake-taichou had realized what she was doing.

Kaien had only been back to being fukutaichou for a month and she had gradually fallen back to her former role as an unseated shinigami, but it seemed that he had still noticed all the work she had done in his place. Rukia bit her lip and looked up at him.

"A test?"

"I thought you'd need verification that you really do belong as 3rd seat and so I've arranged for you to fight both Sentaro and Kiyone at once. If you hold your own, then nothing you can say will deny me from acknowledging you as the 3rd seat. And you will do your best," Kaien told her. "I know what your best is."

As overwhelmed as she was by the entire situation, Rukia could stop and be grateful for this moment. For once, she could hear and see the Kaien she knew and admired. "You sound like your old self," she said.

"I feel like my old self," he responded, grinning. "Now let's get back to Squad 13 so I can show off our new 3rd seat."

"I haven't fought Kiyone or Sentaro and there's no guarantee I'll be able to hold my own against them."

"You will," he said with full confidence. "I know you will."

-

Byakuya was mildly irritated, which was saying a lot, by the time he arrived at Jushiro's office. He was mainly put out by the fact that this urgent request was going to cost him precious time that he could be spending at Squad 6 finishing up his work so that he could actually get home at a decent hour to see Rukia. They had been far too busy of late, he thought, they hardly spent any time together anymore.

"Jushiro," he said as he knocked, "you requested my presence?"

Jushiro slid open the door and stepped out of his office. "Come with me," he said. "It's already started, but we haven't missed much."

Byakuya didn't move from where he was standing. "Where are we going?"

"To the main courtyard. There is something I want you to see."

Byakuya reluctantly followed his old friend to the courtyard where he recognized Rukia fighting two individuals that he recognized as two seated officers in Squad 13. He believed they were the co-4th seats, but he could be wrong. He didn't make a habit out of memorizing other squad's rosters.

"You brought me out for a practice session?" he inquired a little coldly, even though he was enjoying the way Rukia used shunpo to her advantage by making herself untouchable to their kido and zanjutsu.

"Rukia has improved greatly in the last year," Jushiro remarked.

Byakuya glanced at him out of the corner of his eyes, wondering at the familiarity of which Jushiro addressed Rukia. "I've helped trained her in Shiba-fukutaichou's absence."

"I've heard you've been training her for longer. Her shunpo is a lot like yours."

The two seated officers had both released their zanpakuto, although Rukia was still fighting them without and Byakuya pressed his lips firmly together when she narrowly avoided getting herself cut by the shorter one. This fight was far more serious than it needed to be for a training session.

"If you are trying to impress me with how you train your shinigami, then I must say I do not approve at this level of danger in practice."

"Do you remember the first conversation we had about Rukia?" Jushiro asked. "I told you that you could only hold her back for so long, well you can't hold her back anymore."

Byakuya turned to Jushiro. "What do you mean?"

"It is time that you recognize that Rukia is far beyond the skill and power of an unseated officer. I cannot keep her in that position anymore. She is too talented for that and I must recognize it."

"I won't allow it," Byakuya told him before he quickly looked back as he felt Rukia release her zanpakuto.

Sode no Shirayuki was always utterly beautiful in released form and Rukia shone wielding it. Byakuya now recognized why this fight was more serious and dangerous than a training session warranted. This was a test of qualification and if Rukia held her own against to co-4th seats then she deserved to be seated.

Unfortunately, Byakuya wasn't about to let that happen. It didn't matter if Rukia was good enough to be the 3rd seat. Jushiro should have realized this demonstration was useless. While it would be hard to override a senior Taichou's recommendation for seating, he was the head of the Kuchiki family and Yamamoto-sou-taichou would respect his decision.

He would not let Rukia come into any danger, if she hadn't already been in the Shinigami Academy, if she wasn't talented and powerful, he never would have let her become a shinigami either. He had promised Hisana to take care and protect her sister and now that she was so precious and dear to him – it had magnified honor with love.

"I am not asking you your permission," Jushiro said, looking forward at the fight. Rukia was holding her own very well against Kiyone and Sentaro. They were trying too, especially when they noticed he had arrived. "She belongs in the 3rd seat."

"And I won't allow it."

-

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. ^-^ Will Byakuya let Rukia become the 3rd seat in Squad 13 eventually or will he keep trying to protect? I have the next chapter partly written (thank goodness my horrible round of exams are over... *depressed* but at least it's over) and I'll update when I have a sufficient enough number of reviews! Better review a lot, so I write a lot before I do go on my Xmas trip where I doubt I'll be able to update for a week! Thanks so much for reading!

Released: 12/20/08