WHEN THE SNOW FALLS
by Yih

Chapter Thirty-two
His Pride

Rukia was nervous as she made her way to Squad 6 – to Byakuya. She didn't know why she should be worried when she had such wonderful news. It had taken so many years, but now she was finally a seated officer. Byakuya would be proud of, she knew he would be. He had probably been sorely disappointed when she hadn't made a seated position when she had first joined her squad, but she had rectified it.

It may have taken a lot longer than she had thought it would take, but she felt like she was a well-rounded shinigami. Perhaps, her kido skills were superior to her zanjutsu, but that only gave her more motivation to seek improvement. And Rukia was positive that it was because of Byakuya that she had gotten this far. She owed a lot to her… fiancé, she blushed as she thought of him in that way.

If he had not taught her shunpo, she wouldn't be as good as she was today. And of course, his instruction when she had finally broken through and achieved her shikai release… All along he had been there, giving her pointers and tips, and she had promised herself she would make him proud of her. As she stood outside of his office, her heart began to thump in an erratic, excited rhythm.

She knocked on the door and she felt her face turn red when she heard his smooth voice say, "Come in."

"I'm sorry to bother you," Rukia began as she walked into his office, "but I have news…" Her voice trailed off abruptly when she saw that Byakuya was not alone. Renji was also there, sitting before Byakuya.

What was Renji doing there?

Rukia felt like she was trapped when Renji's eyes settled on her. She had not seen him, not talked to him since she had rejected him more than a year ago. It was hard for her to face him, knowing that she had hurt him. It didn't help that she knew he would never forgive her for doing what she had done. But how could she tell him the truth? And now? It was even worse.

Did he know she was engaged to Byakuya? She recalled something about one of the Elders saying they would need to release an announcement about their engagement soon. Had they already done that? Even if they had, would Renji even read something insipid like that? It would undoubtedly be in the society section of the newspaper. She doubted he had any interest in something of that sort.

She felt flushed with nerves. Rukia's gaze drifted to Byakuya and she saw that his shoulders were tense and his eyes were deadly serious. It wasn't too long ago that such a look would have made her tremble with anxiety.

"Do you need something?" Byakuya finally asked, breaking the silence. His voice was polite, but distant. It was obvious to her that he did not want to discuss anything to her with Renji in the room.

"It can wait," Rukia said in a rush. "I will see you at home then—"

"I was just leaving," Renji interrupted as he stood up, pointedly ignoring her by addressing Byakuya. "What time do I report here?"

"At dawn."

Renji nodded and with that, he was gone, leaving Rukia confused and alone with Byakuya. Rukia glanced sideways at him, wondering if she should say something first or if she should wait for him. A couple of questions were on her mind, but she could tell that he was not in the best of moods.

"What did you need?" Byakuya asked in a much kinder voice than he had used previously.

Rukia looked up at Byakuya, thinking she was silly to be so nervous. "I have wonderful news!"

Was it her imagination or did his expression seemed strained for a moment? It had to be her, why would Byakuya look like that?

"What news?"

"I don't know quite how to tell you, but I have made the 3rd seat of Squad 13!" Rukia said in a rush. "I couldn't have done it without you, though. You definitely helped me improve my skills as a shinigami and I hope that this makes you proud of me. I know you were disappointed when I didn't make a seated position when I first entered the Gotei 13, but now I…"

"I have always been proud of you," Byakuya stated, his eyes dark and intense. "You should never doubt that. You are my pride."

Rukia smiled. "Ukitake-taichou is having a small ceremony for me this afternoon." She looked at him with her shining eyes. "If you can spare the time, I would love it if you could come."

"I will be there," he said.

Byakuya held out with his hand and Rukia took it, laughing softly as he pulled her to him to hug her and to bend his head down to kiss her. Rukia sighed as she rested her head against his chest. How could life get any better than this?

"Will you promise me something?" he asked softly.

"Yes?"

"I know you cannot always help your missions, but can you promise me that you won't seek deliberately dangerous missions?"

Rukia leaned back and looked up into his beautiful and concerned eyes. She placed both of her hands on his face, framing it. "Don't worry, you worry far too much."

"You are the most precious thing in the world to me," he whispered.

She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him gently on the lips. "I love you, Byakuya."

"I love you too."

-

A/N: Wow sappy at the end, hopefully it's not too saccharine. Thanks for all the reviews. I definitely didn't plan on updating any time until after exams or my trip! But I felt a little guilty because of the wonderful responses to my last chapter, so here you go! (I wrote this as a study break!) I hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing this. I'm not quite sure what will happen after this, but there are a few more chapters at the very least! Let me know what you think!

Oh, and I decided to concentrate on Rukia's POV since it's been a while since we've heard her mainly her thoughts. It's been a little Byakuya heavy recently (not that that's a bad thing ^-^!).

Released: 3/4/2009