Champagne and fireworks! I have reached 100,000 words! Haha, i didn't see that coming when i started this ff.
Anyway... here you have the longest chapter so far! (written in one day... i don't know what is wrong with me!)
One little comment on the chapter:
Ichirukui fans... no flames (i've really put a lot of heart into this chapter) and don't lose hope also (after all this is an ichiruki story).
Anyway this is one of the most romantic chapters ( one of ... not the most...) so enjoy and mind the english (it's 3 am in the morning here, i i'm tired and i must wake up early tomorrow.)
Ps: lyrics translation for the bachata scene from "casi casi- tobey love"
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annia9semi, when i got your message i started to write this chapter, so now you can concentrate on your studying. Good luck and good grades!
teshichan, you are right... Byakuya fell right in the trap... and now it's too late for him to go back.
falconrukichi, "hell will happen to open." ...i'm so sorry, i didn't understand to what were you referring...
ej, you have read my mind :D.
your-darkangel07, if that chapter hurt you... i really wonder if you'll hate me after this one.
saiya-jinPan140 , You believe that Renji won't give up easily. I belive that also... but some readers, will get really angry he'll keep appering. Don't know why...
SchelmaAnimeFan, Hmmmm... good intuition on Byakuya... i thought it was obvious, but the others didn't see it coming. And: " but don't make it too cliche ! :D" - i will ask something and i need you to be really, but really honest: 'In which point or starting when this story started to look like a clishe?"
Adam, GO ON, HATE ME! :)
purplepam, you broke my heart... why is Hisana better than Rukia?
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And as Rukia remained alone she started to think of her last two months in Seireitei that changed her life…forever.
The morning Ichigo left, Rukia woke up late. She had a warm sensation on her lips and her body. A sensation similar to the morning she woke up next to Ichigo… except that he wasn't around anymore… and he will never be, not in that way. She gasped trying to put herself together. She took her face into her palm rubbing it… and then she felt something cold, like a metal. She looked at her hand and discovered a beautiful silver ring.
Was that for real? Who could have entered into her room and do that?
For a second her heart was filled with hope. She thought of Ichigo. But then, she came to her senses and realized that he was already gone. How stupid and childish of her! She shouldn't interfere with his life anymore. Not even in her deepest wishes. Finally he will marry Inoue and he will have the peaceful, beautiful life she had always wished for him. That kiss… the night they spent together… the morning in which she woke up in his arms and felt his warm lips all over her body… It was enough for her to carry on with the felling that, at least, comparing to others, she had known the felling of true love.
She looked again at the ring. The only person who was giving her jewelries and who was also the one who could enter her room at any moment was Byakuya. She smiled. It must have been him then… In a way it did make sense after the conversation they had last night.
"The metaphorically husband"
She knew exactly what that meant. Neither of them was going to marry ever and somehow they were both stocked together in this house, in this passionless life… The ring must have been a little lovely irony from his part. She will accept the gift, as she will accept this life, by him side… in this 'metaphorically marriage'…
She will remain forever Kuchiki Rukia, the adoptive sister of Kuchiki Byakuya and the lieutenant of the 13th Division…nothing more, nothing less.
She got off the bed and the same moment the servants knocked on the door. They must have been waited at the door hours, she thought.
"Come in…" she said.
The maid Mariko made immediately her appearance followed by two other servants.
"Good morning, Rukia-sama… Or better 'good after noon'. Would you like to have something to eat? Lord Kuchiki had been waited for you to eat together."
"He shouldn't have… I am not even hungry…"
"I see…" the maid stated. "He also has sent us to take care of your luggage."
"Luggage?"
"Yes, my lady. You are both leaving today to the Ryoing's summer vacation…"
Rukia gasped with boredom and put herself again on the futon. She hated to pack.
"So what would you like me to pack for you ?"
"I don't know… whatever you feel like is necessary…"
The three servants started then to 'devastate' her dressing in order to compose an enormous luggage.
"My lady…" Mariko stated. "You haven't even unpacked the clothes you last time used when you went to the human world. These must be immediately taken away and washed…Oh but what is this?" the maid added while she found a gift bag in the suit case. Rukia immediately got up from bed and took the bag from the maid's hand. It was the bag with the 'passionate bachata songs' she had bought from the real world.
"It's nothing…" she replied and put it on her desk.
The maid smiled politely then she turned back to her work. After a couple of minutes, as she saw her master lazing around, she asked:
"Won't my lady start to prepare herself for the departure?"
Rukia approached the mirror and yawned as she was looking at her ruffled hair. But before she could answer a knock on the door was heard.
"Yes?..." Rukia permitted thinking that it was another maid, but then Byakuya appeared in the threshold.
Both their eyes widened as they looked at each other. Rukia was amazed by the fact that Byakuya was already all dressed up and ready for departure. Byakuya was tangled by the fact he had burst into her room while she was dressed only into a cream –white negligee. A short one…
"Rukia…" he intoned.
She immediately took from the luggage Mariko was preparing, a silk dressing gown and put it on her.
"I am… sorry …" Byakuya said with a white voice. "I was just …wishing to check if you are … ready…"
"I…i…" Rukia begun with a bashful tone. "I overslept…"
"The luggage it's done. We will take them outside!" Mariko said and made a sign to the others servants to take the suitcases and leave the room. But when they passed beside the desk, they hit it and the gift bag that Rukia put there earlier, fell.
Byakuya scowled at the little bag and when the door closed he approached it and picked it up. Rukia froze.
"What is this?" he asked curiously.
She opened her mouth for a couple of times and then she finally gasped with a hopeless expression. She remembered clearly the day she had bought it… and the shop boy who insisted that the cd would be a great present for a relative.
"Nii-sama…" she finally said. "Actually that was supposed to be a present for …you…"
His eyebrows cocked surprised.
"But it's nothing… Please, don't! It's rubbish!" she said and she approached him trying to get back the bag, but he lift his arm in a way so she could not reach it. Then took out from the bag the : "Burning soul- the newest and the hottest bachata songs" CD.
Byakuya's eyes widened for a second before they could returned to their impartial expression. Rukia lowered her chin, waiting to be laughed at…or even scolded.
"Do you have something where we can play this thing?"
She looked at him surprised.
"Nii-sama… you don't have to…" she whispered, but Byakuya looked at her with a serious expression.
'Is he for real? This is madness!'
So she went to her closet and from a in which box she had her things from the human world she took out a CD-player. Byakuya then approached it, put the CD inside and pressed play with a handiness that surprised Rukia. She wondered when did her brother become so aware of the human technology.
The room started to be filled with the warmly bachata rhythms, but both of them remained stiffed. Rukia's ears turned red, wondering what thoughts could cross his mind, when he turned to her asking:
"Do you know how to dance on this music?"
She looked at him as if she had chocked with her food, Byakuya, untroubled, was still waiting for an answer.
"I… I've learned a few steps…" she finally answered with a low voice.
"Would you mind showing them to me?"
Her eyes widened. She didn't know how to react. He saw giving his hand in a dancing invitation. She gasped nervously. 'This is truly madness!' she told herself and took his hand. 'Holding hands with Nii-sama! Dancing with him!'
"Firstly…" she began with a trembling voice. "You must know the basic step…"
Byakuya was looking at her attentively. She immediately lowered her gaze looking at her feet.
"So… the basic step… is 1…2… 3 and you must lift your hip in the opposite direction…It means you to right, you lift to left." she said and slowly showed him.
He looked at her curiously, but no thought of his could be read from those grey eyes.
"Nii-sama…" she said embarrassed. "We don't have to do this…"
"Continue, please…" he encouraged her.
She gasped again.
"Ok… so 1..2 …3 and lift…"
He tried to copy her movements.
"No…No… it's not a lift from the knee… it's from the hip!" she corrected him.
He frowned.
"The hip…" she repeated and she put her hand over her hip so she could show him the movement.
He didn't react.
'Oh! This is pure madness! Madness!' she yelled in her inner self and she took off her dressing gown, so that she could show him better the steps. His eyes widened when he saw her remaining only in her short negligee.
"1…2…3 and lift!" she continued.
He smiled amused and took her by hand…and by her hip… and after that he started to lead the dance.
"That's right! You've learned it!" she said happily… But then she suddenly realized that he knew the steps better than her… that he actually knew how to dance bachata. She raised her eyes, facing him with a more than surprised expression, but Byakuya smiled with complicity.
"I actually like this song…" he said.
Her mind was blocked. Only her hip and feet were moving due to Byakuya's lead.
"Do you understand the words of the song?" he asked.
It was Spanish. Of course she didn't. Oh, she just wished for all this to end quicker. She was so embarrassed.
"No…" she answered with a low voice.
"It's the story of boy falling in love with his best friend…" he answered.
She smiled. That sounded pretty familiar to her.
"I hope they have a happy ending…" she whispered.
"I wonder…" he said and he started to translate the lyrics:
"My friend, I breathe your sweet and nervous breath, and I know that I am so close to confess that what I feel it's more than friendship…"
She closed her eyes. If those were the meaning of the words, she would also start to like the song.
"My friend, you are so close that I can feel the one thousand tickles inside you… My friend, I am close to give myself to you…"
His voice was low and mellow. She closed her eyes. Slowly all her muscles relaxed, all the tenseness disappeared and she started to enjoy the music… the dancing… But then he suddenly approached her year and whispered:
"Bachaterra!"
She opened her eyes and the last think she noticed was that strange smile upon his lips. The next thing she knew was that he pushed her away in a round of pirouettes and she started to feel like the ground was not beneath her anymore. It felt as if she was flying. She had never danced in that way before! No one had ever held her that close! Finally, he pulled her back, close to him…with her back against his chest. Their bodies were waving on the music as if they were one… The joy of dancing! She wished for it to never end! … She felt his breath in the back of her head. Just like in the lyrics of the song! She really wondered… Should she whish for this to stop?... It was just a dance… nothing more… She just enjoyed the feeling of being embraced by the music's warmness … by his hands…
She meant no harm, but she wished for that dance to never end!
But it did! Within the same second she wished it didn't…
Gently, he let go of her hand. She looked at him confused, almost not wanting to let him go. He smiled, noticing her little grip and finally, acknowledging the embarrassing situation, she him let go and put the dressing gown on her. Byakuya pressed stop on the Cd-player and then silence filled the room. She tried to avoid his gaze, but then she felt as the silence was too heavy.
"I didn't know that… Nii-sama knew how to dance bachata…"
"When I was 48, I spent one year in the real world… during that period I've learned a lot about their customs, including bachata…"
She lifted her eyes surprised. She had never heard that before.
"Rukia, I'll be waiting for you at the carriage…" he said suddenly said and turned to the door.
He left, but not before he could take with him the bachata CD.
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Byakuya smiled as he was heading to the carriage. He also meant no harm… He really hoped he hadn't cross the line with that dance. But he had really enjoyed it… and he did not seem to be the only one, even though when he left her, she looked confused. She shouldn't, he thought, because he will never do something that she will not wish or allow him to do. For him, it was enough, that she was near him. He will never ask for more… even though his heart was screaming inside him, every time she was close.
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Goroza entered in Haruna's bedroom and found her packing.
"And where are you going exactly?"
She grinned.
"To the summer vacation house, of course!" she replied cheerful.
"No, I don't think so…" he replied taking the luggage away from her.
"But if I don't go… Byakuya won't do anything about Rukia… I'm sure that they would sleep in separate rooms and they will both waste all this time."
"Of course they will sleep in separate rooms! They are brother and sister!"
"They're not related by blood!"
"Hauna…" Gogoza said calmly. " You are not going anywhere!"
"As if!"
He turned to her, cocking his eyebrows.
"My darling… I think I have permitted you too many things! You should remember who is the parent and who is the child in this relation!" he added while leaving. "You are staying home!"
"Then It means that all this thing with Nanakuma's it's just a waste of time!"
"Exactly!" he replied from the threshold.
Angry, she threw away all he clothes.
"Haruna, you know very well that the reason for which you wish to go there is not because you want to help Rukia and Byakuya… It's because you don't lose them from your sight! Stop playing blind! It's obvious that you still have feelings for him!"
"Get out!" she growled with a trembling voice. "Get out!"
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It wasn't in vain the reason for which the building was called "vacation house". Everyone who put a foothold there was forgetting immediately about any worry or trouble. It was early September, but everything felt like a warm, careless summer Sunday. It was exactly what Rukia needed after all her unfortunate episode with Ichigo… here she slowly started to regain her strength and the beauty of her smile.
But Rukia was not the only one on which this house had good influence. Byakuya also had loosened his tightness and stiffness here. He had traded the coldness toward the servants for subtitle irony. He had traded the apathetically expression toward Rukia for smiles.
He and Rukia were spending the entire day together, here. They were planning, choosing, arguing on patterns, flowers, drinks, food and music for the wedding they were preparing. But when they were getting tired of this, Rukia was always coming with ideas like "What about a horse ride?" … "What about tea?"… "What about some walks across the near river?"
One day he asked her: "What about drawing?" .She smiled like child and run to get papers and brushes.
They've spent all that afternoon drawing chappies and Seawood Ambassadors. Rukia even did one with the two of them holding their hands. When she showed it to Byakuya he frowned thoughtfully:
"Seawood Ambassador looks better than the chappy…" he stated.
She also frowned like an upset child and Bronx cheered at him. He widened his eyes intrigued but then, he suddenly laughed. He had just realized: Rukia was being at ease around him. He always thought that she could do that only around Ichigo and Renji. Now he had understood the reason. Those two had spent time with her. She had never been cold toward him. He's been the one keeping himself away…that's why she couldn't bring herself to be close to him. But now, things have changed… and he was happy. For the first time in decades…
"What about you? What do you got there, Nii-sama?" she asked pointing at the drawing he was working for more than an hour.
He hid it.
"It's a secret?" she asked curiously.
"It's not a secret…It's a portrait." He replied.
"A self-portrait?" she asked with a hint of irony in her voice.
"Actually it's your portrait…"
Her eyes widened with excitement.
"Nii-sama, I didn't know you can draw chappies!"
Without a word he handed her the paper. Suddenly all her excitement disappeared making room for a serious expression. She held no chappy drawing but a real portrait. She felt like she was looking into a mirror… only that it was a mirror which made her more beautiful: Covered with a white sheet that let her naked elbow to show off, the beautiful girl had turned her graceful neck looking at Rukia with some melancholic yet sensual eyes. Long strands of her black hair were falling over her back and shoulders. Rukia had the impression that the portrait was alive.
"Do you really see me like this?" she asked.
Byakuya didn't answer.
"Thank you, Nii-sama…" she added.
"You're welcome..." he replied impassively. "But you'll have to hand that back because it's unfinished."
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In this way days have passed at the Ryoing's summer vacation. Because both of them were worriless and happy, they have lost the notion of the time... They could have been there for a day…or two… a week or maybe a whole year! They couldn't care less!
During the day they were working on the wedding, on the afternoon they were listening together how the time passes.
"I wish for these days to never end…" he whispered as they were both lying on a blanket under a tree.
"They won't Nii-sama… I mean, when we are going back home, even if we'll be both work, we'll still have free week-ends to spend like this…"
He didn't reply. Then Rukia understood that it was not about the week-ends or the time spent here.
"Don't worry, Nii-sama…" she added. "Ichigo plans to get married, so I won't have any reasons to stay in the real word more than my missions are requesting it…"
He looked at her surprised.
"Kurasaki Ichigo is getting married?"
"Yes… he is, with a human, of course" she answered with a low voice, not wishing to mention Inoue's name. "Moreover, I don't plan to get married… I am the heir of the clan; this means that the Kuchiki manor will always be my home… so that's why, you don't have to worry Nii-sama."
He smiled.
"Are you sure that you don't want to marry?"
"Nii-sama… what can give me a married life that the life I already have cannot?" she answered.
"Love… children…" he replied.
She suddenly got up for the blanket.
"What kind of love can I ask?" she said. "Don't I already have your love, Nii-sama?"
His eyes widened. He tried to answer, but for the first time since he was a teenager, he couldn't find his words in front of a girl.
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During that evening, Rukia had come back from a meeting she had with Natsumi and her fiancé. She was excited about the fact that the couple had agreed on making the ceremony in a traditional way and the reception in human's style. She was hurrying to give Byakuya's the news. She knocked on the door of his room but no one answered. She has allowed herself to enter, but the room was empty. She looked around with curiosity as it was the first time she was entering there… and then she saw on the desk her portrait on which he had been working. She noticed some extra small details from the last time she saw it. The most interesting was a ring on the hand that was coming out the white sheet. She recognized the Kuchiki's coat of arms on it but she admitted that she had never seen a ring like that before. Nonetheless the ring was beautiful. The portrait itself was beautiful… but still, there was something that didn't look like her. Something that could give it authenticity was missing… So then Rukia took a pencil and drawn around the writs a thin bracelet with a little Seawood Ambassador hanging.
'Perfect!' she told herself.
Within the same evening, when she returned in her room, she had found an envelope on her desk. It was the letter from Inoue. She cried after she read it, but this time her tears did hurt her as they used to. She understood that she had already let go of Ichigo.
"Kuchiki-san I have finally found my true happiness. Be free to find yours now…"
Yes, she was free of Ichigo or at least that is what she wanted to think…So now, where was her happiness?
A knock on the door was heard.
"It's me, Rukia. The designer had come over and he wishes to ask you if you have decided on the color of your dress" Byakuya's voice was heard.
She smiled as an unexplainable cheeriness took over her. She understood where her happiness was.
She got up and opened the door.
"But didn't we already agreed on violet with pink?" she asked.
"Yes, Rukia… but I can't wear pink…"
"Then blue… perhaps?"
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Later, that night, when Byakuya entered his room, he noticed the change in his draw, that little Seawood Ambassador. Instantly, his eyes were widened and his heart started to beat fast.
For the first time, his heart was filled with hope. Even the feeling of guilt disappeared. That little mascot hanging on her drawn wrist was like her silent approbation of his feelings. It was as if she was saying… "It's alright for you to love me… I won't hate you for that"
He smiled. He felt like the end of the world could come and he couldn't care less about it!
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The day of the wedding arrived sooner than they expected. That morning, they both wake up early. They had their bath, their massage, their spa session. The maids arranged their hair, helped them get dressed… and when the time was near they have met on the porch of their house. Walking gracefully like two characters from the Heian period, they approached and bowed at each other. Then Byakkuya whispered:
"You're beautiful, Rukia"
But Rukia lift her eyes and faced him with a worried expression:
"I'm so nervous about this wedding as if it's my own. I will feel responsible if something goes wrong!"
"Don't worry… It won't!"
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At the Ryoing's summer house, in the garden, Byakuya and Rukia had prepared an enormous white tent for the ceremony. The whole Kuchiki clan had gathered there. By noon, there was no empty place left. Except for two seats which, were, of course, prepared for the heads of the clan. When they finally arrived everybody got up and salute them as they were the grooms. With their chin high and their back straight, dressed in clothes worthy of kings and queens, Rukia and Byakuya advanced in the tent and silently took their places.
From a few meters away, Haruna watched the couple with her eyes wide opened, biting constantly her lips.
"Please, try to hide your jalousie…" her father whispered with boredom.
"I'm not jealous!" she snapped angry.
"Lower your voice, will you? He will hear you."
Soon after that, the grooms also appeared, dressed in traditional clothes. While they advanced to the improvised altar, Natsumi couldn't abstain from being herself : When she passed beside Rukia and Byakuya, in that solemn atmosphere, she leaned on her back and whispered:
"Rukia-sama, thank you so much! This is sooo perfect! I love it! Great job!"
Everybody present exchanged meaningful smiles and chuckles. Rukia herself smiled amused and made a polite bow as thanking gesture.
"Wait and see the dress!" Natsumi added.
"Natsmi!" her fiancé whispered.
"Oh, sorry!" she replied with a guilty smile.
Rukia smiled again, but when the ceremony begun her smile slowly disappeared. Byakuya noticed her melancholic expression. He knew the reason. Rukia after all, was a women… and no matter how much she denied it, she also secretly dreamed of a beautiful wedding. He remarked how that melancholy of her eyes turned into…loneliness. He frowned. But she wasn't alone! Wasn't she aware of that?...
He slowly reached his hand and put it over hers. She turned to him surprised but when she saw a reassuring smile on his face, she also regained her smile. Byakuya was pleased: for the rest of the ceremony that smile didn't left her lips.
And then, while her eyes were watching with emotion the ceremony, that strange idea crossed his mind. Rukia had chose to remain home… she said that her happiness is there. t… He thought of the fact that Kurosaki Ichigo will also get married…He thought of the little Seawood Ambassador hanging around her wrist. He thought of the reason Ryoing Goroza didn't want this wedding… And suddenly he asked himself…
'What if…?'
'What if, Rukia…?'
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During the reception, everybody changed in human clothes. They seemed to have a good time. The fresh Nanakuma couple approached Rukia and Byakuya thanking for everything they have done. Rukia complimented Natsumi for her beautiful wedding dress, while Byakuya with a stiff air announced that the whole wedding arrangement will be paid by him as starting gift. Before he could receive a proper thank, Haruna cut between them. With her specific cheerful manner she had congratulated the grooms and then pulled Rukia aside, thanking her for allowing her to see her zanpakuto again. She didn't have the time to start a real conversation with her, because a handsome man had invited her to dance. Haruna excused herself and left. Disappointed by the fact she remained alone, Rukia looked around for Byakuya. She found him surrounded by the elders of the clan. Knowing that she couldn't interfere, she decided to go and have something to eat… or perhaps to drink. Byakuya noticed her passing beside him, and he also noticed her disappointed expression. He wanted to approach her, but when he finally succeeded in backing out of the Elders, Goroza came to him:
"I hope you won't hold any grudges for me going against this wedding…" he said.
"No, because I finally understood why you did it…" Byakuya replied.
Goroza smiled sadly.
"So you have made up your mind?"
"Will you go against it?" Byakuya replied.
Goroza gasped.
"Haruna won't go against it, so you can imagine…"
Byakuya looked at the man with a satisfied glare in his eyes. Then he turned his gaze to the other side of the room where a beautiful brunette girl was hanging on glass of … something with a bored expression.
"Please, excuse me…" he said and moved aside.
Rukia was next to the bar having her glass of campaign. The elders had come to her since they have been deserted by Byakuya. She tried to smile and answer to their questions politely, but her eyes were lingering on the dance floor where all the couples were having a good time. It was wedding after all… She also wished that…
"May I have this dance?"
She turned surprised. Someone has just read her thoughts!
"Nii-sama!" she hissed.
He smiled and led her to the center of the dance floor. While she was dancing with him, she thought for a second that if her whole life would have been composed by days like these, she would have easily forgot that once… an orange haired guy had turned her world and her heart upside down. Then she thought of how lucky was her sister to be married to Byakuya…
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Later, while the wedding was about to end, Natsumi got up and made a special request. She asked to be allowed to throw her bouquet the same way the human brides do it. Since the bride was the queen, all the unmarried girls gathered on the dance floor..
"Are you married?" Byakuya asked when Rukia remained beside.
"Nii-sama…" she replied with a frown. "These kinds of things are not for me…"
"Rukia, I've asked you, are you married?"
"Uuuh!" she gasped and got up from the table, joining the girls.
"1…2…3!" Natsumi said and she threw the bouquet.
One second a deep silence filled the room and all the girls turned to Rukia. On her turn, Rukia looked at everyone surprised. Then Haruna broke the ice with a:
"I hear some wedding bells ringing, Lady Kuchiki! I wonder who the lucky groom is!" and then she gave Byakuya a meaningful look.
After the bouquet episode, everyone started to say good-bye. Holding the bouquet, Rukia congratulated the grooms once again and then went abroad the carriage, along with Byakuya.
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"What a day, Nii-sama!…" Rukia said on her way home.
But Byakuya didn't reply. He looked tensed, as if he was repeating in his mind a long and important speech.
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"Okaerinasai, Kuchiki-sama, Rukia-sama!" the servants greeted the lord and the lady of the house.
"Tadaima!" Rukia replied cheerful. "I'm exhausted, Mariko!" she added as she went ahead and passed by her personal maid. "But it was worthy! I even cached the bouquet of flowers. Can you believe it? On the beginning I didn't want to go, but Nii-sama insisted! He must have felt something… Oh, Mariko! I'm so tired in this moment. You know, fighting hollows it's easier than facing a Kuchiki wedding! I'm glad Nii-sama was by my side all the time or else I wouldn't have been able to go thought with it!"
The maid smiled amused and made a bow.
"Would you like to serve you the dinner in the garden?"
"Oh, no! Please… I believe that Nii-sama and I ate enough on that wedding to not be hungry for the next three days! Instead, you could serve us some green tea…"
"Understood, my lady!" the maid replied and after she made another bow she left the alley.
"Green tea I believe would be nice, right Nii-sama?" Rukia asked as she kept moving, but as no answer came to her she stopped. "Nii-sama?"
But as she turned she found Byakuya still as a stone in the middle of the alley with a strange expression on his face.
"Is everything alright?" she asked worried.
"It has been a wonderful day, Rukia…" he said with his grave voice. It was a voice that it was no longer intimidated her. It had become her most familiar sound.
"It was, Nii-sama, indeed …" she replied.
"Actually…the last 6 years have been wonderful…" he added and instantly her face turned red. She bowed her face in order to hide it.
"Nii-sama… t-there is… no need to mention it… i…" she tried to day.
"And I was wondering if all the years that have been left for us could be like them…" he continued as if she hadn't interrupted him.
She raised her face. For a second her violet eyes widened, but then a warm smile appeared on her face.
"As long as there're will be peace on this land …our lives will go on the same way as they did until now" she replied.
"Is that a promise, Rukia?"
"It is, Nii-sama…"
"I see…" he added.
A slight smile appeared on his lips and for a reason she couldn't explain, Rukia felt happy. In that moment she would have wished to ask him to smile more often…but she bit her tongue, because that would have complied her to admit that in the depth of her hearts she would have wanted him to keep all his smiles and rare moments of kindness only for her. And that would have been crazy and selfish, she thought. She sighed, prepared to tell him that she will go ahead and change her clothes…but then her eyes widened again. She saw Byakuya leaning on his knees in front of her…
" Rukia, you have forgiven all the wrong I have done to you and ever since have been my closest friend, my family…and the pride of the Kuchiki family" he begun and from his knees he completely bowed in front of her, with hands and eyes facing the ground. On that sight Rukia's heart skipped a beat.
"And for that I have nothing to repay you…"
"Nii-sama!" she hissed almost scared as she approached him. "Please get up! Please don't say such foolish things…You have already made me the heir of the Kuchiki clan… You are the one who saved my life so many times…and you have offered me a home…Please Nii-sama, get up! I am not worthy of…"
"Rukia, all the things you have received …are nonetheless the things you deserved." He continued calmly with face still facing the ground. "You are worthy of everything within this house …including me. But even it might sound strange from a man like me… I feel that I'm the one who it's not worthy of you…"
On the beginning, Rukia thought that Byakuya must have drunk too much at the party. Then she remembered that he haven't touched a single glass of alcohol. After she heard his words she started to worried and shortly, her worries made her heart stop as she remember what Byakuya's body position meant: A leader of a clan was not simply bowing in front of women…
She put both of her little hands over her burning chest. There was only one reason for which nobles men were bowing in front of women. He was just not going to do what she was thinking he will do!
"But if your heart could ever find me worthy of you, will you accept to live together days like the one we had today for the rest of our lives? … Will you trade the status of an adopted sister for the rightful one of the Lady of the Kuchiki clan?...Will you…" but here he stops and clinches his fists for a second. "Rukia, all these years, you have been the heart I thought it stopped from beating… You have been my heart.. For a long time, I have tried to ignore it, given that you were adopted as a sister in this family… but not anymore… Rukia will you be my wife?"
A deep silence felt between them and in that moment Byakuya understood that these thoughts and crazy wishes of him should have been kept forever locked in the depth of heart. But then, as he wished he could turn back the time and remain silent, he felt a pair of small hands raising his face from the ground. He raised his eyes and saw Rukia in her knees, crying next to him.
"I will…Nii-sama" she said as tears kept falling. "I will… but don't you ever bow like this in front of anyone …ever!"
And after she said that, she took him in to her arms and embraced him with all her strength. That should have been their moments of intimacy, but all the stuff of the house was on the porch watching the scene with astonishment.
.
.
Back in Ichigo's room, sitting alone she was thinking of the night Byakuya proposed to her. A lot of things crossed her mind in that moment. Ichigo's frown every time they parted… Inoue's letter… the party at the Ryoing's… She had the feeling that if she'd say 'yes' she would lose Ichigo forever. Then she realized that she had already lost him… What if he was already married by now? Then she thought of her happiness… she thought of Byakuya. Was she surprised by his feelings?... Did that matter anymore? When she was next to him she felt that her heart was safe… She knew that he will never make her cry…She knew that if their live together will be the same with the day of Nanakuma's wedding… she will eventually, forget everything about Ichigo…
So she said yes…and he gave her the ring he had drawn around her finger on that portrait. She started to call him Byakuya-sama and he started to come home earlier from the headquarters, so he could spend time with her. But one day, Ukitake tells her that he needs her in the human world, since the Prisoner's issue had become serious… and she accepted. She needed that. She was about to get married to Byakuya so she wanted to meet Ichigo, to make sure that all her feelings she once had for him, had died…
But then she saw him across the street calling her out loud… and she understood how hopeless she was in front of him.
And then he told her that Renji had made a confusion. That there is no Inoue… and no wedding with her! That the only person he wishes to marry is she, Rukia! …
And that's how she understood that she had made the biggest mistake of her life…
She looked at the ring in her palm.
What was she going to do now?
.
.
Ichigo turned to his father after Rukia went upstairs.
"Do you think she will kill Renji?"
Isshin didn't answer, then Ichigo approached him.
"Dad, I was thinking… if it's ok with you, I would like to give Rukia, mom's ring…"
Isshin frown.
"Ichigo… I believe you are rushing things…" he said.
He looked confused at his father.
"Give her a little time, Ichigo… Just trust me and give her a little time…"
.
Really, i also know what i have just done...but i was planning it for far to long to gave up on it now!... So please, be kind