Miss insensitive writer has thought of being a little more sensitive with you in this little chapter.
Hope you will enjoy it!
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annia9semi, glad to know that they are readers who support equally Ichigo and Byakuya. I'll think about pairing Byakuya with you, hahaha...
saiya-jinPan140, , i'm surprised that you liked that chapter... i thought that people will think that i have gone mad or something
B000097z , Rukia get him Ichigo?... Renji?..
teshichan, , yes Isshin is much more clever than he looks :D. and by the way, i also have the same opinion with you. If Ichigo wants Rukia, he should prove himself, right? He must be aware that she won't wait for him forever and that there a others who treasure her.
SchelmaAnimeFan, I'm really... really glad that you like this so far!:D
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And as all these thoughts overwhelmed her, big drops of rain started to fall, painting the window in black and blue…It was already night. When did her time flow over that window? It seems it was only yesterday that she first stepped into this room. So many things had changed since then… She looked around waiting to see Inoue's clothes around, but they were all gone. The picture took at the dancing contest was also missing… Maybe this room did not change as she thought it would… but on the other hand she did…
She turned her gaze to the window again. Ichigo hated the rain, but she loved Ichigo during rainy days. He was so quiet and vulnerable, ready at every second to jump and hide himself in her arms. They never had a fight during rainy days. Usually they had long and easy conversations. They were acting gently and their gazes were mellow. That was because, when he was next to her, he forgot about the rain…she knew how to hide it with her embrace…
A low knock on the door was heard.
She didn't answer.
He slowly entered. He closed the door after him, but he didn't advanced. He just stood there, against the door, looking at her intensely but blandly. As she didn't say a word, he turned to the wet window and a frown appeared on his forehead.
'The rain…'
"I saw Renji leaving pretty upset…" he finally said.
She didn't answer. Slowly he approached her, and sat next to her on the carpet, against the bed. He saw her playing with the ring he gave her. He took it from her hand and looked closer at the little shiny diamond.
"I don't think you should keep a grudge against him for a long time…He didn't do it on purpose… I know you must have been angry these two months… but it's been only two months, it's not like you have married someone else during this time…"
She gasped, her eyes still fixed on the window.
"Why is everybody rushing so much to get married?" she whispered.
He clinched his fist, holding the ring in it.
"I'm not rushing to get married, Rukia… I'm rushing so I won't lose you…"
Something ached inside her on those words.
"I might be 24… but I'm acting like a child who likes so much a flower and because he doesn't know to make it his, he just rips it from the grownd and takes it home with him…He doesn't even understands that this way, the flower will die… I'm sorry"
She lowered her gaze from the window to the carpet.
"Rukia… I don't want to rush you…" he added.
She wished she could say something, but she didn't know what. She had lost long ago the sweetness of her voice.
"It's just… that more than being together, we have been apart…" he continued. "When we were together I was thinking about the time when you would leave me again… and when you were away, i was carrying your memory with me, wherever I was going…"
He opened his fist and put the ring on the top of his pinky finger, starting to play with it.
"I just wanted for you to never leave me…and because I don't know other way to make you stay, I wanted to marry you…"
She turned to him with a tormented expression and he tried to mask his disappointment with a bitter smile.
"But… I won't rush you, Rukia…please, don't worry… I won't …i…"
She also looked at the ring on Ichigo's hand. She wanted to take it back… but she couldn't. On her finger there was place for just one ring, and Byakuya was the first to make the step. The first to propose her. She gasped and turned again to the window: the sound of the rain was calming and its colors made her remember things that were so far away from her in that moment…
"I've got these far away blues…" she whispered.
"How far?" he asked.
"As far as the memories we made together can go…" she answered.
"That would be 9 years ago…" he added.
"You know what I thought when i first saw you?"
He waited her answer curiously.
"I thought of Shiba Kaien…"
He rolled his eyes.
"…And then, do you want to know what I told myself?... 'There might be a resemblance, but he's not Kaien-dono…' "
"What a disappointment, right?" he said with sarcasm.
"Figure out that this wasn't the only disappointment I got after I met you. You were so stubborn, so violent, unable to control yourself, so immature… Such a trouble maker! I couldn't understand how I got myself… in love with a child like you"
He looked at her surprised.
"I've asked you not to come after me…I've asked not to save me from the execution!" she continued. "I sword myself that I won't forgive you… but you didn't listen! I should have been angry… but when you went back to your world, my heart was so heavy…"
She remained silent for a few moments.
"You know that every time we parted I was thinking that It could be for the last time?...It was as if I was preparing myself for the worst… but the truth was that I was never ready … never able to let go of you…"
Ichigo lowered his gaze trying to play deaf to the sound of the rain.
"You know…" he begun. "After I saved you It didn't crossed my mind for a second that you might not come back with me. When you told me that you wish to remain in Soul Society, I was surprised at first . Then I didn't know what to think… I've just remembered that I put one of my stupid smiles on and said "If that's what you really want, then you should stay". I kept telling myself "that was the reason I wanted to save her in the first place, right? So she could live… the way she wants!".
He stopped for second. He couldn't ignore the rain. He just couldn't…It was so loud and cold.
"… In reality, back then, i was trying to convince myself of something that I wasn't aware of…yet. I needed to get back home and notice that the rain has stopped so i could understand that i was also in love with you…"
She gasped:
"Well, that took you some time…"
"You know me… I'm so blockhead when it comes to these things..."
"Why didn't you say something back then?" she asked intrigued.
"Well…Why didn't you say something?" he replied.
She put her head against the edge of the bed.
"I've told you already: every time we were parting, you were giving me that "See ya'"… It was supposed to be encouraging, but I couldn't help the fear that this "See ya" could be the last one… What was the use of adding "i love you" to " good-bye", than?"
"Me, I stopped believing in this "last time" a long time ago…" he replied. "Ever since I regained my powers, i knew that there will be no way for us to part for good…"
She gasped as if those words had brought her back some terrible memories. After a few moments, she added:
"The day when you lost your powers was the worst… I really thought that I've lost you forever… I remember that we went outside and you were looking at me as if was i slowly fading. I've tried to put on a cheerful mask and I told you: "don't look so sad…"
"I remember… and I've replied with a lie saying that "I'm not sad" he completed.
"And I almost believed you…" she added with a sorrowful voice. "That's why I tried to be mean by telling you that I will keep seeing you even if won't"
"And then I lied again, saying: "I'm not sure I wish that". The truth is that I was getting worried on the fact that your presence was fading. That thought scarred me so much that I almost wished for you to visit me; even though I couldn't see you…"
He made a pause and added: "…But you never came…"
"That day I've saw myself gradually disappearing from your eyes." She said. " I knew that I was supposed to be invisible from the beginning, but if you couldn't see me I had the impression that no one will… I was so scared of disappearing… so I thought of kissing you. I even took a step closer, but then I knew it was too late. You couldn't see me already…"
Ichigo turned to her with a hurt frown. He wondered what would have come of his life, if she had kissed him back then. She took a deep breath and continued:
"When I returned home I tried to forget all about you, but the same question kept lingering on my heart… Why, among all, I fell in love with you? … Was it for those warm amber eyes of yours?... Was it because you saved my life?... Was it because it was meant to be?..."
And she turned to him with a hopeless expression:
"Ichigo… I don't know why… please, tell me…"
He frowned tangled, but then he took her hands. She put one over her chest and the other one on his chest. Her eyes widened.
"I think It's because, these two hearts beat at the same time, in the same manner… even thought you are dead and I am live… This means, Rukia that our hearts are one…" he said.
She bit her lips and pulled back her hand.
"You said that you tried to forget me… but i didn't even tried that. I was ready to face a long, normal life, with you hanging in the corner of my heart… It's been 6 years since then…" he said.
"You could say that the same went with me…After we separate, my life regained its usual track…" she replied.
"But I did like college…" he added.
"I slowly got used with being a real part in the Kuckichi family…" she continued.
"Also it was comfortable being with Inoue…"
" Soon after that, Byakuya made me the Lady of the Kuchiki house…"
"Inoue made me feel like normal human… but still you were there, in my heart, Rukia…" he added.
"And a few years later, Byakuya made the heir of the Kuchiki clan…"
Ichigo blinked confused.
"Byakuya? Since when are calling him like this?" he suddenly asked intrigued as he noticed that appellative the second time, within the same minute.
"And we became real close…" she continued, pretending that she didn't heard his question.
"Rukia… since when?" he repeated a little worried.
"We started to train together… to work together… to spend our free time together, sometimes even the nights…" she continued raising her voice nervously.
"Rukia!" he snapped truly worried.
"There were walks we were taking in the garden… and cups of tea… and presents that he was giving to me… a lot of them…" she kept talking, her voice starting to tremble.
His eyes widened scared.
"And I felt like I was truly home…and I felt, that my heart was finally safe…" she added bowing her face.
"Rukia…" he whispered frightened.
She clinched her fists.
"Rukia… are you in love with Byakuya?..." he asked her, pointing with pain every word.
She suddenly raised her violet eyes and turned to him.
"I…" she tried to say. "I…i…"
Ichigo felt as if his heartbeats slowed down, while the rain was louder than ever. She saw her bowing her face again. If only she could make that rain stops! If only she'd tell him a lie…
But she couldn't. She couldn't lie to him:
"Ichigo…" she whispered. "… I love you…"
He looked at her with big, amazed eyes. It might have passed a moment, an hour, a whole eternity like this… but when he came to her senses, he dropped the ring he had been holding all this time and took Rukia in his arms. He held her tight. Tighter than ever. Then the strength slowly left him and he leaned over her, until he buried his face in her chest and cuddled in her lap like a small child…
She started to play with his hair and hum with a low voice a lullaby she used to sing to the little children when she was in Rukongai…
He closed his eyes.
Suddenly it was silence again. There was no more rain. The rain was far away…
"I won't let you go…" he whispered. "I won't…"
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Downstairs, in the kitchen, sitting at the table, Isshin was playing with the ring Rukia gave to him, in order to hid it away from Ichigo.
'Engaged to Byakuya Kuchiki?'
He really wished to trust Rukia in this matter. He wished… but he just couldn't. A lot of things had been until now just a children play. Not anymore… the Kuchiki clan and Byakuya were no joke.
"What is that?" Karin asked pointing at the ring. She had just entered the house and she was taking off her jaket .
"It's an engagement ring…" Isshin answered.
"They are already getting married?" she asked visibly displeased.
"I don't know Karin… I really don't know…"
Karin frowned. Her father seemed really worried. That also made her worried.
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Back at the Kuchiki manor, Byakuya was sitting in the main room drinking sake with Haruna.
Drinking. That was something he hasn't done in decades. He also seemed to be in a really good mood. Another rare and unusual thing. He was sitting on big and soft pillows relating stories that were making Haruna rolling on the floor from laugh.
At some point she got up from her pillows and leaned over him to grab the sake bottle. When her eyes met his at distance of a couple of centimeters, she gasped.
"Totoooo, I'm so jalouuus!" she cried like a spoiled little girl. She tried to approach him even more, but Byakuya maintained the distance.
"I've always wondered, Nene-cha, where does this attraction of yours for married men comes from?" he asked thoughtfully
She gasped annoyed.
"You're not married!" she replied in the same spoiled manner, while she approached him again.
"Yet! Not married yet!" he corrected her with a smile and gently pulled her back.
She took the bottle and powered herself sake.
"I wonder how Renji is doing…" she said.
Byakuya looked at her with the corned of his eyes, but preferred to remain silent. Then she turned to him.
"What about you? Aren't you worried about Rukia?"
"No" he answered simply.
She cocked her eyebrows surprised.
"I know Rukia enough so I could trust her." He added. " Moreover, Kurosaki Ichigo might be married by now…"
She tossed off the drink and then poured another.
"Yes…" he said again. "I trust Rukia… she will soon be my wife…"
"Trust it's an important trait in marriage!" Haruna commented with the voice of a drunken person.
"You must know best, Nene-cha" he stated ironically. "You've been married four times…"
"Don't play saint with me… This is not your first marriage either" she replied and tossed of the drink.
Slowly, he also drank his sake, his thoughts, slowly turning to Rukia…
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That's it for the moment! Hope to come back tomorrow with an update! :D Until then... Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed & reeeeeeeevieeeeeeeew! :D