Hearts of Glass, Steel, Fire and Ice

When Orihime woke up the next morning, she was quite refreshed and ready to start the day. And what better way to start the day then by having a good breakfast?
Following her nose, Orihime found her way to the dining room and found a note folded neatly beside a good sized plate of food and a glass of some kind of juice. She picked up the cup of juice, sipped it, smiled when she realized that it was an apple and orange mixture and then picked up the note which read as follows:

Dear Orihime,

After your experiences yesterday, we all thought it would be best not to wake you right away. Whenever you read this note, just know that everyone is outside working, but we'll be in later. Feel free to explore the house and relax, if you so desire. If, however, you would prefer to come outdoors with the rest of us, we would be more than happy to have you join us.

Sincerely,

Retsu

Quickly finishing her breakfast, Orihime collected her dishes and made her way into the kitchen with every intention of cleaning up anything and everything she could possibly find as soon as she found the proper cleaning supplies. Seeming to have foreseen Orihime displaying such behavior, Orihime was surprised to find another note had been left for her by Retsu.

Dear Orihime,

With the exception of your own, all the dishes have been done. Also, all household cleaning supplies have been cleverly hidden by Byakuya, so you will never find them. Hisana has made sure that there is no water left for you to wash your own dishes, so you will have to leave them for one of us to do later.

Now all you have to decide on is whether or not you would like to spend your time wisely or unwisely: will you hunt for the cleaning supplies in a fruitless attempt or simply come out to keep us company and maybe learn something in the process? It's your choice.

Sincerely,

Retsu

Thinking that is was possible that Retsu might be pulling her leg, Orihime decided to try the water pump anyway, which consequentially did not release a single drop of liquid, and then hunt around for a while in the hopes that maybe Byakuya was not quite that good at hiding things as Retsu had intimated. Incidentally, Byakuya had hidden them in the last place Orihime expected or even imagined them to be. While Orihime had slept, Byakuya had smuggled the cleaning supplies into the closet inside her own room.

Finally, Orihime figured out that it was futile and went outside to find Retsu and the others. She wandered aimlessly around the gardens for a time admiring all the different varieties of plants, identifying the ones she knew and marveling at the ones she did not, until she came upon an intriguing sight.

Arranged carefully were three sculptures, two of which it took Orihime a few moments to figure out what they were supposed to be. One was of what looked like a bunny with long ears and a cute smiling face. Another was of a shape Orihime couldn't quite make out, like a cross between a wave and an oval, but the face was quite similar to the one molded onto the bunny. Behind both these statues (which were about a foot and a half in height) was a taller statue (about three and a half feet tall) made of white marble and was depicting a small girl.

The girl was shown to have shoulder length hair with one piece hanging in front of her face, however, she didn't seem to mind as she seemed to be treating the world to an open-mouthed laugh of delight. Her eyes were closed, but that just added to the effect of the statue looking as if it were actually laughing out loud. In her hands, the girl was clutching what looked like white sand. On her clothes, the sculptor had taken great care to etch delicate patterns into the stone, which when Orihime looked closer, looked like either stars or snowflakes.

Around the base of all three statues, flowers had been planted which were bluish-purplish in color. They were so small and fragile looking that Orihime very carefully knelt down in order to have a better look at them.

"Those are forget-me-nots."

At the sound of a voice suddenly coming from behind her, Orihime squeaked a little and spun around in order to see who had snuck up behind her. It was Byakuya.

Trying to slow down her accelerated heartbeat, Orihime asked, "I'm sorry?"

Kneeling down next to Orihime, Byakuya gently stroked a few flowers and said quietly, "They're called forget-me-nots. I specifically worked to make the flowers this shade of violet so that they were the same color as her eyes."

Nodding, Orihime said, "I see," even though she was still confused.

Byakuya began to prune the flower plants gently with his fingers as he said, "Her name was Rukia and she was Hisana's younger sister."

Orihime tried to hold her surmounting curiosity in check as she asked simply, "Was? Did she…die?"

There was a slight pause before Byakuya answered, "Rukia was lost to us quite a number of years ago. She had been attacked by a wild beast one day and her friend brought her here in order to get treatment from my sister. My sister is very skilled in the healing arts, but even she did not know the proper remedy needed in order to save Rukia's life so we had to send Rukia to one who could possibly save her."

Byakuya paused again and Orihime waited for a time for his to continue and when he did not, Orihime gently prodded, "What happened to Rukia?"

Sitting back on his heels, Byakuya examined the rest of the flowers before standing up and saying softly, "We're not sure. One day we received word that Rukia was beginning to improve, but then we never heard again so we are simply left to hope that Rukia did manage to heal."

Looking up at Byakuya as she stood herself, Orihime asked, "If you're not sure, then why have you not gone out looking for her?"

Out of all the answers Orihime might have imagined, the one Byakuya gave was not one she had been expecting. With a mere four words, Orihime's curiosity was sent skyrocketing.

"I wish we could."

That is all he would say and then he walked off to another part of the garden while Orihime remained standing next to the statues. For a time, Orihime did not move and might have been considered a fourth sculpture until a voice called out to her.

"There you are!"

Orihime turned and saw Retsu and Hisana making their way towards Orihime with smiles on their faces and some gardening tools in their hands. Something in her expression must have caught their attention because they looked at each other before coming alongside Orihime and Retsu spoke first asking if Orihime was all right.

Nodding furiously, Orihime said in her best cheery voice, "Oh yes! I'm just fine!"

Hisana and Retsu exchanged another look before they looked behind Orihime and noticed the statue and then Retsu asked, "Orihime, do you know who the girl is?"

Orihime understood exactly what Retsu was asking of her and responded, "Byakuya told me her name was Rukia. He said one day she was hurt pretty badly and you had to send her away and none of you have heard from her again."

There was another pause as the women looked at each other, then the statue and then back at Orihime. Hisana spoke next with a small, sad smile on her face.

"Rukia was my younger sister. When I married Byakuya, she was just a child and we had no other family so she came to live with me and my new family."

Smiling at Retsu, Hisana said softly, "They were all so kind and accepting of us both. It wasn't long before memories of our lives before we became a part of their family seemed liked distant dreams. Byakuya doesn't ever show his emotion easily, but with Rukia being a small, energetic and a child who wouldn't take no or the cold shoulder for an answer she managed to bring out a softer side in Byakuya."

Taking a shaky breath and indicating the two smaller figurines, Hisana said, "One day they made those figurines together. When they were done, Rukia came running outside to find everyone else and make sure we all came to admire their handiwork. She was in absolute raptures over Byakuya's artistic skills and proclaimed that one day she would be just as good as him."

Retsu rubbed Hisana's arm comfortingly as she added, "I am older than Byakuya so to Rukia he was, in more ways than one, a big brother and I think deep down he enjoyed taking on that role with Rukia. There were at least two instances where Rukia was running too quickly through the gardens, fell and scraped up her knees."

A smile similar to Hisana's crossed Retsu's features as she finished, "I am the official healer in our home, tending to all the cuts, bruises and the like, but in these instances Byakuya was first at Rukia's side. He would carry her into his portion of the gardens where he grows the most exquisite flowers, cleanse her cuts, bind them up and lift her up in his arms in order to show her some new flower he was beginning to experiment on."

Turning back to look at the statues, Orihime saw them in a new light. They were figurines crafted by an older brother and his younger sister. The sister admired and loved her brother with all her heart and wanted to do things that would please him. The brother in turn wanted to protect his younger sister from all manner of hurts and show her affection in his own way by giving her the gift of his time and undivided attention. It was almost an exact replica of the relationship Orihime had shared with her own brother.

With that thought, Orihime's heart gave a lurch and her gaze returned to the statue of the beaming Rukia. In a way, Orihime could understand the deep seated pain Byakuya must have been carrying for all these years and her eyes began to fill as she thought about the fact that he had had to live with this hidden wound for years rather than just months.

Orihime was sure that Retsu, Hisana and Jyuushiro had all done their utmost to try and help Byakuya carry his burden, but Orihime was also positive that in his own way Byakuya didn't want to fully tend to the wound. The moment he did so he would be forced to acknowledge that Rukia was lost to him, possibly forever. The pain of the wound her absence had left on his heart kept him from ever moving on and forgetting Rukia. In the back of her mind, a small voice said that she might just be imagining things, but a stronger voice within her soul told her that she was right.

The voice also reminded Orihime of her declaration when she had said that she wanted to bring happiness to others. She wasn't sure how she was going to accomplish this, but she was determined to find a way.

Author's Note:

Sorry it has taken me so long to update this story! What with the crazy month of December for work, break coming along and trying to write things for the holidays, then the actual holiday cheer and rush, spending time with the family and now the past couple of days battling some sort of something that was completely determined to force me to cough up a lung and possibly my stomach as well and my procrastinating nature...ok, enough with the excuses. I'm hoping to quickly get out at least another chapter before the weekend is out so that we can keep this story going!

Now, I know I took a few liberties with Byakuya and Rukia's characters, but here was my thinking. Hisana is still alive and Rukia was never abandoned, so I think both Byakuya and Rukia would be a lot happier in nature. I do see Byakuya as a protective older brother when Rukia is a grown woman, so I can only imagine what he might have been like if Rukia was a child. Hope you don't mind the changes!

As for Orihime determining to make Byakuya happy, I'm curious to see if anyone has a guess for how she might accomplish that. Her plan will be revealed in the next chapter or so and new characters will be introduced!

As always, enjoy!