A/N: Thank you everyone for the constructive reviews! I am so ecstatic that you have taken the time to read, contemplate and review this humble story :D I'm very inspired by what you guys' perspectives of it and it helps me shape the story!
Short chapter today to build background for the future!
The dreams are daily.
Where I could hold you as many times as I wanted, so often that I stopped counting.
Where you smiled at me for a lifetime and after.
Kissing the warm middle of my palm which held yours. Touching the length of my left arm which you held.
You telling me you love me with that serious laughter in your voice.
You make me want to practice smiling in the mirror.
"W-Who's that? Do you know him?"
"N...No."
"D...Damn you! Who tripped me! Puo! Puuooo?!"
"This way! Follow me! Unless you want to lose the water you're holding?"
—
"Even though you behave like a man, you have this...gentle aura."
"You're pretty womanly yourself."
"Hey!"
—
"It's no use, he's beyond saving."
"Uooo...uoooo…" "Uooo…"
"No! I don't believe it! A-chan won't die just like this! There has to be a way!"
—
"I don't believe in miracles, only karma."
"Be careful badmouthing what you can't see~"
—
"Why does it matter? You're still Rukia."
"Thanks… for reminding me. For everything,"
—
"She's gone, she's gone and she will never be back again! She will never be back again!"
He snatched her small frame and held her as if to meld her into his chest. Her screams of grief were shattering, untamed as she beat her fists on his torso hard enough to form bruises.
—
"Hisana was, and is, and will always be, my world."
—
"Why do you have to go so far?" He exclaimed, body tense with the fear of loss and the frustration of incomprehension. "If you want to go to school, you can just go to the one in the closest city. You don't have to go all the way to Karakura! That's days away!"
"It is where I was born," she said quietly. "I want to live for her, the life that she couldn't live."
—
"Rukia, stay with me for life." He said as he took her hand and slipped the ring onto her slim finger. He had crafted it himself, ground and sanded from a brass screw. Its zealous beauty shone in the setting sun, as bright and brave as his vibrant red hair. His slightly tanned skin on her pale white. His broad fingers holding her small ones. They had lost so much already; all they had was each other now.
"I promise to return to you, Renji."
It's been two months since Rukia left.
Summer in Inuzuri was always excessively hot. And a bit stinky, since humans here defecated in corners like dogs and dogs here in summer tended to mate like humans. The warmer the air, the more easily the smells moved. And don't even speak of the toilets — this was also the time when food spoiled ten times faster than usual and most people would have rings of fire for assholes days-on-end as their undigested stomach juice comes out the other end like tourist-worthy geysers. Oh Rukia, it is so especially bad this year, even Byakuya had to drink rice water for a whole week
Renji was a crude man by nature. A masculine man who feared nothing, who was gruff, but honest. An Inuzuri man born and bred! This village was a simple place, no person other than Byakuya really had enough brain cells to scheme or plot or whatever, and Byakuya hadn't been interested in anything for a while now.
The Kuchiki household raised a few chickens. Rukia's chickens. Renji came to check up on them everyday since Byakuya wasn't really up for it. The chickens definitely didn't like him as much as they liked Rukia. They always used to flap so joyously when Rukia came to feed them and ate so enthusiastically every time. Now that it's Renji's job, they would turn their beaks away in a way that reminded Renji of Rukia folding her arms and huffing in response to something unpleasant. They would even peck his hands full of red marks when he would attempt to shove them into the feeding tray. It wasn't even about buttering up the future brother-in-law; in reality, he had been buttering Byakuya for a whole decade already and Byakuya was still as dry as a stone. A smooth stone, much like the altar of his late wife that was all he paid attention to nowadays.
If even Renji, a large muscle who was generally unable to appreciate the finer subtleties, could tell that Byakuya was not doing well, then Byakuya was definitely probably not doing that well.
Sometimes he really wanted to yell at Byakuya, but he would spontaneously recall the visage of Byakuya in his prime, the time before Hisana and Rukia had appeared. Renji was just a kid back then, but he could still remember it with astounding clarity. Back then, he used to call Byakuya 'boss'. The glare of Byakuya's bright eyes as he slashed down (with a wooden stick) wave after wave of delinquents from the other streets who dared to defecate on their territory. The volatile youth that would not tolerate any shaming and would make the opposition regret even the thought of preying on easy-looking meat. The cool young man who shielded the toddler from the hooligans but wouldn't verbalise a single word to her even as she trailed after him like an ant. The male who finally found the definition for the last F of adrenaline when he met the toddler's sister for the first time. Of course, some of the above Renji had only realised much, much later, around the same time he found his own definition for the last F of adrenaline.
One day, Renji couldn't hold it anymore and asked in exasperation, "Why did you have to send her that far away?"
A flicker of light appeared in Byakuya's dead-fish eyes, then disappeared again. "I didn't."
"You can't be telling me she just decided on her own."
"She did." He responded, quite lifeless.
"Byakuya…" Renji clenched his fist behind his back. Sometimes he really wanted to beat some sense into him, but he also valued his own life. "Why don't you tell her that you miss her? Tell her to come back."
"Renji, you are very good to Rukia," Byakuya said from the cushion in front of Hisana's altar (the cushion that Renji the good future brother-in-law/lackey/friend fashioned from a sea-sponge as Byakuya the widow was adamant on ruining his knees and Renji couldn't have that on his watch). "But do you know what is good for her?"
"What kind of question is that?" Renji almost threw his hands up in the air. This was a bit too philosophical for his simple personality.
"When we are fighting, there are two kinds of fights. The fight to protect lives, and the fight to protect pride."
"I know that, isn't that what Ukitake drilled into us? Rukia's not even fighting now, she's at school."
Under normal circumstances Byakuya would have glared a few daggers at him, but the current him was placid to everything. Renji would be lying if he claimed he wasn't enjoying being 'insolent'. Under normal circumstances, he would barely dare to question Byakuya's spit, let alone his meaningful life lessons.
"Did Rukia tell you how she and Hisana came to be in this village?"
"Dunno, Rukia's always said she was too young to remember."
"Perhaps I ought to tell you, so you will understand." Byakuya slowly turned to fix his gaze on Renji. Renji involuntarily swallowed — he had always been frightened by the intensity of Byakuya's gaze. As Byakuya recounted the events of the past, the fog over his eyes seemed to fade, as if he was looking at the moon...
"...The fight for life is to survive, but if pride is to die, then are we really different from dogs?"
To be continued :D