Fic: Bleach: Five Men Rukia Has Loved (And One Woman)
Pairings: Light Renji/Rukia, Ichigo/Rukia.
Warnings: None, I think.
Five
I. Renji
In those early days, before her brother, before the Shinigami factored into her life except as a background nuisance, he was there.
He was there, sometimes, when she went to sleep at night, and generally when she woke up in the morning. He was there the year the plague sweeping the district had taken two of their band, leaving the rest cold and afraid. He was there when they ate the bad meat and spent two days lying weak and helpless on the floor of their hideout, simultaneously burning with fever and shaking with cold, unable to hold down even water. He was there when a man’s knife slashed through the throat of the last of their comrades and grazed Rukia’s arm, a thin, long cut that Renji cleaned as best he could, continuing to pour their hard earned water and the small amount of strong sake he’d stolen into the laceration despite her moans of pain.
He had held her, through the nightmares and rare tender moments of life in Inuzuri.
He was the first person Rukia could ever remember having felt this way toward.
II. Kaien
Kaien gave her what very few people could.
The cold and empty halls of the Kuchiki mansions were not home.
Nor were the dust-filled streets of Inuzuri where she had fought out her childhood.
The Shinigami Academy held nothing but the echoes of thousands of students who had come before.
However, her first night in the Thirteenth Company barracks felt… warm. Comfortable. She slept easily and woke to the sound of the vice-captain’s voice rousing them all to action.
Kaien gave Rukia a home.
And for that, she loved him.
III. Byakuya
Her brother, as Matsumoto had once declared over a few too many bottles of sake at a Women’s Association night, had the emotional finesse of a demented hamster. Isane had inquired as to what exactly a hamster was, and Rangiku had launched into a long explanation that left the fretful Kotetsu sister even more confused.
As the conversation lulled, however, an odd silence fell as the assorted women glanced at Rukia, who had not partaken in the joke. Nanao glowered at her erstwhile friend in frustration; everyone else looked at the younger Kuchiki.
Rukia felt her mouth twitch up slightly.
“Yes,” she said, a simple admission. “He does.”
This sent Rangiku into gales of laughter, for some reason, and Rukia watched idly while her friends slipped back into their conversations, seeming a little relieved.
However, that night when she arrived at the Kuchiki mansion a little later than usual, her brother was sitting in the receiving room, his sleeves carefully pinned up as he wrote smooth, graceful kanji over a piece of pale gold paper. Waiting up for her, and trying to look like he wasn’t.
“greetings, Nii-sama,” she murmured.
Byakuya’s brush paused over the paper. “I assume you enjoyed yourself?” His deep voice revealed nothing.
“yes, very much so.”
For a moment, the elder Kuchiki’s gaze softened, and the vaguest hint of a smile lit up his face.
“I am glad,” he said, and those three words were a benediction.
IV. Ukitake
For the longest time, Rukia’s captain had remained a steady but unnoticeable presence in her life. His frequent illnesses meant that it was Kaien who led the troops in their training and in fights; aside from serving the man tea, Rukia scarcely saw him.
It was after Kaien died and she was left alone that she found herself gravitating more and more towards the sickly man, spending most of her days either attending to his every need or at Kiyone’s side while the older girl fought Sentarou for her position. In the end, it didn’t matter where she was, because the result was the same.
The four of them were trying desperately to pull the division together.
Rukia threw herself into that with all her heart, following any order she was given with the blind fervor of someone wanting to run.
Ukitake had let her run until she couldn’t, and on those days when it all came crashing down on her like a ton off bricks, he was there to share her sorrow, take a little of it off of her shoulders, and comfort her while she cried.
It occurred to her, one day, when she found herself sobbing gently into his haori-clad shoulder, his arms locked tight around her and his voice murmuring soothing words into her ears, that this might have been what it could be like if she could remember having a father.
She loved him as such.
V. Ichigo
Ichigo reminded her so much of Kaien that it hurt.
The stubbornness, the careless way he addressed the people around him, how much he cared for his friends and family, the way he shouldered the burdens of a Shinigami without any hesitation. There were other times when she shook her head at how different he was from her idolized vice captain; so rash, so foolish, and gods how could he have fallen for that stupid stunt Uryuu had pulled anyway?
Romantically, he was also a raging idiot, but somehow, that first time he kissed her, just after their loss at Fake Karakura Town, she forgave him a little for that and kissed him back, feeling grateful for the fact that here they were-- ALIVE-- and she knew that this was only the beginning.
The beginning of a love both strange and wondrous.
And Once More..
Orihime
Rukia had grown up amongst boys.
And for a while, she had felt like the one thing she missed about the sister she had never known was having someone to teach her to be a woman.
Muddling through it on her own, Rukia found Orihime, and saw in her the same doubts, the same insecurities, the same desire to do something to help.
So Rukia trained her to use her abilities in combat, trained her into the ground until the two of them were hot and dusty and completely exhausted.
Only then, something had started the other girl laughing, and Rukia realized she had no choice but to follow suit.
That day on the Thirteenth Company training grounds, Rukia realized something important.
For the first time in her life, Rukia had a woman as her friend.
Later, she somehow allowed herself to be suckered into spending the evening painting her finger and toenails in bright and mismatched colors of green, blue, purple and orange polish that Orihime had provided.
She looked down once they were done and grinned.
Sometimes it was nice to just be a girl.
Warnings: None, I think.
Five
I. Renji
In those early days, before her brother, before the Shinigami factored into her life except as a background nuisance, he was there.
He was there, sometimes, when she went to sleep at night, and generally when she woke up in the morning. He was there the year the plague sweeping the district had taken two of their band, leaving the rest cold and afraid. He was there when they ate the bad meat and spent two days lying weak and helpless on the floor of their hideout, simultaneously burning with fever and shaking with cold, unable to hold down even water. He was there when a man’s knife slashed through the throat of the last of their comrades and grazed Rukia’s arm, a thin, long cut that Renji cleaned as best he could, continuing to pour their hard earned water and the small amount of strong sake he’d stolen into the laceration despite her moans of pain.
He had held her, through the nightmares and rare tender moments of life in Inuzuri.
He was the first person Rukia could ever remember having felt this way toward.
II. Kaien
Kaien gave her what very few people could.
The cold and empty halls of the Kuchiki mansions were not home.
Nor were the dust-filled streets of Inuzuri where she had fought out her childhood.
The Shinigami Academy held nothing but the echoes of thousands of students who had come before.
However, her first night in the Thirteenth Company barracks felt… warm. Comfortable. She slept easily and woke to the sound of the vice-captain’s voice rousing them all to action.
Kaien gave Rukia a home.
And for that, she loved him.
III. Byakuya
Her brother, as Matsumoto had once declared over a few too many bottles of sake at a Women’s Association night, had the emotional finesse of a demented hamster. Isane had inquired as to what exactly a hamster was, and Rangiku had launched into a long explanation that left the fretful Kotetsu sister even more confused.
As the conversation lulled, however, an odd silence fell as the assorted women glanced at Rukia, who had not partaken in the joke. Nanao glowered at her erstwhile friend in frustration; everyone else looked at the younger Kuchiki.
Rukia felt her mouth twitch up slightly.
“Yes,” she said, a simple admission. “He does.”
This sent Rangiku into gales of laughter, for some reason, and Rukia watched idly while her friends slipped back into their conversations, seeming a little relieved.
However, that night when she arrived at the Kuchiki mansion a little later than usual, her brother was sitting in the receiving room, his sleeves carefully pinned up as he wrote smooth, graceful kanji over a piece of pale gold paper. Waiting up for her, and trying to look like he wasn’t.
“greetings, Nii-sama,” she murmured.
Byakuya’s brush paused over the paper. “I assume you enjoyed yourself?” His deep voice revealed nothing.
“yes, very much so.”
For a moment, the elder Kuchiki’s gaze softened, and the vaguest hint of a smile lit up his face.
“I am glad,” he said, and those three words were a benediction.
IV. Ukitake
For the longest time, Rukia’s captain had remained a steady but unnoticeable presence in her life. His frequent illnesses meant that it was Kaien who led the troops in their training and in fights; aside from serving the man tea, Rukia scarcely saw him.
It was after Kaien died and she was left alone that she found herself gravitating more and more towards the sickly man, spending most of her days either attending to his every need or at Kiyone’s side while the older girl fought Sentarou for her position. In the end, it didn’t matter where she was, because the result was the same.
The four of them were trying desperately to pull the division together.
Rukia threw herself into that with all her heart, following any order she was given with the blind fervor of someone wanting to run.
Ukitake had let her run until she couldn’t, and on those days when it all came crashing down on her like a ton off bricks, he was there to share her sorrow, take a little of it off of her shoulders, and comfort her while she cried.
It occurred to her, one day, when she found herself sobbing gently into his haori-clad shoulder, his arms locked tight around her and his voice murmuring soothing words into her ears, that this might have been what it could be like if she could remember having a father.
She loved him as such.
V. Ichigo
Ichigo reminded her so much of Kaien that it hurt.
The stubbornness, the careless way he addressed the people around him, how much he cared for his friends and family, the way he shouldered the burdens of a Shinigami without any hesitation. There were other times when she shook her head at how different he was from her idolized vice captain; so rash, so foolish, and gods how could he have fallen for that stupid stunt Uryuu had pulled anyway?
Romantically, he was also a raging idiot, but somehow, that first time he kissed her, just after their loss at Fake Karakura Town, she forgave him a little for that and kissed him back, feeling grateful for the fact that here they were-- ALIVE-- and she knew that this was only the beginning.
The beginning of a love both strange and wondrous.
And Once More..
Orihime
Rukia had grown up amongst boys.
And for a while, she had felt like the one thing she missed about the sister she had never known was having someone to teach her to be a woman.
Muddling through it on her own, Rukia found Orihime, and saw in her the same doubts, the same insecurities, the same desire to do something to help.
So Rukia trained her to use her abilities in combat, trained her into the ground until the two of them were hot and dusty and completely exhausted.
Only then, something had started the other girl laughing, and Rukia realized she had no choice but to follow suit.
That day on the Thirteenth Company training grounds, Rukia realized something important.
For the first time in her life, Rukia had a woman as her friend.
Later, she somehow allowed herself to be suckered into spending the evening painting her finger and toenails in bright and mismatched colors of green, blue, purple and orange polish that Orihime had provided.
She looked down once they were done and grinned.
Sometimes it was nice to just be a girl.