Getting The Princess
Title: Getting The Princess
Author: Ragna (afteriwake)
Pairing: Isihda/Rukia.
Rating: PG
Spoilers (if applicable): Mentions the end of the Deicide arc and implies things going on in the current arc, so if you're not reading it as it comes out be forewarned.
Warnings (if applicable): None.
Summary: He never thought he'd get to be the hero in his own story.
Authors Notes: For kanjo_girl, who is writing me the most wonderful Ishida/Rukia fic. I figured I would try my hand at this for you. Hope you like it! Also, I'm a little iffy on how they referred to each other before the Hueco Mundo arc, so I'm just defaulting to formal mode of speech.
---
In every fairytale his grandfather had told him, there had been a princess. His grandfather had preferred the European fairytales to the Japanese folklore, but even in the Japanese tales there had been a princess. So Ishida had grown up with the idea that princesses had to be rescued.
He thought he had found a princess in Orihime Inoue. She was named after the princess in the Tanabata legend, so it was fitting. That was, at the core, why he had gone to Hueco Mundo. Because this time the princess was a friend. This time he had to rescue the princess because the princess wasn't just a figure in a story, she was a flesh and blood person that Ishida cared about.
A lot had happened on the dome, but in the end, he hadn't rescued the princess. He wasn't the hero. Kurosaki was the hero, as always, and it rankled at him. It still bothered him when he found out Ichigo had lost his powers, only then he hadn't had time to be bothered between school and student council activities and Hollow hunting. He was too busy to worry about Ichigo being the hero in his worldview and himself being second best.
When Ichigo got his powers back, internally Ishida groaned while outwardly his expression did not change. So, the hero was back. Well, in all actuality, the hero had never left, he'd just been heroic in less flashy ways. He knew this because Inoue still pined after him. In her eyes, Ichigo was still The One Who Rescued Me and he, himself, was simply The One Who Helped.
But in one sense he was grateful, since now he could leave the Hollow hunting to Ichigo and that other guy. After the attack, and having to deal with his father and the condescending remarks and the cold shoulder, he'd been more than happy to put that part of his life in a little box and stick it on a shelf far far away from him. He didn't need it anymore. He knew he was never going to be the hero in his own personal story.
So it was with surprise that the first person Rukia found when she came back to the world of the living was not Ichigo but himself. In fact, he had taken off his glasses, squinted, and then put them on again and squinted some more just to make sure he wasn't seeing things. “Kuchiki-san?” he finally asked.
“Good! I thought you'd think I was a figment of your imagination or just faint or something,” she said with a warm smile. She walked over to him and sat down next to him on the park bench. He recognized the dress she was wearing. It was the one he had made for her when they were in Soul Society, after Ichigo had rescued her. He hadn't even thought she'd kept it. “Ishida-kun?”
His eyes snapped back to her. “When did I become Ishida-kun?” he asked.
“We're too close for Ishida-san,” she said quietly.
“No, we're not,” he said. “It's Ichigo that you're close to, not me.”
“Oh,” she said, looking down. “Then I shall call you Ishida-san, if that's what you want.”
“It's what's proper,” he said.
“And you do almost always do what's proper,” she said. “You remind me of nii-sama, in that way.”
“He is a good man, I think, so I will take that as a compliment,” he said, just a little stiffly.
“It was meant as one,” she replied. She then stood up. “Well, I'm off to go find Ichigo. We have many things to talk about.” She paused. “I will be attending school again. Would you like to have lunch with me, tomorrow?”
“Perhaps,” he said.
“Well, I hope you decide to join me,” she said with a nod, and then she took off. He watched her go, and mentally kicked himself. Why did he need to be so formal and polite with her? Why had he insisted she call him Ishida-san? And why did it bother him so much that he had acted that way? Probably because not only had Ichigo been The One Who Rescued Me for her, he'd been that to her first. Once again, he'd never catch up.
Perhaps that was just the way it was supposed to be.
-
In the weeks that followed, he found that every day he regretted putting on the formal face he wore with Rukia. And he thought every once in a while he caught a sense of disappointment when he'd refer Orihime as Inoue-kun. But it was not to be helped. As much as he would have liked to have been more informal with her, her absence had caused it to be a necessity in his eyes.
He was roped back into fighting again, and this time very much not by choice. So he was reflecting on how horrible it would be to die at that moment with all the regrets he had in his life as the monster was bearing down on him when he saw a flash of black and then bright sunlight where the monster had been looming. He sat up and saw Rukia with her back to him, and the dust of the monster settling down onto the ground in front of her. He blinked a few times, fixed his glasses and stood. “Thank you, Kuchiki-san.”
“Rukia.”
“Pardon me?”
“Call me Rukia.” She turned to face him. “Please. Forget formality and being proper and just call me Rukia.”
She had just saved his life, so he supposed it wasn't too much to ask. “All right...Rukia.”
“See?” she said with a smile. “Not so hard.” She sheathed her sword and took the few steps it took to get to him. “And I'm going to call you Uryuu and that's that.”
He choked slightly. “But---we're not that close,” he said weakly.
She glared at him. “I thought we were that close, once. Why the wall of formality, eh? What happened?”
And then he just...snapped. Everything that had been building in him since he returned from Hueco Mundo surged up and spilled out. “Because you never came back! Yes, Kurosaki may not have been able to see you but I could and Inoue-kun could and I'm pretty sure everyone else who saw you before without you being in a gigai could have seen you again! But you never came back! You just abandoned us! And now you want me to act like you didn't disappear for almost two years when you only said good-bye to Kurosaki properly? WHY WOULDN'T I BE UPSET?!?”
This time she blinked and stared at him with her jaw hanging slightly open. “Oh. I see.”
And then it was his turn to blink and turn a slight shade of red. “I am sorry for my outburst,” he said with a slight bow.
“No, no, you had every right,” she said quietly. “I did not know that my leaving the way I did caused you such great pain.”
“Yes, well, it wasn't pain so much as...hurt,” he said.
“Then I should be the one to apologize,” she said, bowing slightly as well. “I thought my good-byes had been more meaningful. I did not know I was mistaken.”
He looked at her, and he couldn't help it. A smile etched on the corners of his mouth, and grew more an more with each passing second.. And when his mouth opened slightly he heard laughter spilling out of it, a sound he had not heard in such a long time that he almost swallowed it and choked. But it forced it's way out, and then there was nothing he could do to stop it. “I'm...I'm...”
She stood up and tilted her head slightly and put her hands on her hips. “What is wrong with you, Uryuu?” she asked, a slight frown on her face.
He sobered up, and found that try as he might the damn smile just would not leave his face. “Look at the way we are still so formal even after you have told me to be informal. It is bred very deep inside both of us.”
“Not as deep in me as it has been in you,” she said, a small smile teasing the corners of her mouth wider. “Before I was adopted into the Kuchiki clan I was not anywhere near formal. Just ask Renji.”
“Maybe one day I might,” he said. “I am sorry, though. I was hurt, and angry, and took it out on you even though you were trying to make things better. And my outburst really was uncalled for.”
“I don't know, Uryuu. It was kind of nice to see you show some real emotion.” The smile that now sat on her face was warm and inviting, and it pleased him to know that he had put it on her face.
“Where is Kurosaki, anyway?” he asked.
Her lips pursed in a slight O shape. “You did not know that he had arranged to spend time with Orihime?”
“No, I did not,” he said.
“Yes, well...apparently many things had changed in the time I was gone,” she said, the smile becoming slightly wistful. “Perhaps it was for the best.”
“Why do you believe it was for the best?” he asked, stepping over towards her. He stood next to her and then, of one accord, they began to walk out of the deserted lot and towards civilization. He knew that if anyone saw them it would look as though he was talking to himself, so when Rukia did not answer until they had begun to weave through the alleys to get to Urahara's shop, he knew why.
“He will never see me as anything more than a friend and a partner,” she said. “In truth, I thought that was how he would always view Orihime, as a friend. I suppose that that much time can change anything.”
Ishida thought back to everything that had happened in the last few months. Not even back to when Rukia had left and Ichigo had lost his powers, but to when he'd gotten them back. When he went back to being the hero it seemed almost fitting that he get the princess he had rescued. “It's befitting a hero,” he said quietly.
“And Ichigo is very much a hero,” she said wistfully. “He deserves her, after all he did to save her.”
“But he saved you first,” Ishida pointed out. “He saved you before, when we went to Soul Society. He did that long before Orihime was kidnapped.”
“But we would never be anything, since I reside in Soul Society, and he resides here.” With that they rounded the corner and entered Urahara's shop. He waited patiently for her to collect her gigai and get into it, and then he looked at her intently. “So, it was never meant to be.”
“Did you really want anything to happen?” he asked. He noticed she was wearing the dress again. Since they had dropped the formality, it would not be too out of place for him to offer to make her more dresses. Better ones, at that; since she had left his skill had improved dramatically. He realized after a few moments of mentally picking out colors and patterns that he realized she had not answered. “Rukia?”
“Perhaps I had, just a little. But I will forever be out of reach.” And then she shrugged. “I'm happy for him, though, if being with Orihime makes him happy.”
“And I am happy for Inoue-kun if she is happy with Kurosaki,” he said with a nod.
“Not everyone can get the prince or princess that they want,” she said thoughtfully.
That drew his attention “How did you get princess out of this conversation?”
“Well, she's named after the princess in the Tanabata legend. I thought it was fitting,” she said. “Why?”
“All my childhood, my grandfather told me stories of princes and princesses. Sometimes it was not a prince that rescued the princess. Sometimes it was a soldier, or a tailor, or other men who became heroes in the course of rescuing the princess. So, when I was a child, I always wanted to rescue a princess.”
“Oh, Uryuu, how I wish you could have rescued a princess,” she said with a warm laugh and a smile to match. “You would make a very dashing prince.”
“I'm glad to know you believe so,” he said, relaxing slightly at the fact that she had not laughed at him or told him it was silly.
“If only I was in distress. Then you could go rescue me,” she said, stopping in her tracks and looking at him.
“You do not need to be rescued, Rukia,” he said gravely. “You are a good fighter.”
“But I'm also just a woman. And sometimes women want to be the princess in their own lives, just once.” She smiled sadly at him. “Perhaps we should change the topic of conversation before either of us gets depressed.”
“Perhaps,” he said with a nod. “Well...how would you like some new dresses?”
“Really?” she said, her smile brightening and reaching all the way to her eyes. “I would love some!”
“Then let us head to the fabric store. I can start tonight.”
-
She came over to his apartment two weeks later. He hadn't needed to take measurements, as she had not changed much in the long period that they had not seen each other. She was a few inches taller, and a bit more slender, and he had factored in those changes to the basic pattern he had in his head regarding her shape. He was that good, that he didn't need measurements. And the dresses...not all of them were the simple ones that she liked. He hoped that he was good enough that they fit the way they did in his mind.
“Oh, these are beautiful!” she sighed, running her hand along the row of dresses. There were ten of them there, all spaced evenly on the rod, hanging for her to admire them best. He flushed slightly at the praise and the look of delight that was on her face. She pulled off a simple black dress and held it against her. All the dresses were made of cotton, with the exception of the black one she held up against her. That was a more formal dress, and it was made with silk and decorated with lace. He had no idea where she could wear it, but he wanted to make her one dress that was at least as special as she was.
“I apologize that it is black. I had hoped for emerald, but black was the only silk that the store had left.”
“No, no, I think it is perfectly fine,” she said, smoothing it out against her. “May I try it on?”
He nodded and pointed towards his bathroom down the hall. “If you wish, you may try them all on. I can make alterations as needed.”
She smiled more brightly, if that was at all possible, and practically bounced all the way down to the bathroom. He smiled at that. He had noticed that in their interactions with Ichigo and Orihime there was an unspoken strain between Rukia and them. The others didn't notice but he did, and it was nice to see such a spring in her step and a radiant smile on her face.
After a few moments she emerged from the bathroom. When she got into the area where he was she twirled slightly. The skirt flared out a bit, not as much as he knew the cotton dresses would but enough that it made her look...perfect. “I love it, Uryuu.”
“It turned out better than I had expected,” he said with a grin. “I didn't misjudge your height.”
“Oh, so you noticed I grew a few inches?” she said with a smile.
“I did. And I adjusted the pattern accordingly.”
“You used a pattern?”
“No, I had one in my head, from the dress I made you before. I just added a few more inches to the bottom since your new height seemed to be more in your legs than your torso.” He nodded approvingly. “I'm not sure where you will wear this, but I wanted you to have at least one nice dress.”
“We should go somewhere nice,” she said. “I even have money to pay for a nice dinner somewhere. It would be a thank you for the dresses.”
He nodded. “I would like that.”
“Well, let me try on the other dresses and then I'll put this one on again and we can go,” she said with a nod before going over and selecting another dress. And then, in what must have been pure impulse, she stood on her tiptoes slightly and kissed his cheek before dashing back to the bathroom. He touched his cheek where her lips had been and felt himself warmer to the touch. Strange, that she would have this affect on him. She was a friend, a friend who he was getting closer to by the day, but still only a friend. This new development could be troubling, or it could be very welcome. He would simply wait and see.
-
“Dinner was very nice, Rukia,” he said as he let them back into his apartment. They had gone to a nice restaurant and while Ishida had been glad to see the appreciative stares that she got he also felt pangs of jealousy, a feeling that he had not expected to crop up. At one point it had almost ruined what had ended up being a lovely evening, but he had squashed those feeling hard like a person stepping on a bug and the night had continued on its merry way. But now the night was over, and a case of nerves had set in, nerves that he was not quite sure he was hiding well enough. But Rukia seemed oblivious, and that was comforting.
“I'm glad you liked it,” she said with a smile. They had come back to collect the dresses. He had gotten two garment bags, and put five dresses in each. They were now hanging up on the rod, waiting for her to pick them up and take them to wherever it was she was staying. “Well, I suppose I should be going now.”
“Where are you staying, anyway?” he asked. “With Kurosaki?”
She shook her head. “No, no more nights in a closet for me. Renji and Lieutenant Matsumoto found an apartment for the three of us and Captain Hitsugaya to share. I share a room with her and the other two share a room. We take turns being out on patrol. Tonight is Renji and Lieutenant Matsumoto's night.” And then she smiled more brightly. “Captain Hitsugaya is probably over at the Kurosaki's, though. He and his sister Karin seem to have hit it off nicely. And his other sister keeps insisting he have homemade food and not the weird things that his lieutenant has stocked our apartment with.”
“If you would like, I can make the same offer to you,” he said quietly.
“You cook?” Rukia asked, surprised. “Is there anything you can't do?”
“Fight with a sword,” he said. “But since I don't want to learn, it works out very well.”
“I would love to have dinner with you more often,” she said, going over to the garment bags and pausing. “Uryuu?”
“Yes?” he asked.
“Did...did tonight feel like a...date?”
He froze, unsure of how to answer. “Well...”
“Never mind,” she said quickly, grabbing the garment bags. “I just meant--”
“It did. And it felt nice,” he said, stepping over to be next to her.
“Really?” she asked, in a voice that sounded hopeful yet guarded at the same time.
“Yes,” he said. He took the garment bags from her and hung them back up on the rod. “Perhaps it would be something we could do again? When I am not offering to cook, at any rate?”
“I would love to,” she said quietly.
“Good,” he said with a nod.
“Uryuu?”
“Yes?”
“Would it be...unusual...to ask for a goodnight kiss? And...not on the cheek?”
“It would be unusual, yes. It's not supposed to be asked for.”
“Oh,” she said in a disappointed voice.
“But that doesn't mean I won't do it,” he said with a smile.
“Oh,” she said softly, but tinted with the smile on her lips. “Well, good.”
He chuckled slightly and lowered his head to kiss her softly. When she sighed and put her arms around his neck, it suddenly hit him that maybe, just maybe, he'd get his princess after all.
Author: Ragna (afteriwake)
Pairing: Isihda/Rukia.
Rating: PG
Spoilers (if applicable): Mentions the end of the Deicide arc and implies things going on in the current arc, so if you're not reading it as it comes out be forewarned.
Warnings (if applicable): None.
Summary: He never thought he'd get to be the hero in his own story.
Authors Notes: For kanjo_girl, who is writing me the most wonderful Ishida/Rukia fic. I figured I would try my hand at this for you. Hope you like it! Also, I'm a little iffy on how they referred to each other before the Hueco Mundo arc, so I'm just defaulting to formal mode of speech.
---
In every fairytale his grandfather had told him, there had been a princess. His grandfather had preferred the European fairytales to the Japanese folklore, but even in the Japanese tales there had been a princess. So Ishida had grown up with the idea that princesses had to be rescued.
He thought he had found a princess in Orihime Inoue. She was named after the princess in the Tanabata legend, so it was fitting. That was, at the core, why he had gone to Hueco Mundo. Because this time the princess was a friend. This time he had to rescue the princess because the princess wasn't just a figure in a story, she was a flesh and blood person that Ishida cared about.
A lot had happened on the dome, but in the end, he hadn't rescued the princess. He wasn't the hero. Kurosaki was the hero, as always, and it rankled at him. It still bothered him when he found out Ichigo had lost his powers, only then he hadn't had time to be bothered between school and student council activities and Hollow hunting. He was too busy to worry about Ichigo being the hero in his worldview and himself being second best.
When Ichigo got his powers back, internally Ishida groaned while outwardly his expression did not change. So, the hero was back. Well, in all actuality, the hero had never left, he'd just been heroic in less flashy ways. He knew this because Inoue still pined after him. In her eyes, Ichigo was still The One Who Rescued Me and he, himself, was simply The One Who Helped.
But in one sense he was grateful, since now he could leave the Hollow hunting to Ichigo and that other guy. After the attack, and having to deal with his father and the condescending remarks and the cold shoulder, he'd been more than happy to put that part of his life in a little box and stick it on a shelf far far away from him. He didn't need it anymore. He knew he was never going to be the hero in his own personal story.
So it was with surprise that the first person Rukia found when she came back to the world of the living was not Ichigo but himself. In fact, he had taken off his glasses, squinted, and then put them on again and squinted some more just to make sure he wasn't seeing things. “Kuchiki-san?” he finally asked.
“Good! I thought you'd think I was a figment of your imagination or just faint or something,” she said with a warm smile. She walked over to him and sat down next to him on the park bench. He recognized the dress she was wearing. It was the one he had made for her when they were in Soul Society, after Ichigo had rescued her. He hadn't even thought she'd kept it. “Ishida-kun?”
His eyes snapped back to her. “When did I become Ishida-kun?” he asked.
“We're too close for Ishida-san,” she said quietly.
“No, we're not,” he said. “It's Ichigo that you're close to, not me.”
“Oh,” she said, looking down. “Then I shall call you Ishida-san, if that's what you want.”
“It's what's proper,” he said.
“And you do almost always do what's proper,” she said. “You remind me of nii-sama, in that way.”
“He is a good man, I think, so I will take that as a compliment,” he said, just a little stiffly.
“It was meant as one,” she replied. She then stood up. “Well, I'm off to go find Ichigo. We have many things to talk about.” She paused. “I will be attending school again. Would you like to have lunch with me, tomorrow?”
“Perhaps,” he said.
“Well, I hope you decide to join me,” she said with a nod, and then she took off. He watched her go, and mentally kicked himself. Why did he need to be so formal and polite with her? Why had he insisted she call him Ishida-san? And why did it bother him so much that he had acted that way? Probably because not only had Ichigo been The One Who Rescued Me for her, he'd been that to her first. Once again, he'd never catch up.
Perhaps that was just the way it was supposed to be.
-
In the weeks that followed, he found that every day he regretted putting on the formal face he wore with Rukia. And he thought every once in a while he caught a sense of disappointment when he'd refer Orihime as Inoue-kun. But it was not to be helped. As much as he would have liked to have been more informal with her, her absence had caused it to be a necessity in his eyes.
He was roped back into fighting again, and this time very much not by choice. So he was reflecting on how horrible it would be to die at that moment with all the regrets he had in his life as the monster was bearing down on him when he saw a flash of black and then bright sunlight where the monster had been looming. He sat up and saw Rukia with her back to him, and the dust of the monster settling down onto the ground in front of her. He blinked a few times, fixed his glasses and stood. “Thank you, Kuchiki-san.”
“Rukia.”
“Pardon me?”
“Call me Rukia.” She turned to face him. “Please. Forget formality and being proper and just call me Rukia.”
She had just saved his life, so he supposed it wasn't too much to ask. “All right...Rukia.”
“See?” she said with a smile. “Not so hard.” She sheathed her sword and took the few steps it took to get to him. “And I'm going to call you Uryuu and that's that.”
He choked slightly. “But---we're not that close,” he said weakly.
She glared at him. “I thought we were that close, once. Why the wall of formality, eh? What happened?”
And then he just...snapped. Everything that had been building in him since he returned from Hueco Mundo surged up and spilled out. “Because you never came back! Yes, Kurosaki may not have been able to see you but I could and Inoue-kun could and I'm pretty sure everyone else who saw you before without you being in a gigai could have seen you again! But you never came back! You just abandoned us! And now you want me to act like you didn't disappear for almost two years when you only said good-bye to Kurosaki properly? WHY WOULDN'T I BE UPSET?!?”
This time she blinked and stared at him with her jaw hanging slightly open. “Oh. I see.”
And then it was his turn to blink and turn a slight shade of red. “I am sorry for my outburst,” he said with a slight bow.
“No, no, you had every right,” she said quietly. “I did not know that my leaving the way I did caused you such great pain.”
“Yes, well, it wasn't pain so much as...hurt,” he said.
“Then I should be the one to apologize,” she said, bowing slightly as well. “I thought my good-byes had been more meaningful. I did not know I was mistaken.”
He looked at her, and he couldn't help it. A smile etched on the corners of his mouth, and grew more an more with each passing second.. And when his mouth opened slightly he heard laughter spilling out of it, a sound he had not heard in such a long time that he almost swallowed it and choked. But it forced it's way out, and then there was nothing he could do to stop it. “I'm...I'm...”
She stood up and tilted her head slightly and put her hands on her hips. “What is wrong with you, Uryuu?” she asked, a slight frown on her face.
He sobered up, and found that try as he might the damn smile just would not leave his face. “Look at the way we are still so formal even after you have told me to be informal. It is bred very deep inside both of us.”
“Not as deep in me as it has been in you,” she said, a small smile teasing the corners of her mouth wider. “Before I was adopted into the Kuchiki clan I was not anywhere near formal. Just ask Renji.”
“Maybe one day I might,” he said. “I am sorry, though. I was hurt, and angry, and took it out on you even though you were trying to make things better. And my outburst really was uncalled for.”
“I don't know, Uryuu. It was kind of nice to see you show some real emotion.” The smile that now sat on her face was warm and inviting, and it pleased him to know that he had put it on her face.
“Where is Kurosaki, anyway?” he asked.
Her lips pursed in a slight O shape. “You did not know that he had arranged to spend time with Orihime?”
“No, I did not,” he said.
“Yes, well...apparently many things had changed in the time I was gone,” she said, the smile becoming slightly wistful. “Perhaps it was for the best.”
“Why do you believe it was for the best?” he asked, stepping over towards her. He stood next to her and then, of one accord, they began to walk out of the deserted lot and towards civilization. He knew that if anyone saw them it would look as though he was talking to himself, so when Rukia did not answer until they had begun to weave through the alleys to get to Urahara's shop, he knew why.
“He will never see me as anything more than a friend and a partner,” she said. “In truth, I thought that was how he would always view Orihime, as a friend. I suppose that that much time can change anything.”
Ishida thought back to everything that had happened in the last few months. Not even back to when Rukia had left and Ichigo had lost his powers, but to when he'd gotten them back. When he went back to being the hero it seemed almost fitting that he get the princess he had rescued. “It's befitting a hero,” he said quietly.
“And Ichigo is very much a hero,” she said wistfully. “He deserves her, after all he did to save her.”
“But he saved you first,” Ishida pointed out. “He saved you before, when we went to Soul Society. He did that long before Orihime was kidnapped.”
“But we would never be anything, since I reside in Soul Society, and he resides here.” With that they rounded the corner and entered Urahara's shop. He waited patiently for her to collect her gigai and get into it, and then he looked at her intently. “So, it was never meant to be.”
“Did you really want anything to happen?” he asked. He noticed she was wearing the dress again. Since they had dropped the formality, it would not be too out of place for him to offer to make her more dresses. Better ones, at that; since she had left his skill had improved dramatically. He realized after a few moments of mentally picking out colors and patterns that he realized she had not answered. “Rukia?”
“Perhaps I had, just a little. But I will forever be out of reach.” And then she shrugged. “I'm happy for him, though, if being with Orihime makes him happy.”
“And I am happy for Inoue-kun if she is happy with Kurosaki,” he said with a nod.
“Not everyone can get the prince or princess that they want,” she said thoughtfully.
That drew his attention “How did you get princess out of this conversation?”
“Well, she's named after the princess in the Tanabata legend. I thought it was fitting,” she said. “Why?”
“All my childhood, my grandfather told me stories of princes and princesses. Sometimes it was not a prince that rescued the princess. Sometimes it was a soldier, or a tailor, or other men who became heroes in the course of rescuing the princess. So, when I was a child, I always wanted to rescue a princess.”
“Oh, Uryuu, how I wish you could have rescued a princess,” she said with a warm laugh and a smile to match. “You would make a very dashing prince.”
“I'm glad to know you believe so,” he said, relaxing slightly at the fact that she had not laughed at him or told him it was silly.
“If only I was in distress. Then you could go rescue me,” she said, stopping in her tracks and looking at him.
“You do not need to be rescued, Rukia,” he said gravely. “You are a good fighter.”
“But I'm also just a woman. And sometimes women want to be the princess in their own lives, just once.” She smiled sadly at him. “Perhaps we should change the topic of conversation before either of us gets depressed.”
“Perhaps,” he said with a nod. “Well...how would you like some new dresses?”
“Really?” she said, her smile brightening and reaching all the way to her eyes. “I would love some!”
“Then let us head to the fabric store. I can start tonight.”
-
She came over to his apartment two weeks later. He hadn't needed to take measurements, as she had not changed much in the long period that they had not seen each other. She was a few inches taller, and a bit more slender, and he had factored in those changes to the basic pattern he had in his head regarding her shape. He was that good, that he didn't need measurements. And the dresses...not all of them were the simple ones that she liked. He hoped that he was good enough that they fit the way they did in his mind.
“Oh, these are beautiful!” she sighed, running her hand along the row of dresses. There were ten of them there, all spaced evenly on the rod, hanging for her to admire them best. He flushed slightly at the praise and the look of delight that was on her face. She pulled off a simple black dress and held it against her. All the dresses were made of cotton, with the exception of the black one she held up against her. That was a more formal dress, and it was made with silk and decorated with lace. He had no idea where she could wear it, but he wanted to make her one dress that was at least as special as she was.
“I apologize that it is black. I had hoped for emerald, but black was the only silk that the store had left.”
“No, no, I think it is perfectly fine,” she said, smoothing it out against her. “May I try it on?”
He nodded and pointed towards his bathroom down the hall. “If you wish, you may try them all on. I can make alterations as needed.”
She smiled more brightly, if that was at all possible, and practically bounced all the way down to the bathroom. He smiled at that. He had noticed that in their interactions with Ichigo and Orihime there was an unspoken strain between Rukia and them. The others didn't notice but he did, and it was nice to see such a spring in her step and a radiant smile on her face.
After a few moments she emerged from the bathroom. When she got into the area where he was she twirled slightly. The skirt flared out a bit, not as much as he knew the cotton dresses would but enough that it made her look...perfect. “I love it, Uryuu.”
“It turned out better than I had expected,” he said with a grin. “I didn't misjudge your height.”
“Oh, so you noticed I grew a few inches?” she said with a smile.
“I did. And I adjusted the pattern accordingly.”
“You used a pattern?”
“No, I had one in my head, from the dress I made you before. I just added a few more inches to the bottom since your new height seemed to be more in your legs than your torso.” He nodded approvingly. “I'm not sure where you will wear this, but I wanted you to have at least one nice dress.”
“We should go somewhere nice,” she said. “I even have money to pay for a nice dinner somewhere. It would be a thank you for the dresses.”
He nodded. “I would like that.”
“Well, let me try on the other dresses and then I'll put this one on again and we can go,” she said with a nod before going over and selecting another dress. And then, in what must have been pure impulse, she stood on her tiptoes slightly and kissed his cheek before dashing back to the bathroom. He touched his cheek where her lips had been and felt himself warmer to the touch. Strange, that she would have this affect on him. She was a friend, a friend who he was getting closer to by the day, but still only a friend. This new development could be troubling, or it could be very welcome. He would simply wait and see.
-
“Dinner was very nice, Rukia,” he said as he let them back into his apartment. They had gone to a nice restaurant and while Ishida had been glad to see the appreciative stares that she got he also felt pangs of jealousy, a feeling that he had not expected to crop up. At one point it had almost ruined what had ended up being a lovely evening, but he had squashed those feeling hard like a person stepping on a bug and the night had continued on its merry way. But now the night was over, and a case of nerves had set in, nerves that he was not quite sure he was hiding well enough. But Rukia seemed oblivious, and that was comforting.
“I'm glad you liked it,” she said with a smile. They had come back to collect the dresses. He had gotten two garment bags, and put five dresses in each. They were now hanging up on the rod, waiting for her to pick them up and take them to wherever it was she was staying. “Well, I suppose I should be going now.”
“Where are you staying, anyway?” he asked. “With Kurosaki?”
She shook her head. “No, no more nights in a closet for me. Renji and Lieutenant Matsumoto found an apartment for the three of us and Captain Hitsugaya to share. I share a room with her and the other two share a room. We take turns being out on patrol. Tonight is Renji and Lieutenant Matsumoto's night.” And then she smiled more brightly. “Captain Hitsugaya is probably over at the Kurosaki's, though. He and his sister Karin seem to have hit it off nicely. And his other sister keeps insisting he have homemade food and not the weird things that his lieutenant has stocked our apartment with.”
“If you would like, I can make the same offer to you,” he said quietly.
“You cook?” Rukia asked, surprised. “Is there anything you can't do?”
“Fight with a sword,” he said. “But since I don't want to learn, it works out very well.”
“I would love to have dinner with you more often,” she said, going over to the garment bags and pausing. “Uryuu?”
“Yes?” he asked.
“Did...did tonight feel like a...date?”
He froze, unsure of how to answer. “Well...”
“Never mind,” she said quickly, grabbing the garment bags. “I just meant--”
“It did. And it felt nice,” he said, stepping over to be next to her.
“Really?” she asked, in a voice that sounded hopeful yet guarded at the same time.
“Yes,” he said. He took the garment bags from her and hung them back up on the rod. “Perhaps it would be something we could do again? When I am not offering to cook, at any rate?”
“I would love to,” she said quietly.
“Good,” he said with a nod.
“Uryuu?”
“Yes?”
“Would it be...unusual...to ask for a goodnight kiss? And...not on the cheek?”
“It would be unusual, yes. It's not supposed to be asked for.”
“Oh,” she said in a disappointed voice.
“But that doesn't mean I won't do it,” he said with a smile.
“Oh,” she said softly, but tinted with the smile on her lips. “Well, good.”
He chuckled slightly and lowered his head to kiss her softly. When she sighed and put her arms around his neck, it suddenly hit him that maybe, just maybe, he'd get his princess after all.