"Nobility's Fall"- Chapter 1: The Call
Disclaimer: Not mine. Credit goes to Tite Kubo. The plot of this story is mine, however.
Rating: For now, T.
Pairing: Byakuya/Rukia
Warnings/Spoilers: Only if you aren’t up to date with the manga/anime.
Chapter Summary: Rukia Kuchiki was all too busy despising the fall when a call came to a friend that changed everything.
“The moments of happiness we enjoy take us by surprise. It is not that we seize them, but that they seize us.” - Ashley Montagu
****
Fall always left a bitter taste in her mouth. It reminded her of death and decay. Winter held far more attractiveness because with it’s coat of snow, it brought new life. New life eventually turned into full blown beauty. And then once the world was established in all its glory, it would die again with the arrival of autumn.
The beginning of autumn also meant the beginning of classes and the end of freedom. The beginning of boring lectures and the end of festivals. The beginning of stronger hollows and the end of mindless soul reaping.
Fall was her Achille’s heel.
As the leaves changed their colors they reminded her of fire. And how she hated fire. She had come too close to her death with the element of fire blazing brightly in her mind. But they had saved her. Her friends. And her brother.
A man so cold and disinterested in everything she said and done. A man that had been determined to have her executed. A man that spoke to practically no one at all. A man who has saved her on several different occasions. This man often harassed her thoughts. Someone physically so close to her (in the same house, to be precise), yet light years away in every other aspect he could possibly be.
“Yo, you just gonna sit there or are you gonna come with us to lunch?”
Rukia blinked herself from her reverie, shifting bright purple eyes up to find Ichigo Kurosaki looming over her with that constant bored expression.
“I’m coming,” Rukia automatically answered, swinging her legs around her seat and getting to her feet. Standing didn’t change much of her height. Aside from her what her attitude conveyed, she was terribly short. Of course Ichigo had always been told that the smaller something/someone was, the feistier they happened to be.
Rukia Kuchiki had to be the walking stereotype.
“What’s got you so quiet?” He grumbled, falling in to step ahead of her. It was her choice whether or not she wanted to keep up.
“Nothing,” She answered back quickly, keeping her eyes glued to the windows and the outside scenery as they made their way to the rooftop.
“ICHIGO!”
The pair stopped, snapping their heads forward as they caught sight of a terribly excited (wasn’t he always?) Keigo rushing their direction.
Grimacing, Ichigo threw up his fist and let the overzealous young man run straight into his bony knuckles.
“Cut it out, Keigo.”
A look of absolute disappointment fell onto the outlandish teen’s face, “Why do ya haveta hit me for? You should be happy that you have a friend as awesome as me.”
“I didn’t hit you. You did it yourself. Besides, how could something like that ever make me happy?”
Falling in step beside Rukia, Keigo caressed his damaged nose, his back slumped and his face downtrodden.
Ichigo pushed open the door and sighed at the bright rays of the fall sun scorching his eyes.
Rukia took a few moments to blink and take in the change in lighting before she threw on that cheesy smile that her classmates had come to know oh so well.
“Hi everyone!”
Chad and Uryu remained silent, simply nodding their greeting. Orihime, however, spun around; long locks of auburn and shimmering light catching the sun just right as she waved eagerly, jumping to her feet and smiling brightly, “Ichigo! Rukia! Hi!”
“I’m here too, Orihiiiiiimeeeee!” Keigo exclaimed, quickly recovering from his damaged trial and flashing the friendly young woman an unnerving smile.
Of course, nothing ever threw off Orihime. She turned that bright smile of hers towards him and nodded, “Mmhmm, hi Keigo!”
Quickly she turned back to Ichigo and smiled a completely different smile. If Rukia didn’t like watching her friend’s reaction to the orange-haired boy, she wouldn’t have even noticed. But it was there. As was the softness that came to the edges of Ichigo’s eyes whenever he looked at her. It was terribly cute.
Rukia giggled a bit to herself as she went to sit next to Chad.
“What do you think of all these different colored leaves, Ichigo?”
He shrugged, taking a step closer to her, deciding that sitting next to Orihime at lunch was rather ideal. Actually, being next to her at all seemed to bring him a sense of calm.
The pair sat down and she sealed her eyes shut in a look of sheer enjoyment, “I think fall is my favorite time.”
“Everything is your favorite, Orihime,” Rukia said lightly.
“Aw, Rukia. You don’t seem to be all too happy today. Don’t you like all the leaves?”
The small shinigami shook her head, “I’m not really a fall person.”
The healer nodded, “It can be kinda lonely when it’s fall time. But I love it. I really do.”
“Why do you like it so much?” Ichigo questioned, popping a piece of rice into his mouth nonchalantly.
Immediately a flush found her cheeks and she flailed her arms in front of her face, “N-no reason! I just d-do.”
His brows rose in suspicion before he shrugged and turned to Chad and Uryu.
The separate conversations eventually melded into one group talk and before they knew it, it was time to return to class.
Orihime and Rukia decided to linger for a moment longer, “Are you sad today, Rukia?”
The raven-haired woman smiled softly, “I don’t really know what’s wrong with me. I’ve just never been that much for the fall. I’m alright, Orihime. Don’t worry about me.”
Her busty friend watched her for a moment longer before accepting the answer, “Alright.”
“Orihime, by the way, I meant to ask you-”
“Yes?”
A scheming look crossed her face as she smirked up at the taller girl, “What is it about the fall leaves that makes you love them so much?”
Apparently not catching the weight of her fiend’s question, or really paying attention that much at all, Orihime’s face immediately split into a goofy grin, “Because they remind me of Ichigo.”
…
Rukia chuckled to herself, “I thought so.”
…
Orihime’s eyes snapped open, horrified gray finding her friend’s smug face, “Gah, Rukia! I-I…p-please don’t say anything to Ichigo!”
The Kuchiki adoptee shook her head, “Trust me, your secret is save with me.”
* * * * * * * * * * * *
“Keigo Arisano, if you make a scene like that in the middle of my lecture again, I’m going to make sure you erase the chalkboard with your tongue, do you hear me?!”
“B-but I-”
“You’re staying afterwards for detention!”
“NOOOOOOOOOOO!”
Ichigo rolled his eyes as he shut the class door behind him, “Does he always need to be such a clown?”
Chad looked forward, “Keigo is Keigo.”
The part-time shinigami nodded at his friend’s vague, but always accurate, answer.
“I’m going to see Urahara. I need to check up on…’things’,” Rukia informed Ichigo when he sent her a look of question when she began heading a different direction.
“Mr. Hats-and-clogs, eh? Well fine. Just don’t get into anything…dicey.”
“I’ll be fine. Besides, I know you’re dying to figure out why Orihime likes the fall so much.”
Ichigo’s pupils narrowed as he grit his teeth, “Tch, like I care about something as stupid as that.”
“Well then the fact that she told me why shouldn’t interest you at all then, should it?”
His hand tightened around the handle of his schoolbag as he silently brewed, “See ya. Tell Renji to get off his lazy ass and take care of the hollows once in a while. I’m tired of going to his district and doing his job because he’s too busy lazing about.”
Rukia said her ‘farewells’ and headed on her way.
Although she couldn’t quite help but sneak a look behind her at the way Ichigo closed the distance between himself and Orihime as they ‘casually’ walked home. Rukia had read her fair share of romance novels but to actually see such things in motion left her with a happy feeling in her heart, and a zap of longing for something similar. The last person she had felt anything towards had-
* * * * * * * * * * * *
“I understand my orders, Captain Kuchiki, sir.”
“Very well then. I will be waiting for your timely arrival, Lieutenant Abarai.”
Renji Abarai pressed the end button of his soul phone and sighed.
“Well it’s about time your moochin’ ass left!”
The sixth division’s vice-captain glanced down at the mouthy red-headed boy that always seemed to be on his case.
“Ya know, you sure are a lazy heap of trash to be a lieutenant. The Soul Society must just let anyone into a ranking officer’s spot.”
“You shut your mouth, you little brat!” Renji hissed back, his fist clenching around his soul phone until his knuckles began to turn white.
“Now, now. There’s no need for this kind of language, you two. Renji has helped out around here. He fights off hollows, Jinta.”
“Those things are small fry! I could kick their asses with a blind-fold on!”
“Plus he helped to train Chad for the winter war and-”
“He’s a moocher!”
“You’re a mouthy little bastard!” Renji countered.
“I’m just glad that you’re leavin’-”
“Who’s leaving?”
The party of bickering individuals turned to find that Rukia Kuchiki had managed to slip inside without so much as one of them registering her reiatsu.
Urahara opened his fan and held it in front of his face in that mysterious way of his, “Why, you have just missed an order from the Soul Society, Miss Kuchiki.”
“Oh?”
Renji grinned at his childhood friendly cockily, “I gotta head back to the Soul Society.”
She blinked. Renji was leaving? So soon? It seemed like they were finally reconnecting…the damage that had been done from their unfortunate separation slowly disappearing from all thought.
“But…why? What’s happening?”
He stared at her with worried auburn eyes, “Nothing that you need to be so upset over, Rukia. I got this!”
She rolled her eyes, “Oh I forgot that you are indeed, Lieutenant Abarai. Vice-captain to my brother. Bankai user extraordinaire.”
“Psh, don’t hate.”
Urahara watched the pair with observant gray eyes. Renji was a complete and utter fool when it came to Rukia. Surroundings should never affect a soul reaper’s awareness but wherever Rukia was concerned…Renji Abarai was all but clay in her unaware hands.
“Anyways, what’s the situation? It must be of some importance if they’re calling you back to the Soul Society.”
“Apparently a faction of strong hollows have just been spotted outside of the Rukon district. Division six has been dispatched to seek and destroy these hollows.”
“Why the sixth in particular?” She asked quietly. This division was all too important to her. It housed her long time friend. And her brother.
“Because Captain Kuchiki offered our services. I’m thinking that good ole Byakuya is getting tired of all that paperwork.”
Improbable, she thought to herself as she shifted her weight from foot to foot, “What part of the Rukon district?”
“Near the edges of Mount Koifushi.”
Urahara fanned him self quietly as he watched the look on Rukia’s face turn from concern to solemn in less than a beat of one‘s heart.
“M-mount Koifushi?” She repeated, bowing her head so that her longer pieces of hair guarded her face from her company’s sight.
Immediately Renji regretted mentioning it. He had been told the story. He knew all too well the weight that it had left in her heart.
Rukia’s large eyes fell shut as she took a moment to clear her mind of the memories. The memories that should make her smile. Instead it made her heart clench and her breathing stumble.
"Because our captain is weak and sick, I'm usually in charge of everything! Therefore you may call me ‘Captain Kaien’ if you like!"
…
"Remember that as long as you're in my division, I will stand by you even if I die."
Even after her battle with Aaroniero, Espada number nine, she still found that she was plagued with this pain. This heavy burden. She had thought she had left it all behind her then. That her salvation had been found. But how had she truly freed herself? Kaien Shiba was not Aaroniero. Kaien Shiba was dead. He hadn’t been able to witness the fight. He had not been able to hear her words. He had not been able to see the all-too-visible emotions she felt for the man as she struggled to conquer the arrancar. No, Kaien Shiba was dead.
And Mount Koifushi…that was where he had spent all those long hours with her. Those timeless memories that she often thought of during days like today.
Orihime had been right…the fall did make you feel lonely.
“Y-yeah…but I doubt anything is damaged, Rukia. That’s why we’re goin’. We’re gonna make sure it’s alright,” Renji consoled, trying his best to return her to a smiling state. He hated to see her upset.
“When do you leave?” She asked, without raising her head.
“I leave immediately. Captain Kuchiki is waiting for me on the other side.”
She swallowed, finally suppressing her pain for the moment, “No more lazing about, Renji. My brother is going to work you like a dog.”
Renji’s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing her teasing tone, “Yeah, yeah. He thinks he’s hard to work for. Little does he know that I take naps when he’s in a captain’s meeting.”
Rukia snorted, “You seriously think he doesn’t know? The day someone can get something past my brother without him noticing will be the day he’s gone.”
Urahara smirked behind his fan. It was quite humorous to hear her say such things about a man she knew so little about. He adjusted his bucket hat before deciding to interrupt, “Well I think that’s enough for ‘goodbye’, don’t you?”
“Yeah, you two act like you’re gonna kiss or somethin’!” Jinta growled, crossing his arms in annoyance.
Tessai and Ururu simply groaned at the red-headed boy’s disgust. He would never stop, would he?
Renji’s eyes widened as he blushed, scratching at the back of his pineapple shaped hair, “W-what did you just sa-”
Beep. Beep. Beep.
The group grew silent as Renji’s soul phone sounded through the cramped room.
“A hollow?” Rukia questioned, her eyes glued to Renji’s face for a reaction.
“No.”
“It seems Soul Society has something else they want to add to their order,” Urahara breathed.
“Yes sir?” Renji greeted in question as he placed the phone to his ear.
The occupants of the room remained silent as they attempted, in vain, to listen to the conversation. The link between this world and the next.
“I understand, sir. I shall inform her.”
This sparked Rukia’s interest. Her?
“Understood. Yes sir.”
Zabimaru’s master shut the phone and sighed, turning to Rukia, “I hope you don’t have any plans.”
She raised an eyebrow, “Eh?”
“Oooh, a date?!” Urahara purred, snapping his fan shut.
Renji spun around like a cornered animal, his eyes merely slits and his canine teeth barred, “What did you just say, Kisuke?”
Kisuke waved his retracted fan at Renji playfully, “Oh nothing. Now what were you saying?”
The lieutenant gave the ex-captain a one-over before he turned back to Rukia, “You don’t have any commitments here, do you?”
“Well I…uh…school? The hollows?”
“Ichigo and the others can handle the hollows. Besides, if push comes to shove, the tenth division can come station here again.”
“Renji?” She said, hoping his name would help him to focus in on what he was supposed to be telling her, “What’s going on?”
“You’ve been requested to come back to the Soul Society as well.”
“I…but I’m not a part of…I don’t understand-”
“Well, better stop gawking and get ready to use those hell butterflies, Kuchiki. We’re headed back.”
“But why me? What do I have to do with all of this?”
“Hell if I know. What do I look like, a fortune teller?” Renji grumbled, shoving his phone into his pocket.
“By the way, Lieutenant Abarai,” Kisuke drawled, a look of mystery coming over him, “Who gave the request for her to return? It seems rather strange that a member of another division should be sent back to the Soul Society when they are not even concerned with the mission.”
The tattooed man nodded, “Well it’s not a direct request from the High Captain.”
Rukia caught her breath, “Renji, who told me to come back to Soul Society?”
He sighed, “Captain Byakuya Kuchiki.”