Byakuya x Rukia

He drove her nuts.

And it wasn't just his high mighty attitude and cold demeanor, it was him altogether. It was his disapproving stares when she did something he didn't like. Then there was his arrogant scoff if she said something he thought silly or stupid. But most of all, it was the way he disregarded love, especially hers.

She was just tired. Tired of him pretending that there was nothing there between them, tired of him pretending that he didn't want her and really, she was just tired of him acting like she was some kind of Rukongai filth. Like she wasn't worthy enough of his affection.

Well screw him.

Screw Byakuya Kuchiki, captain to the sixth squad of the thirteen Gotei, head of the Kuchiki clan, noble brother-in-law, arrogant, self-centered, uncaring, gorgeous, wonderful, sexy . . .wait! He was not gorgeous, and wonderful, and sexy, and yummy and irresistible—will you stop thinking of him like that Rukia! He doesn't want you and you shouldn't want him, so just let it go and find someone else.

Not that she wanted them (Ichigo and Renji) anyway; besides, Renji was head over heels for Tatsuki Arisawa, the tomboy friend of Ichigo's and the strawberry himself was somewhat involved with Kukaku Shiba. Yes, you heard right, Ichigo Kurosaki and Kukaku Shiba were having relations and denying it like crazy but the secret looks and secret touches and her asking him to come over and "fix" something or him asking her to help him "train", it was no mistake, they were having an affair and didn't want anyone to know.

She wished her and Byakuya could—no, no, no, NO! She and Byakuya did not need to have a secret love affair, they really didn't even need to want each other the way that they did. Or at least she didn't need to want Byakuya the way she did. Ichigo and Renji would kill him for sure.

Even though she didn't want them, that didn't mean they wouldn't still protect her and fight over who would keep away more guys from her. If they knew it was Byakuya, they would slaughter him. Since they were both captains now, Ichigo captain to squad five and Renji captain to squad nine, both were quite capable of defeating Byakuya as well as probably killing him.

Rukia decided not to dwell on the issue any further and go enjoy the Valentine's Day festival, alone.

"Oh there you are Lieutenant Kuchiki", her captain, Jyuushiro Ukitake, stepped into her office.

Rukia figured something must be wrong since Jyuushiro addressed her properly instead of just by her first name.

"Yes Captain", she stood from her chair to her feet and saluted the older, white haired man.

"It's an urgent message from Captain Kuchiki", Jyuushiro told her.

Oh shit! What had she done now? Or what hadn't she done? Ah hell! It doesn't matter with that man. He can get mad at her for anything, the question was though, what did she do or didn't do this time to set him off.

Rukia sighed as she took the letter from Jyuushiro's hand and opened it.

The first thing she noticed was that it was written on his personal stationary. Not the Kuchiki clan stationary or the sixth division stationary.

What the hell? He hardly ever uses his personal stationary, what could he possibly want?

The second thing she noticed when she opened the letter was that instead of it opening it with "Ms. Kuchiki" or "Thirteen Division Lieutenant Rukia Kuchiki" or "Kuchiki-fukutaicho" it had just a plain and simple "Rukia".

Now she was really confused. What could Byakuya possibly want with her? She was starting to get the feeling that it was something personal and had nothing to do with what she had or hadn't done. So what could be the personal issue?

She looked down at the letter in her hand and began to quake with fear. She really hoped it wasn't about what she said to him this morning before she left for work. She just hoped to god he was not going to hold a grudge over that. She didn't mean it. She was just mad he was throwing away her love for him. She hadn't meant to curse him out and tell him she hated him.

"Oh god", she gasped and clamped a hand to her face.

"Rukia, what's wrong?" Jyuushiro asked concerned.

"I have to go", she replied and bowed to the long, white haired captain and then shunpo-ed off.

Byakuya considered himself to be a highly, well respected captain and leader of the richest clan in the Soul Society but right at this moment, he felt the lowest of the low. For at this moment, he was being stared down by two of the Thirteen Gotei's most infamous captains, and no, one of them was not Kenpachi. No, these two captains were the reason why Soul Society was in alliance with the arrancars and why Soul Society was in a friendly pact with Vizards. These two captains were Capt. Kurosaki Ichigo and Capt. Abarai Renji. And these were the two captains whom Byakuya had to ask permission to date Rukia.

He and Rukia had been fooling around but on this Valentine's Day, he wanted to make their relationship official and ask her to be his girlfriend but he had to get pass these two first and knowing them, they were not going to make it easy on him.

"So, Capt. Kuchiki, you want to date Rukia, officially?" Renji asked. Ichigo just stood there looking at Byakuya with the coldest, deadliest glare he could muster and his hand on the hilt of his zanpakuto, already in bankai form.

Ichigo and Kenpachi were the two most special of captains. Kenpachi had no bankai but was a captain and Ichigo was a vizard who was always in his bankai form.

"Yes, that is right Abarai-taicho", Byakuya bowed to the red-haired, tattooed captain.

"What do you think Ichigo?" Renji looked to the orange haired vizard.

Ichigo did not reply. He continued to stare at Byakuya as his eyes darkened and his pupils began to turn yellow and a mask began to form on one side of his face.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill yo' ass right here and right now?" he said in his eerie hollow voice.

"I understand why you would feel that way Kurosaki-taicho—"

"Do not call my by that name!" the hollow within screamed. "That is the king's name. If you would like, you may call me Shirosaki-sama. The king does not wish to address you so he sent me to handle things. Don't worry, he won't let me kill you but if you cross him, he told me to murder that rich bastard", the hollow howled loudly.

Byakuya gulped down a heavy breath and knew he was going to be in for it.

"Now come on Shiro", Renji began. "Let's hear the man out before we kill him", he said.

So they were going to kill him regardless of what he said. Maybe he could try to really convince them that he loved Rukia and would never do anything to hurt her.

"I love Rukia!" Byakuya blurted out really quickly.

Ichigo's reiatsu flared to enormous proportions and he brought down the sixth division captain to lie almost completely on his face.

"You love Rukia?" Ichigo stood and hovered over Byakuya. "You love RUKIA?" he stepped onto Byakuya's back with his foot. "Where was all that love when Soul Society had Rukia on trial and put her up for execution and I had to come and save her ass because you were being too much of a dick to come and save her? Huh? Where was the fucking LOVE?"

"Ichigo", Renji touched his shoulder. "Calm down."

"No!" he shoved the red haired captain off him. "I want to know why all of a sudden you love Rukia now but you didn't back then? Why should I believe a word you say? Why should I let you have Rukia? How can I be sure you won't hurt her?" Ichigo's voice came through as his hollow mask cracked to the ground and he took his foot off of Byakuya's back.

"Ichigo . . . I had no idea", Renji breathed after a moment and then turned to his former captain. "But he has a point. How do we know you won't hurt her again?" he asked solemnly.

"Because I give you my word. That is all I have to give. I love Rukia and I will spend the rest of my life trying to prove to you and especially her, how much she means to me. I don't care how long it takes, I won't stop until she knows my love for her", Byakuya responded.

Ichigo just looked at the bowed down sixth division captain and then he sighed in defeat. "Fine, you have our permission to be with Rukia", he said.

"Ichigo, are you sure?" Renji turned to him.

"Yes, I am sure", he nodded his carrot top head. "But if I hear one complaint from Rukia or if you make her cry", he grabbed Byakuya by the collar and lifted him off the ground. "And you better not make her cry. I will not hesitate to end your pathetic excuse of a life", and then he dropped him back down to the ground. "Now go before I change my mind."

"Arigatou Kurosaki-taicho", Byakuya bowed and then flash stepped off.

Rukia stopped by the sixth division headquarters but could not find Byakuya there. So thought maybe he was napping, so she checked the captain quarters in the squad barracks and yet again he was nowhere to be found.

Where could he be? Is he back at the mansion? I can't sense his reiatsu anywhere. Is he hiding from me . . . why?

Seeing that Byakuya was not in the squad barracks, she flash stepped away, heading towards the mansion. She knew it was a long shot but she figured he would be in his secret hiding place that he thought she didn't know about, talking with her sister.

Byakuya and Rukia had never mentioned Hisana. Rukia had never spoken of her late sister because she never knew her. Byakuya never spoke of her because it was too painful. But from time to time, she would hear him whisper his dead wife's name whenever they were in the garden or whenever she said something akin to how Hisana would say it.

Rukia found that comforting. She wasn't jealous of her deceased sister, she was actually quite happy that she could bring such comfort. In fact, if she were to be honest, she only wished she could live up to her beloved sister's standards. Maybe that's why it was so hard for him to love her. She just wasn't Hisana.

"Rukia," she heard her name being called by a familiar voice and stopped mid air. She looked around, but she didn't see anyone. She didn't even sense any reiatsu.

"Byaku—"but she never got to finish her sentence as a hand came over her mouth and dragged her body down to the ground into a secluded and abandoned shed. "What the hell? Why did you—"and yet again she was stopped short but not by a hand. This time she was cut off by a pair of two lips crashing down on hers and kissing her deeply.

"Shhh," he sounded pulling away from her. "I don't want anyone to find us here. I want to tell you this alone, with no interruptions," he said, grabbing her hands in his and leading her to a small table set up in the center of the room.

From what Rukia could gather, the room used to be a kitchen. There was a sink, an old, giant black pot, a giant ice box and a pantry. On the walls, there were clear spots were dust hadn't collected. She assumed picture frames used to hang there. Over the sink, there appeared to have been a window but it was boarded up now.

"What is this place?" she asked.

"This is the house I bought for me and Hisana to live in when I proposed to her. But we never got the chance to live here. I knew I could not take care of Hisana with my own resources so we were forced to live in the Kuchiki manor. I wanted to give her an independent life free from protocol, but if I had left the Kuchiki family, I would have had nothing to give her. So we chose to stay and tough it out with my family. At least, to us, it wouldn't be so bad so long as we stayed together.

"But then she got sick and spent most of her time in Rukongai looking for you. So she slept most nights here. And on those rare occasions I could join here, I slept here as well."

"Byakuya, why—"

"But that time didn't last long. Soon she died and I had this place boarded up so I would never have to step foot into this place again. So I would never have to be reminded of her last, most painful breathes alive. That is, until now, until you." He turned looking Rukia dead in the eye as he kneeled down to one knee.

"Byakuya, what are you—"she jumped away from him but he gripped her hand in his and pulled her back to him.

"Rukia, I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life showing you just how much I love you. I don't—"

"But . . . "

"—want to waste another minute waiting for the right moment, or waiting for when others might be more comfortable with our relationship. I want you to be mine and for me to be yours. Rukia Kuchiki, will you marry me?"

"But . . . I don't . . . what about this morning . . . and Renji and Ichigo! They are going to—"

"I already asked for their permission and they said yes. I even already asked Jyuushiro for your hand in marriage. I wanted to do all this the right way and not leave anything to chance," he told her.

"But this morning . . . we . . . we had a fight and I . . . I'm so sorry I said I hated you," she shouted, tears springing from her violet eyes.

"I know." He grinned as he rose to his feet and hugged her to his broad chest. "And I'm sorry for stringing your feelings in every direction and not telling you I loved you sooner. I just . . . needed to say goodbye," he whispered in her hair.

"Say goodbye? To who—"

"To Hisana," he responded. "This was the last place we spent together, somewhat happy and in love. I want to close the chapter of my life with her by beginning a new one with you," he said truthfully.

"Oh Byakuya," the petite soul reaper began crying in her lover's arms. "I love you too."

"So, does that mean you'll be my wife?" He leaned back so he could get a better look at her, cupping her chin in his hand, titling her head up to look at him.

"Yes, I'll marry you."

"Good." He smiled as he leaned forward and kissed her gently and sweetly on the lips.

Goodbye my love. I will always cherish you.

i know its been awhile, i hope all my fans are well. if you still are my fans. well, this is the first thing i have finished since the school year started. i fear my skills aren't what they used to be so it may not be all that good. but please read and review and tell me what you think. goodnight. happy reading.