Author's note: Heavy spoilers for manga chapter 238 and 247. Actually, I wouldn't even recommend reading it if you're not up to date with the manga because it is a drabble of sorts and I'm afraid that it might not make any sense. This fic heavily relies on the reader situating themselves well in the storyline.
Linger – a Bleach Fanfiction
By Akane-Rei
Even as she heard it, she could hardly believe her ears. There was absolutely NO way…he couldn't really believe that Inoue would—
"The life of one human girl is irrelevant compared to the number of lives that are currently at risk," he continued reasonably.
Reason, hell!
"Are you ordering us to ignore Inoue's current predicament?" she asked, barely holding herself in check from being disrespectful. This man, after all, was the Commander-General while she was a mere unseated member of the thirteenth division. He could crush any hint of impertinence from her with just one look—
An icy finger ran down her spine as she listened to his next words. She could feel her face blanch at the very thought—
"…As such it would be best if Hitsugaya and his team returned to Soul Society to help fortify our position," he finished.
"That is a matter of opinion, Sir," she gritted out, her hands clenched to her sides. Beside her, she could feel Renji giving her a surprised look of dismay at the tone in her voice. "Forgive me," she said, meaning nothing of that sort even as she tried to take the bitter edge off her voice, "but I will not be able to comply with your order." She couldn't…wouldn't!
The Commander-General didn't even bother to glance at her when he said, "I suspected as much. As the saying goes, the early bird does indeed get the worm."
She didn't know what he meant—she wasn't very good with all these human expressions. But she didn't care. What mattered was—
She froze when she felt a familiar reiatsu behind her even before she felt the opening of another portal. "No," she said softly, afraid to look back, afraid of what she knew she would see.
"What is it?" she could hear Renji mutter beside her just as the portal opened.
Nii-sama.
She turned around just in time for the gate to reveal not just him but the eleventh division captain as well.
She bit her lip, her eyes briefly meeting her brother's impassive stare before she looked down in frustration. Of all the shinigamis to appear behind the gate! She could have defied anyone, no matter what the consequences; she would have defied anyone, anyone, but him.
"Captain!" Renji's surprised exclamation registered to her shocked brain.
She could barely make out Captain Zaraki's crude orders due to the ringing in her ears.
This couldn't be happening!
Inoue…
It was her fault. Her fault.
"We are under orders to escort you back to Soul Society," Nii-sama's words penetrated her daze. Her head whipped back up to look at him. "Failure to comply will be met with appropriate force."
"Failure to comply will be met with appropriate force."
Guilt.
Frustration.
Betrayal.
He could see so many things…so many emotions that played across her face. Just when he had thought she had perfected hiding her feelings from him, he was presented with this.
Betrayal.
He steeled himself against that look. A look, he was sure, she had never meant for him to see.
"Find her…protect her."
And wasn't that what he was doing right at this moment? He would hardly be protecting her by letting her gallivant around trying to rescue a girl of no particular consequence to him. By taking her back to Soul Society, he was protecting her—something he had failed to do in the recent past.
He closed his eyes, barely paying attention to the brat behind Rukia as he pleaded his case.
Rukia would come back to Soul Society and once more be under the mantle of his protection. He knew she would return the moment he had been ordered to escort all of them back. After all, except for that one indiscretion, Rukia had always followed the rules and behaved herself in accordance to how she thought a Kuchiki should.
He wondered when it was that he realized how stifling she must find them all.
"Ichigo," her voice traveled back to him.
He opened his eyes and watched her give the brat a look that he wished he never saw.
"Find her…protect her."
"Ichigo…I…" her voice broke and he watched as his vice-captain's arm swung over her shoulder as he led her gently towards the gate. He would have given a bitter laugh at that scene had the tightness in his chest not prevented him. That his own vice-captain could do what he had never been able to do…
Her eyes lingered back to the boy, full of guilt and…
He wished he could forget that look.
Because try as he might…he wasn't sure whether he could protect her from that.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
And deep down, he knew he said those same words himself.
Dawn was hours away when she found herself looking back at the main house. She wondered what he would say. She mentally slapped herself. Hadn't she already decided that she didn't care what her brother thought? That she would go against the rules that he clung so hard to? Why then did she feel this slight ache near the region of her heart?
Why was she even thinking thoughts of that nature? For that matter, why was she even stopping here at the edge of the Kuchiki property, giving one last look to what had been her home for the past fifty years? When all was revealed and her defiance discovered, she wondered if he would suffer for it.
She bit her lip.
She could not afford to care about things like that. What she was about to do was just and right! Inoue—
Inoue…
She took a deep breath. She had made her decision. And it was the right one. There was no room for regrets in her heart. Swallowing convulsively, she turned to sprint towards the meeting place she and Renji had designated—
Only to run smack into none other than—
"Nii-sama!" she yelped, before covering her mouth when she heard her voice echo around them. She looked at her brother with what she was sure was horror dawning in her eyes. Of all the rotten, misbegotten luck!
"Taking a walk under the moonlight?" he said as a way of greeting.
She looked at him in askance and briefly wondered whether he was being sarcastic. After all, how could he not realize what she was doing this late a night outside the main house.
She paused. Come to think of it, there was no earthly reason for him to think that she was on her way to—
"Why, yes," she replied, lying through her teeth. Although, it wasn't exactly lying. She was taking a walk under the moonlight. The fact that the walk was merely a means to an end was beside the point. "You too?" she asked in what must be the most miserable attempt on her part for a conversation.
She saw him give her zanpakutou a look before responding, "No. Not particularly."
"Oh," she said, deflated. "I see." But really, she didn't. What was he doing here? "I…" she thought up of something to say. Anything. Anything at all. "I heard that the sixth division is quite busy with all the preparations for the upcoming war," she babbled. Renji had told her all about it a couple of days after they were forced back to Soul Society.
"Yes," he conceded, his eyes seeming to follow her every movement.
She tried to calm her nerves. She didn't think he knew. Otherwise he would have said something already, right? There was no reason to worry. Not yet, at least.
"Rukia," he said, looking at her with those eyes that always made her feel so discomfited.
"Yes, Nii-sama?" her voice was steady. That was always good. There was a time when she seemed to always have been reduced into some sort of blathering idiot whenever she was at his presence. Why there was that time—she winced. She was still a blathering idiot.
"Was there anything else?" he asked in his monotone voice.
"N-n-no," she stuttered, hating herself for it. Maybe it was her guilty conscience. Not that she felt guilty for doing what she had to do, but she did feel guilty for…omitting the truth from him.
"Well then," he said softly, almost in dismissal. He made a move to leave.
She breathed a sigh of relief—
He stopped.
—And cursed herself for all kinds of fool for thinking this was over.
"Rukia," he said again, this time, with a tone in his voice that she couldn't name.
"Yes, Nii-sama?" she said again.
"Take this," he said, holding out a length of cloth towards her.
Where it came from, she wasn't sure, but he must have had it with him hidden in the folds of his clothes.
She approached him slowly, afraid of her possible good fortune. As mind-boggling as it might be, Nii-sama did not seem to have any suspicions at all regarding her destination. She wasn't sure which was more inconceivable: the fact her brother was unaware or the fact that he was at the very moment handing her a cloak.
"What is this?" she asked, touching the fabric. It felt sturdy and yet light at the same time. She took the length of fabric and observed it.
"It's a mantle," he told her, and if he hadn't been Byakuya Kuchiki, she would swear he said those words with a quick eye roll. But such an action would be beneath her brother.
"Oh," she said, a little confused. Did he think she needed to keep warm? Besides, the fabric was too light for such a purpose. She looked up at him to find him watching her.
Did he want her to put it on?
She attempted to do just that. Only, she seemed to be making a mess of it and she mentally berated herself for being so clumsy around him.
She could hear him give a resigned sigh.
"Here," he said, taking the mantle away from her inept fingers.
She ground her teeth at the involuntary shiver raced down her spine at the slight brush of his hand against hers. What was wrong with her? She was being so…so…silly.
He flapped the mantle to the side, letting the fabric float in the night air, before he placed the ties around her shoulders. He secured the cloth deftly, his hands brushing lightly against her chest during the process.
She blushed.
At least, she was pretty sure she did given how her face felt at the moment.
Maybe she flushed due to his proximity. He was awfully close while he made sure that the mantle was put on correctly. Or maybe she felt flushed because he actually gave her what could be considered a present. Out of nowhere. When had he ever done that? Or maybe she felt flushed because his hands hovered just above her—
She mentally slapped herself.
This was her brother, for heaven's sake!
"Thank you," she said quietly as soon as he stepped back. She didn't think she would have been capable of any coherent speech prior to that.
"You're welcome," he replied, still looking at her with those eyes that seemed to see everything. He gave her a brief nod before stepping past her, seemingly on his way back to the main house.
"Nii-sama!" she called out before thinking better of it.
You weren't going to do that, missy!
He stopped and slowly turned to look back at her.
"Was there anything else, Rukia?" he asked her.
Yes! she had wanted to say. I'm sorry. For what I'm about to do. For the trouble I know I will cause you.
"I…" she began, searching for words, "I…I was wondering what this mantle was for?" She groaned. Not at all what she had wanted to say.
He looked at her, his body so still, as if he were considering what to say next. "It's for your protection," he finally said. "There's a lot of sand in…Hueco Mundo."
She froze.
Her whole body stiffened.
And he wondered whether it would have been kinder not to let her know that he had known of her decision to save her friend all along. That had been his plan at first. After all, what use would it have been for her to realize that all her machinations with his vice-captain were something he had foreseen?
"I…I…" stammered.
He smiled inwardly. He could almost see her think up a storm of something suitable to reply. Something Kuchiki-like and proper.
In the end, she gave up and looked at him with something akin to apprehension.
"You've known all along, haven't you?" she said lowly.
"I am not oblivious to my surroundings, Rukia," he said as a way of answering. "To be so would be detrimental to what we are all trying to accomplish."
"No," she agreed with him, "you're not oblivious at all." She gave him a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. Her hands tightened into tiny balls as she held on to her cloak. "I suppose I should just be thankful that you don't intend to stop me," she ventured.
"My orders were merely to bring you back," he stated. And that was true.
"Do you mean to say that you don't intend to stop me due to…semantics?" she asked incredulously.
That was exactly what he meant to say.
Whether it was true or not was another matter.
"I did not receive any orders relating to what I should do after bringing you back," he replied instead. "Do as you please."
She looked at him with disbelief etched across her features.
"Was there anything else, Rukia?" he asked for the second time that night.
Was there anything else he could do for her? Did she need him for anything else?
Were those the questions he had truly wanted to ask?
She looked at him uncertainly, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "You don't intend to stop me at all," she said, her voice full of amazement. She licked her lips. "Why?" she asked.
Why?
He looked at her from his lofty height. Why, she had asked.
Because Hisana would have wanted it.
Because allowing her to rescue her friend was one of the few honors he could give her after he'd systematically stripped all chances she'd had of advancing in the Gotei 13.
Because he felt as if he'd owed her, especially after that debacle with her execution.
Because the look on her face when he took her back to Soul Society was something he had never wanted to see again.
"Because…" he began, picking through and discarding through a pile of reasons which consisted of half-truths.
Why? Why don't you stop me?
"Because there is no reason to," he told her stoically.
"I see."
Yet it was clear she didn't.
"Are the reasons important to you, Rukia?" he asked—and called himself a fool for obviously they were important enough for her to ask about them.
So he was surprised to find her shaking her head. "No," she responded. "I'm just…grateful."
Grateful?
He didn't need her gratitude.
Because, of all the half-truths and lies for his reason for helping her, the one that contained the most truth was utterly, utterly…selfish.
He'd wanted her…to need him.
To rely on him.
The way she seemed to rely on his vice-captain and on the substitute shinigami.
"Don't be," he muttered tersely.
"But…"
"Besides, you need to keep your friend out of trouble," he said, turning away. "Even Hueco Mundo wouldn't want a dirty little brat like him running around the place."
She gave him a sheepish look.
"You should go," he finally said. "Renji will be wondering where you are."
He could tell that he surprised her again by the slight catch in her breath.
"Yes, I know about him too," he answered her question before she had the chance to ask. It saved time that way.
"I see."
Strangely enough, she seemed to say that quite often—despite the fact that it wasn't true.
"Well then," she said.
He could feel her staring at him even when his back was turned.
"Was there anything else, Rukia?" he asked for the third time.
He felt her touch the sleeve of his robe and he turned to look at her confused eyes. She stared at him for what seemed like the longest of times.
"Would you…would you like my help in getting back to the real world undetected?" he asked the question he had told himself he wasn't going to.
But it was worth it.
For the first time in their life together, Rukia gave him a genuine smile…before nodding shyly. "That would be…wonderful," she stated softly. With that, she placed her hand on his outstretched one and allowed him to lead her to her meeting with his vice-captain.
Maybe…maybe, she would come to rely on him as well after all.
End