Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Total Eclipse ❯ Lavender Rose ( Chapter 2 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

"Thats the last of 'em!" Tatsuki exclaimed, her voice hampered by a mild sense of relief. Releasing a pent up, yet rather accomplished sigh, she scanned her eyes around the emptiness of the large room.

"Yes... That's the last of them..." Rukia's doleful reply passed her lips as an almost inaudible whisper; her tone etching away at the brightness in Tatsuki's eyes with ease, leaving behind only a dull glimmer of sadness. Rukia slowly lifted her eyes from the large cardboard box between her legs, to the small stack of identical boxes, stacked neatly against the opposite wall.

She had called this house her home for three, relatively short years. So many memories had been created within the confines of these four, large walls. Some bad, some good; but they had all been a part of the independance she had so feverently desired, for such an incredibly long time. She had met Tatsuki here, dated here, studied here and she had passed out drunk of the sofa so many times. The all-too-familiar welling of bitter tears, conspired with the sudden weakness of her trembling arms; overwhelming the thick mental barrier she had forced herself to maintain.

"Good evening, darling!"

A cold shockwave ran through Rukia's spine, her blurred vision immediately dissipated, leaving her with an instantaneous and rather unexpected clear view of the two forms that had passed through the front door.

Tatsuki's eyes thinned slightly at her friend's solemn reaction, before snapping her eyes up to the visitors. "Evening Mr. Kuchiki, Mrs. Kuchiki!" Tatsuki exclaimed with a wave of her hand, as the smiling couple stepped further into the refreshing air of the conditioned room.

Byakuya's shoulders dripped slightly under the weight of a soft sigh. "I've told you enough times, Arisawa. Call me Byakuya."

His complaint was followed up swiftly by a sharp wheeze, earned himself a well aimed elbow to his left side from his wife. The sudden spinning of his neck to gawk upon Hisana's tight lipped, firmly knit frown; her condescending dark blue orbs etching the feeling that was now well known to the man. The feeling of a night on the sofa.

Tatsuki followed every slight movement of the couple, smirking as they carried out the typical adaptation of a bickering couple's silent conversation.

"Sorry, Byakuya." Tatsuki replied, turning both Hisana and Byakuya's heads to her. Hisana's expression quickly reassembled into a smile. Byakuya's wide eyes thanking her for the intrusion.

"Are you ok, darling?" Hisana asked quietly, her once bright eyes had thinned somewhat into a saddened gaze as she strided towards the hunched form of her daughter.

"I'm fine, don't worry." Rukia sniffed, her elbows dug roughly into her jean clad thighs while her hands weakly supported her chin; weakled attemping to shroud the deep flush of her cheeks.

Byakuya dropped his eyes to the ground, still massaging his aching side as he shook his head. "Well this is no good." He grumbled; followed swiftly by numerous short tuts, which earned him curious gazes and various shapes of perked eyebrows from the three dark haired women.

"What is no good?" Hisana queried. Her neatly plucked brow's perking beyond their usual boundaries, while vainly attempting to comfort Rukia with the gentle stroking of her lower back.

"The oppressive atmosphere in this room!" Byakuya exclaimed, his hand still grasping his lower ribs as he nodded his head towards an invisible spot above the three women.

Rukia snorted as she attempted to hold back a chuckle. "Be careful, Dad. Tatsuki will nail you with a hardback again if you're not careful." She warned, motioning her head towards her now scowling friend.

Byakuya roughly cleared his throat; realigning his broad shoulders, along with his pale yellow tie as his eyelids swiftly fell shut. "I won't allow myself to fall victim to such a simple attack once again." He stated firmly.

-Crack-

"Byakuya..." Hisana emitted a low, chesty sigh at her cross-eyed husband as Rukia snorted once again, this time unable to contain her laughter.

"I warned you!"

The pale orange of the early evening sky illuminated the entirety of the wide street. Contrasting beams of pink light, seeped weakly through the smallest of cracks within the scattered patches of light sepia clouds, which littered the illuminated sky. Light gusts of wind fluttered effortlessly across the Kuchiki's garden; sweeping small, loose blades of grass into the air, spinning silently past the two friends laid upon the soft patch of grass.

Barely audible, disjointed sounds of an acoustic guitar poured through a small crack in the kitchen window. Rukia rolled her head slightly in her palms, her eyes seeming to attach themselves onto the area of sound, her ears perking as the focused attention managed to crispen and somewhat arrange the broken music.

"Can you hear that?" Rukia asked casually, her feet bouncing upon their heels to the unheard beat of the wonderful, relaxing sounds. Tatsuki turned her eyes to look at her friend, perking a brow as she followed the direction of her eyes.

Tatsuki pursed her lips slightly. "Yeah..." She responded lazily; she herself following the sounds.

A few minutes passed, the music stopped and their heads rolled back into their palms, easing the stretched muscles of their necks. Their eyes both drifted back up to the sky. The bright compound of orange and pink now replaced by a pale blue and yellow, as the sun rapidly descended over the distant line of the mountainous horizon.

"I can't believe it's over." A short, laboured sigh escaped Rukia's full lips as she kicked her small legs out in front of her, letting her thin calves and curvy thighs fall to the grass with a light crunch.

"Yeah, it's been... three years." Tatsuki replied, her fingers lightly drumming against the back of her soft, dark hair.

"Three great years!" Rukia exclaimed, drawing a short chuckle from her friend.

"What are you going to do now?" Tatsuki questioned, her eyes dropping down to the horizon, focusing upon the sun. It's surface shrouded by several thin clouds that hovered above, resembling thin streaks of orange smoke over the fading red orb.

The soft clacking of Rukia's rubber soles against each other, cut through the meek silence of the sloping garden. "Dad's got a position for me in the company, it's going to be a few months before I can get started." Rukia answered. "And you?"

"I'm moving in with Uryu. I told you already, dumbass." Tatsuki defiantly replied.

"Sorry!" Rukia exclaimed, chuckling slightly. "How is he? He hasn't visited in a while." Rukia stated lazily as her head fell to the grass, her supporting hands slipping to her sides before digging her fingers into the thick grass; propping her body up into a sitting position.

"He's fine, working hard as always. I try to make him relax..." She paused briefly, releasing a short sigh before continuing. "...But nothing short of sex, or physically dragging him away from work seems to have any effect."

They turned to glance at each other before both letting out short, uncharacteristically girlish giggles, which seemed strangely appropriate. Their eyes both swiveled back towards the window; A weak echo of soothing music flowing out into the open air once again.

"My my... it's getting quite late. I should get going." Tatsuki mused. Rukia's eyes slowly turned back onto her friend, her right brow perking at Tatsuki's smirk.

"Get going Where?" Rukia asked; the tone of her question growing throughout the dramatically drawn out word.

"Uryu's of course! He's cooking for me tonight, so I need to stop off at the store for some kind... any kind of anti-vomit drug." She groaned, earning herself a chuckle from Rukia as her mind conjured up images of spicy pork laid on a bed of soggy spaghetti, that she thought had been laid to rest long... long ago.

"I guess I'll go and see what that music is. Unless Dad or Shunsui managed to learn guitar in the last few months, we have a guest." Rukia said lazily, clearing her throat quickly as she slowly lifted her small frame to her feet. Tatsuki followed suit, picking at the creases of her blue jeans as she turned towards the garden's gate.

"Probably an aquaintance of Nanao's." Tatsuki replied, taking long strides along the grass before hopping up down onto the wide pathway.

With a wave of her left arm, Tatsuki disappeared behind the hedge, "Later!".

"Bye!" Rukia yelled back, a small smile gracing her lips as she shook her head. Tatsuki always disappeared without letting Rukia respond, and he annoyed her to no end.

With a soft sigh, Rukia spun slightly on the heels of her white plimsoles, twisting her neck to look down at her backside. With much effort, she managed to align her hand against her butt, painstakingly flicking the many loose blades of grass from her white skirt. She grumbled to herself, noting that the dirt and grass stains had once again ruined yet another skirt.

The music sharply increased in volume, alerting Rukia once again, and causing her to snap her head around to the window. Soft, plucked notes of the acoustic guitar reverberated through the small crack in the window; Rukia circled her eyes slowly as the music quietened down yet again.

"What is that?" Rukia mumbled quietly to herself. Regaining her composure, she straightened out her back, picked once more at the deep creases of her skirt and made her way through the garden towards the front door.

"Rukia?"

The small woman almost jumped clean out of her skin as Hisana called out from the kitchen. Rukia took a deep, calming breath before turning her head towards the cause of her near heart attack.

"Yes Mum?" She responded, rather put out by the startling call.

"Where have you been? I've been looking for you." Hisana asked curiously, thinning her dark blue eyes at her daughter's confused expression.

"Out on the lawn with Tatsuki, she just left." Rukia answered, turning her head back around to the art's room, which sat diagnally across from the kitchen. Hisana softened her expression, smiling at the back of Rukia's head as she flicked her tea towel over her shoulder, before making her way out to Rukia's side.

She placed a small hand on Rukia's equally small shoulder, "Is something the matter?" she asked curiously, her head craning forwards to catch her daughter's eyes.

Rukia shook her head before turning her eyes to meet Hisana's, "No no... I was just wondering about this music..." Rukia stated mindlessly, her bright indigo orbs quickly shifting back to the partially open door.

"Let's go take a look." Hisana whispered, surprising Rukia somewhat as she nudged her forwards.

The two women stealthily edged their way towards the two, large oak doors. The music had stopped once more, replaced by two almost inaudible voices behind the barricade of solid wood. Rukia reached the door first, her large eyes scanning the small crack between the doors; searching for any sign of the people within. Hisana crept up behind her daughter, pressing her weight slightly on her small shoulder, as she too began searching.

"Mum! Don't press so hard!" Rukia seethed through a whisper, prompting a cheeky, silent chuckle from Hisana as they both turned their attention back towards the room.

Rukia was the first to spot someone. Though unsurprised to find her sister in the music room, sat at the large, grand piano in the corner; it did surprise her to know she was playing with someone else. With a clear view of her sister, her head craned itself up and down, left and right, peering through the small crack for her companion.

Her eyes continued to roam, peering, scouting and searching.

And she found him. Her chidlish like wide eyes, instantaneously locked onto the man's form, sat in the opposite corner of the room.

Her pupils fixated upon the man's strong jawline. His smoothly shaved chin and cheeks revealed his soft skin tone, that seemed to contrast infinately with his thick, spiked, orange hair. Her eyes continued to feast upon his body, taking in every inch of his strong shoulders. They weren't broad as such, but she could tell they were well defined, under the thin covering of his tight white t-shirt; revealing his long, toned arms.

Indigo orbs settled upon one feature in particular, one feature that captivated her beyond that of anything she had laid eyes on before.

Bright, shimmering, amber iris' seemed to almost glow under the soft light of the room's many lamps. A deeper shade of his hair's colour; she was sure that from this distance, such a feature should be impossible to read, and even less possible to be so utterly entranced by.

An unfamiliar lump rose in Rukia's throat, she forced herself to swallow the many feelings that were materializing in physical form throughout her entire body. Her heart had slowed, her skin tingled, her eye's began to lose their focus. She lifted her body towards Hisana, resting her head directly beside her mother's.

Swallowing once more, and yet again unable to clear the obstruction, she managed to utter only a few words, "Who is that?".

Hisana turned her eyes towards Rukia, a smile gracing her lips as she instantly recognised that look.

"Kurosaki Ichigo."