#~I love the detail in your Hisana!

[recurring-polynya]

Hi! I want to start off with saying I love your blog and it was this blog that introduced me to a new side of the Bleach fandom, so I owe you a huge thanks for that. My question pretains to when you mentioned that you read a lot of fics where Byakuya was there when his father died in the lines of duty, and I was wondering if you could recommend those fics and any other byakuya centric ones.

You're very welcome! I am always excited see new people in the fandom, especially here on Tumblr.

I want to preface this with saying that I have kind of a complicated relationship with Byakuya. He is an interesting, complex character and I like to read fanfic about him, but I hesitate to call myself a fan. I'm mostly interested in his character as it stands in relation to Rukia and Renji. I like stories where he is shitty and causes problems. I like reading about the long, horrible history of the Kuchiki clan, and how much it screws a person up to be raised in that mess. I also just like stories that make fun of him a bit. He's a deeply strange person, and I love his weird, dry sense of humor. Byakuya-shipping usually falls flat for me: I think he's mostly ace, except for the time he fell in love with his wife, and even then, I only really like Byahisa stories where the author has done something creative with who she is and I also need her to drag his ass a little. I would swipe left on him. So, anyway, take these recommendations (and the absence of ones I have missed) with that grain of salt.

The fanfic I was specifically referring to regarding Soujun dying after a mission he and Byakuya were on together was the Rise & Ruin series by @afinepiece, specifically part 2, An Education. It's a...little-bit-AUish precanon fic where Hisana is a thief who ends up getting tangled up in the Kuchiki family after she attempts to steal a painting from them. If you're looking for Byakuya fanfic, AFP is always going to be my first recommendation, especially her Thin Red Line series. Her works are always sprawling and genre-defying, but beautifully crafted. They've got noble/family drama, intricate world-building detail, and great character writing. The Kuchiki family deserves epics, and that is what AFP is out here doing.

Funnily enough, my other favorite ByaHisa writer is all the way at the other end of the writing spectrum. @thegreenfaery. She works in the AU space, and if you enjoy Byakuya Going Thru It but also being in love with his beautiful wife. I'm biased, because she wrote it for me, but The Wedding Party is my fave of her works (80's/everyone's human AU where Hisana has to rent out part of Byakuya's house for her little sister's dirtbag wedding).

If you like Byakuya in his gothic horror era, please read dogviolet by @renjirukia. It's a closer examination of some canon between-scenes during Byakuya and Rukia's Bad Times period.

I think @lucymonster is one of the best Byakuya character writers out there, and Metaesthesia is one of the best fanfics I've ever read. It's a Byakuya - Renji bodyswap, but not in a fun way. You should really only read it if you're in the mood to have your heart kicked down the stairs. I also really like Sticks and Stones and Building Bridges. Note: Most of her works are ByaRen (these are not, at least not explicitly). That's not a ship I am normally fond of, but I get, like 3 weird days a year where I can read it.

Speaking of ByaRen, if you are into it, the other ByaRen writer I like a lot is @grizmelder, who is also a very nice person. I particularly enjoyed Heart Tangled, which is a historical AU set at the end of the samurai era, where Renji is Byakuya's bodyguard.

I was just talking about Lull the other day, but it's a lovely little fanfic by Branch about the relationship between Byakuya and Rukia and sometimes Renji. It's an older fanfic and breaks off from canon after the Soul Society arc, so you can think of it as sort of an alternate idea for how Soul Society rebuilds after Aizen's betrayal.

The Journal of Kuchiki Byakuya by @saranel is a great little fic in the form of young Byakuya writing diary entries about his life, in particular, his dealings with Yoruichi and Urahara. It's really cute in general, but in particular, I love the way it portrays Byakuya's interest in photography.

I also have a soft spot for Breaking to Bridle by Vivienne Grainger, which is about how Byakuya sees Renji, both as lieutenant and eventually as suitor for his sister.

I guess I would be remiss if I didn't mention my favorite crack Byakuya fic, which is Become a Ghost by @hardlyfatal. Orihime dies and goes to Soul Society and becomes a therapist and falls in love with Byakuya. It's pretty silly but also a lot of fun, and it's chock full of Byakuya being Byakuya.

I hope you find something you like in there! Like I said, I am not the world's best Byakuya fan (probably in the top ten worst Byakuya fans tbh) but these are some that I have enjoyed and have stuck with me!

[gallusrostromegalus]

AEIWAM Drawtober List

So, since I need practice with anatomy and y'all voted for fashion so I'm gonna do some draft mock-ups of chapter title cards, so the prompt list is:

Deconsecration Feat. Unohana

Der Erlkonig Feat Yhwach and Jugram

Scorched-Earth Strategy Feat. Yamamoto

Our Boy feat. Baby Komamura

The Blood Of The Covenant feat. Kaname Tousen and Kakyo Tousen

The Devil In The Details feat Aizen

Telephone feat. Madame Tsubaki

Hope is a thing with Feathers feat. Kenpachi

Herald of the Apocalypse feat. A Coyote

Good and Wholesome feat. Mayuri

Star-Crossed Lovers feat. Byakuya and Hisana

Ginger & Marmalade feat. ichigo and Kon

Be Not Afraid Feat Wonderweiss

The "I Can See Ghosts And It Fucking Sucks" Club feat. Karakura Kids

Over My Dead Body feat. Kanae Ishida

HOT SINGLE ARRANCAR IN YOUR AREA feat. Grimmjow

Ciao Bella feat. Orihime, Cici, and Vivi

Heat Hurts But Humidity Kills feat. Matsumoto and Hitsugaya

Worm Love Feat. Ulquiorra

El Matador feat. Picaro

It's Not Quite Hope And Those Aren't Quite Feathers, But it Sure Does Sing feat. Kaname Tousen And Friends

The Throne of Heaven feat. Aizen and Gin

Horse! Loose! In a Hospital! feat. The Royal Guard

Here comes the New Boss, Same As The Old Boss feat. Shinji, Momo and Hiyori

Strange Paradise feat. Tama

Three Cheers For Joan Pujol Garcia Feat Uryuu Ishida

Adonis feat. James

The Opposite Of A Miracle feat. Tokagero Kenpachi

Bad Girls Gone Worse feat. The Femritter

The Three Musketeers (and D'Artagnan!) Feat Zangetsu and Ichigo

The Last Child In Hell feat. Her Majesty

[nikushibuki]

Hello! Can I please request some Yandere headcanons for Rukia and Bambietta (separately) please? Gender Neutral or AMAB if that's alright!

⤷Yandere!Rukia headcanons

INCLUDES: NSFW (gender neutral AMAB reader), stalking, dubcon, Munchausen's by proxy, forced isolation, overstimulation

Your relationship with Rukia doesn’t feel too out of the ordinary for the longest time. Sure, sometimes Rukia can be aloof or difficult to read but you chalk it up to the bearing of someone from a noble house. She comes off as extremely attentive, remembering small details from conversations you don’t actually remember having? She knows you inside and out. But you could have sworn you never told her that you took a bath last night or what district of the Rukongai you grew up in. How does she know?

Your relationship takes a dramatic shift when your life is threatened. Maybe you sustain injuries from a nasty Hollow, or maybe you just accidentally incinerate yourself practicing kido. Regardless of how, once Rukia sees you battered and bandaged on that gurney everything is different.

Rukia becomes obsessed with your safety and your health. She becomes determined to never have to mourn you the way her brother mourned his late wife. She insists you move in with her and a flutter of hell butterflies follows you everywhere you go to report your movements. If you offer too much pushback, she is not above poisoning your meals to make you weak and less active - ironically molding you after Hisana.

To Rukia, everything she does for you is out of love. All she wants is to spare you the pain of loss and the horrors of battle. She would rather you be a trophy husband than a Shinigami. She wants to shoulder all your burdens and drown you in the happiness she struggles to feel herself. Eventually, you aren’t allowed to leave the manor grounds.

Your resignation from the Gotei 13 is tendered by a secretary of the Kuchiki manor. All of your mail is opened before you receive it. None of your friends want to talk to you anymore. Strange.

Rukia is very doting, sexually, eager to give lots of sloppy head and to let you tie her down with silk ribbons she could break in an instant. She often gets so carried away that she ends up overstimulating you. You may whine that you seriously need a break, but she knows you're just being playful. You want another round and you want it right now.

If you ever tried to escape the manor, Rukia would have you hunted down and locked in your quarters for days before she could even bear to look at you. One morning, she explodes into your room bellowing and demanding an explanation. She accuses you of infidelity and demands a show of your loyalty. Rukia will have you on your knees pleasuring her cunt with your mouth, while her blade glimmers above your neck.

“You have no idea just how cruel the world can be. I just want what’s best for you. Why can’t you trust me?”

“I’ve never been good at trusting others, but with you I feel whole. I never want to lose that feeling. I’ll always be with you.”

"We're fighting. Couples fight. It happens. But we're special. You'll change your mind if I give you your space alone in your room for a couple days." (locks the door)

“You know I love it when your dick is sensitive like this. Haha, are you ticklish? Just one more round. I just need to taste you one more time, then you can sleep.”

[kuinliekkienroihu]

I (crysuzumushi, haha) am working on answering your ask game prompts, you picked two of my very favorites, thank you! I'm gonna ask you to do Kaname too! And Byakuya.

Okay, thanks for the ask!! Sorry it took so long to answer, i wrote a novel. Also sorry for all the spelling and grammar mistakes, English isn’t my first language

Kaname:

1. Favorite thing about them

How he always seeks to act according to his sense of justice. Also he's one of the best written characters in the entire series. He's very complex, which makes him feel kinda like an actual person with understandable actions caused by his past. There are a lot more things, but i'm not good at putting things to words so yeah.

2. Least favorite thing about them

How underutilized he was as a character. I'm really glad there's more of him in cfyow, even though i've only read the first part

3. Favorite line

" I follow the path least soaked in blood. The path I walk is justice."

4. BrOTP

I have many, mostly Shuhei, Aizen, Gin and Sajin

5. OTP

-

6. NOTP

hmm, i don't like him and Aizen romantically at all, same goes for Sajin

7. Random headcanon

He has a plant garden in Las Noches in which he grows, among many other things, the ingredients for Aizen's tea, which is Kaname's secret special mix of herbs. Aizen really misses the tea Kaname made for him.

8. Unpopular opinion

He did nothing wrong, or rather, all he did was (more or less) justified

9. Song i associate with them

-

10. Favorite picture of them

This is my favorite too

Byakuya:

1. Favorite thing about them

Yes. I love every single thing about him. Even the things others would consider as flaws are perfect. I really like how calm and collected he is regardless of the situation, he's intelligent and calculating.

A very well written character with, in my opinion, the best character development. Especially his relationship with Rukia from ignoring her out of pain (since she looks almost identical to Hisana), protecting her to keep a promise, letting her be executed to keep another promise to genuinely caring about her and saving her life in many occasions, clearly regretting what he did to her and trying to compensate for his actions.

Kubo wrote his development extremely well, in the end of the series he's objectively a better person than in the beginning, but his personality didn't change much. He's still the same overly serious, stuck up asshole we know and I love him for it.

Another thing I love the most about him is the fact that he's another walking contradiction. But somehow, these contradictions make a paradox or a perfect harmony without cancelling each other. Kubo did an amazing job making him have many layers in his character. There's this line from a book (had to look it up, the book is called "the chrysanthemum and the sword") that the author used to describe Japanese people, I think I read that in someone's ig story and it got stuck in my head since it reminded me of Byakuya so much, and in my honest opinion, describes him rather thoroughly, especially second, third and fourth ones. His zanpakuto, which is one of the infinite reasons I love him, being fully portrayed by the second one "both militaristic and aesthetic" being combined into the beautiful but deadly weapon Senbonzakura is.

"both aggressive and unaggressive, both militaristic and aesthetic, both insolent and polite, rigid and adaptable, submissive and resentful of being pushed around, loyal and treacherous, brave and timid, conservative and hospitable to new ways"

When you think about it, he has the most fitting zanpakuto for his personality compared to the other shinigami and the way he uses it is one of the tiny details which make him, him.

His spot as a captain and the head of the Kuchiki clan is in my opinion fully earned (rest of the nobles (except Yoruichi) can go fuck themselves) (sorry Tara, ignore this please lol). He is hardworking and precise, almost workaholic, has trained hard from a very young age and puts duty above everything. But he still has a hidden "work mode: off" -side which we see occasionally as cracking a dry joke or the wakame taishi fuckery in general. Latter being, in my honest thoughts, hilarious and adorable.

There is a lot more but i literally can't list everything. This is already a hell of an essay.

2. Least favorite thing about them.

My answer is probably as you can expect: none.

There is one thing i don't really like, but it's about the writing.

!!TYBW SPOILERS!!

In the beginning of the arc i think that immediately releasing bankai, especially when he knew it was gonna be sealed, was out of character and i would have been very upset if he stayed dead, since the action which resulted in that was not something he would do.

3. Favorite line

“If it’s for the sake of my pride there’s nothing I won’t destroy.”

I know it’s from a filler but this line just sums his whole character, personality and motivations up so well.

4. BrOTP

I have so many, i want him to have friends lol. But to point out the most significant ones i'd say Rukia, Renji, Kenpachi, Toshiro and Ichigo

5. OTP

The only one i really ship him with is Nanao. Hisana is kind of “it’s canon and i’m fine with it.” I haven’t seen enough of her to form an opinion about the ship, but it’s obvious how much Bya loved her and it’s so sweet.

6. NOTP

Okay, i have never mentioned this before since i know many of my followers/mutuals ship them. Renji. The only ship I. Can't. Stand.

Like, platonically? Yes, they're bros. But romantically or especially sexually? No. Fuck no.

I don't care if you ship them, good for you, but please tag the stuff so it gets filtered.

7. Random headcanon

He sleeptalks a lot. And it's not mumbling, he talks the same way as when he's awake but it's absolute nonsense.

Byakuya, asleep: Do not eat the drawer.

Hisana, awake: *watches him in utter confusion*

Byakuya, still asleep: Give him a pink tricycle.

Hisana: To whom?

Byakuya: Head captain Yamamoto

Hisana: *trying not to laugh*

Another hc that i have is that he is a closet metalhead and likes especially power- and symphonic metal (this might sound very weird if you know nothing about this kind of music lol)

8. Unpopular opinion

His actions in the soul society arc were understandable. He was put between the bark and the tree (i hope you get what i mean) and had to choose from just letting things happen and going against central 46 and all of soul society (or at least that’s what he thought). Also the line he said to Ukitake, which is still easily in top5 most asshole things he has said/done, in my opinion shows what he thought of Rukia’s execution and why he didn’t do anything to prevent it. “Once you’ve let one of your people die.. ...two or three more make no difference.” Both of his parents are dead, Hisana is dead, Ginrei is most likely dead and he thought for 100 years that Yoruichi was dead too. I think Byakuya thought losing one more person he cares about couldn’t hurt more than it already has and therefore didn’t think it was worth breaking the promise he made in his parents’ grave and trying to save her. And that fucking breaks my heart.

9. Song I associate with them

I have a 6h long playlist which I’m not gonna post. Can’t choose just one lol.

10. Favorite picture of them

*digs through nearly infinite pinterest board, tumblr and phone’s gallery*

This is (one of) my favorite manga panel(s) of him. I love how calm but powerful he looks. The lines representing the heavy spiritual pressure. Like an inescapable doom approaching (which indeed was the case). And for some reason i love it. 

My favorite fanart, which i obviously can’t post since you can’t post others art so here’s the link: https://www.deviantart.com/keelerleah/art/Bleach-Byakuya-Looking-Back-127254804

and then one which I think is official art or at least an edit of it, if I’m wrong please lmk

[fectless]

(This is technically in response to the post right below this one, as world building totally counts for it, right?)

Anywho, more fandom thoughts, but for BLEACH this time. I recently started rewatching the anime again for the nth time as part of my language practice (and having the Japanese subtitles on while watching it in Japanese is an experience) and reached that episode where Aizen and co. get rescued by Menos Grande after declaring their intentions to Soul Society. And then a few things hit me.

The first: Rukia says, the first time Ichigo sees her sending someone on via Soul Burial, that one neither feels hunger nor gets sick in Soul Society. We know that this is false for a few reasons.

Those who can become shinigami definitely need to eat and all souls need water which implies that they can suffer from thirst (and perhaps heat exhaustion).

Captain Ukitake is suffering from an unknown disease that makes him literally cough out his lungs. I’ve read something about it being a defect in the make up of his soul that is only not killing him because of the pact with the Soul King’s arm, but I cannot recall if this was canon or fanon (as the Blood War arc was just like that). If so, does this mean that sickness does occur in Soul Society, but so rarely as to not be mentioned? Or does it occur more in the outer districts? Why does it occur?

Hisana died from a sickness as well. Yes, it’s stated to be exhaustion, but I feel like that doesn’t make sense? Like, the flashback in the anime has her abandoning Rukia after she collapses while carrying her around. And she collapses later when she regrets this and goes to look for her sister. And then she dies.

Seriously, why does it occur? It’s weird. And it cannot be an Aizen thing as I’m pretty sure Aizen is younger than Ukitake. Is it because of what happened to the soul king? Does it have something to do with when people get sent on (like if they were close to being a hollow)? Is it because they died while sick? Is it because of their resolve?

...Do we never see sick souls in Soul Society other than them because they usually just. Die pretty soon after arriving?

And if spiritual power leaking is what causes spiritual pressure, and the “vents” can be closed... do people in the districts sometimes close them by mistake and then blow up? Is spontaneous combustion a thing in the afterlife?

The second: I’m pretty sure “Ichirin no Hana” is a love song that Byakuya is singing to Hisana’s memory.

Someone has probably stated this before, but the lyrics of the song literally say how some one, a “single flower,” is precious and can’t be replaced. How that flower bloomed despite being stuck somewhere dark and how they looked lovely but like they were about to wither away. And that the singer would accept all of their pain if only that person would smile and stay with them...

The title of the song also matches the title of the chapter in which Byakuya reveals to Rukia the secrets he’d been keeping from her about Hisana. He uses the same words, “ichirin no hana” to describe the season in which she died

Literally his whole dilema during this arc, the entire way he interacted with Rukia up to this point, was that he was conflicted between his sense of duty (to his parents, his wife and keeping his word) and his feelings for his beloved Hisana. Rukia’s physical resemblance to her sister is almost uncanny and the lie she is told when she asks why she was adopted was, “You look like Byakuya’s late wife.” How much must he have hated that? A person whom he had sworn to protect that, had she arrived two years earlier might have saved his wife’s (after)life? A person that looks just like his beloved, who reminds him of her every time he sees her (for those first 50 years), but is not and never will be Hisana. And then. To know that she’s going to be executed for crimes, that she felt she could not rely upon him enough to even let him know she’d encountered trouble in the human world when he’s been doing his best to ensure she’s safe (because that is one of the few reasonable explanations for why Rukia hadn’t been promoted yet, and then was promoted during the 3 year gap)? To see her stripped of her rank, her strength even (with that collar and the stone of the prison tower). To see a small form who so resembles his beloved all listless and soon to die, wearing a white yukata like his wife had in her last days...

Watching it again made me feel things, okay? Like yeah, it seems like it’s a stupid dilema from some perspectives. Especially considering Central 46 had a run in with Aizen by then, but. Byakuya was raised in the Seireitei. He was raised knowing that his life was the Seireitei’s tool. That his duty, his reason for existing was for the sake of his family’s honor, so he must be composed, must act as the family and Soul Society bid him. That’s some mighty powerful brainwashing/indoctrination right there. And he broke it once already to marry some nobody from the slums. He did something not only against the norms, but something selfish. Maybe if she’d had high spiritual power this would have been accepted, but she was sickly and likely did not. He went against the clan elders who had probably instilled obedience in him since birth and was afraid of doing it again.

(And if you count the filler arcs, you can bet that they held that one Kuchiki who went traitor against him too. Like: “he married that Hisana girl against our orders? What next? Will he betray Soul Society too?”)

And maybe I’m making a bigger deal out of his upbringing than I need to. Maybe it wasn’t really like this. But I feel like it really was. (Moreso with the filler arcs and what I’ve heard of the light novels.)

Also, this song and the way that the opening animation fit together really solidifies the whole “Ichigo and Rukia were always meant to have a tragic romance” vibe that I kept getting the first time I encountered this series.

The third: Rukia was likely younger than six months (physically) when she was abandoned, but I’m pretty sure that she was older than three months when she and Hisana died.

Her blanket was pink in the flashback.

Sure, the above might not seem to have much significance but it’s been proven in canon that clothes are part of oneself. I reblogged a post a while ago that went into detail, but to sum it up, clothes are part of your self image and your self image determines a bit about what you look like when you die.

Babies are usually no longer swaddled by the time they’re six months old, and some places recommend that you stop by the end of their second month.

Babies have pretty bad vision when they’re born. They take four to six months to reliably track objects in motion and use binocular vision decently. They take about four months to see across a room, and about two months to see farther than maybe 30 cm away. And around the three month mark, they start having decent color vision. Around then is when babies supposedly start showing color preference.

Babies tend to have poor long term memory. (To be fair, they’ve got a lot going on compared to being in the womb and sensory overload sucks.) Their memory by the age of six months is only a few weeks. Two months old had a memory span of a few days.

If she’s been consistently wrapped in a pink blanket, then by the time she’s old enough to see color, she would be old enough to remember what color her blanket usually is— or if it was a different color that particular day.

The fourth: when Gin raises his spiritual pressure on Aizen’s orders, Chad remains standing. This raised a bunch of questions as Gin is stronger than Yammy (to the best of my memory).

Chad remained standing. Yes, his whole fight with Captain Kyouraku was about his resolve and how he would stand by his friends and fight for their safety/ideals but. Like. Earlier that year, his spiritual strength was on par with Yuzu. He’d been friends with Ichigo for years which was why he was even that strong. He’d been in a Hollow attack maybe three times before Rukia was arrested and could only barely see them the time Ishida pulled a stupid and used Hollow Bait. Sure, he has experience fighting and he’d trained under Yoruichi, but it feels sus considering how the others fared.

Orihime fell to her knees pretty quickly after Gin turned up the pressure. She’d also fought against high-ranking shinigami at that point, and trained under Yoruichi, and fought off Hollow (alone even! And she was the reason why Sora moved on, despite Ichigo’s Blade purifying him) before. And yet... It could just be a lack of resolve, as that had come up in earlier chapters but it doesn’t feel right.

Ishida is excused from this due to circumstances.

Tatsuki has been friends with him for ages. Sure, it seems like they weren’t as close after his Mom’s passing, but by then they’d already known each other for quite some time. I’m pretty sure that they were hanging out semi-regularly through junior high/middle school, at which point he got close with Chad and she got close with Orihime. She also has experience fighting (admittedly in martial arts rather than the street fights Ichigo and Chad get dragged into). She experienced at least one hollow attack during Ishida’s Stupid Day. But she collapses as soon as Yammy shows up? That feels off.

In contrast, Ganju was struggling about the same amount. He was born to a noble family— who are known to typically have decently high spiritual power, like his older brother Kaien and his cousin/uncle Issin. He was raised in the Rukongai, meaning he likely came across Hollow attacks. (And those definitely occur.)

Makes me wonder things about Karin’s strength. Like, she managed to escape from the hollow who attacked their house to run for Ichigo’s help (manga) or lived long enough while alone with it that Ichigo and Rukia could come save her (anime), both of which are quite impressive for an eleven year old. She also kept up with Hitsugaya when they played soccer and he’s a captain. Based on Ichigo’s experience, it’s likely that she too will become stronger as she grows up. And does she have an inner hollow too, or is that Ichigo only? If White was simply a parasite and decided to stick to Ichigo I could accept it. But as a hollow Ichigo is a Vast Lorde, and hollows of that level can split into parts (like Starrk and Lilynette).

Does Yuzu not really have any spiritual strength because she inherited more of the Quincy genes from her mom and the hollow genes she inherited don’t balance out that same way it does in her siblings...? Food for thought.

TLDR: how and why is sickness as thing in Soul Society? Byakuya listens to rock music and I’m p. sure the third opening song is him angsting over his wife’s death; it also gave me strong feelings about how he was prolly brainwashed growing up so his angst over Rukia’s fate is not actually stupid. I continue to have IchiRuki feels. Rukia and Hisana died when Rukia was about 3 months old. And I am more confused now about how spiritual power works than I was before I started rewatching the anime for language practice. Also, more questions have arisen about hollows.

[rukia-kuchiki-divided]

What’s a question, headcanon, or detail you’ve always wanted to explore about your Muse, but haven’t had the opportunity?What’s a roleplay/story/character cliché that you really love?What’s a roleplay/story/character cliché you really hate?

SEND ME INBOXES ABOUT MY CURRENT INTERACTIONS! | Accepting

What’s a question, headcanon, or detail you’ve always wanted to explore about your Muse, but haven’t had the opportunity?

Hmm there are a few actually. Some I’m actively working on exploring and others not yet. The mains ones really would have been these three: 

1) Rukia and Renji’s relationship repair after the Soul Society arc. Like they had some MAJOR emotional trauma to work through and it just gets skipped... I live for that kind of angst. 

2) Rukia’s feelings about Hisana after finding out the true story from Byakuya. Talk about abandonment issues. But seriously, we again just gloss over how Rukia feels about this, how it affects her relationship with Byakuya, etc. 

3) Rukia and Ichigo’s emotional baggage from the 17 months he couldn’t see her. Whether you ship them romantically or not, the way they parted had some heavy emotion attached to it and again, it’s glossed over with just glimpses of what occurred but no real communication. I’d love to explore this way more indepthly someday. 

What’s a roleplay/story/character cliché that you really love?

I am a sucker for angst especially if there is some comfort after! Throw in some self sacrifice and I’m literally melting. I don’t care how cliche it is, I love it. 

What’s a roleplay/story/character cliché you really hate?

The damsel in distress cliche. I know that might sound contractidatory with what I just said but there is a difference between weak damsel and exhausted all options but will protect my friends to the bitter end. Rukia is the second kind. It irks me when I read her written as the first because its so not her. 

[cooliogirl101]

ladyhallen94 replied to your post “I am here for Superhero Aizen, is he gonna be a mild mannered...”

you can't convince me they're not trolls. This is Hisana, the girl who made a person eat wasabi in revenge.

Oh, absolutely. Aizen Sousuke is the Seireitei’s greatest conspiracy theorist when it comes to Superman and Catwoman’s identities. He publishes a column in the paper every week where he comes up with increasingly crazy theories. In the beginning, they were still relatively tame (i.e. ‘10 Reasons Soi-Fon is definitely Catwoman’). Soon though he progressed to stuff like detailing why Superman is actually the product of a love affair between Yamamoto and the Soul King, who he argues is actually the Soul Queen. He has an entire room filled with eyewitness accounts of Superman, Catwoman, and The Angel in White. He’s the first to volunteer to interview witnesses. He started a club. 

(“You are having way too much fun with this, you know.”

“Please, I’m maintaining my alter-ego’s identity.” 

“You’re maintaining your ‘I’m full of shit’ identity, that’s what you’re doing.”)

[tasteofshapes]

How is your writing going? How are YOU doing? What is a random headcanon you have about any character you love?

Thanks for asking anon, thanks for checking in. :)

On writing: I was stuck with a bit of writer’s block for a while, but that has sort of cleared up now, so I’m going to be back working on All’s Fair (In Love and War) this week. It’s really frustrating when I have writer’s block, because I have all these images and scenes in my head, but the words won’t come out right. It feels a bit like I’m screaming underwater.

Personal life: Part of the reason I probably had writer’s block was because I wasn’t in a good place at work for a while, but that has also improved (also because we had a long weekend here, so that meant lots of non-stop Zelda time, which helped A LOT). Work has been… well, it’s work, right? I counter that by playing a lot of Breath of the Wild, which is THE BEST Zelda game ever!!! And I never thought I would be saying that, because Twilight Princess & Ocarina of Time were my absolute fav before this, but BotW? WOW. They completely rebuilt the gameplay from the ground up, and it was such a labour of love, and it really shows. They’ve put so much thought into every detail - even the music fits how you play. You get little refrains of familiar music but never the full song, just bare notes that fade away into nothing, which reflects how ruined and broken Hyrule has become. The music fits the story, and the story is just so sad. So Link’s been asleep for 100 years, recovering from a near fatal wound, and has awakened to find himself in a post-apocalyptic version of Hyrule, where everyone he knows is dead, or missing, or blames him for failing to save Hyrule. This isn’t some version where evil is rising and Link has to stop it, this is a game where evil has already risen, where evil has already won. Link’s too late to prevent anyone from dying, Link’s already failed. And they don’t retcon it by making everyone magically rise from the dead like they did in some of the old games, here, people die, and they stay dead, and Link has to live with his failures. I love that there are consequences for him that aren’t just brushed under the carpet, in this game, the evidence of his failure is everywhere. It’s a beautifully well-made and well-thought out game, and honestly I could write an essay on this because I haven’t even touched on the gameplay or the open world concept yet. So yeah, playing Zelda has been helping me through a lot.

Random HC about Byakuya: Byakuya secretly wishes that the other captains liked him more. Oh, he knows that he’s respected, he doesn’t doubt that, he’s proven his worth as a captain time and time again, and he knows they all admire Senbonzakura - but that’s about it. He’s aware that they find him stuffy and formal and uptight, but that’s how he was brought up and that’s the only way he really knows how to keep himself safe. The last time he opened himself up, his childhood friend Yoruichi left without any explanation, and it took him years to recover from that blow. He learns from that experience, learns that people don’t owe him a thing, and closes himself up. But he doesn’t stay closed forever, and then came Hisana, and he couldn’t help falling in love with her, with how gentle she was, how sweet. She complements him, softens him in ways that he never thought was possible. But her heart was never truly his, and he only had 5 years with her before she dies and leaves him behind, and he had broken so many vows and rules to marry her that in the end he comes out a far more damaged person than he was before. And heartbroken, grieving, and ashamed that he let his family down, he withdraws into himself, wraps his rules and his codes around him like a wall. And he knows what he’s missing when the other captains laugh and joke and visit each other, except that he doesn’t see it as missing out, he sees it as protecting himself from it ever happening again. If you’re not part of the world, he tells himself, you can’t get hurt. Still, he wishes they liked him more.

[bratxfantasy]

For the rest of the Byakuya was stuck on Brittney.

How could she have worked her...charms on him so fast.

Hisana, I will always continue to love you...yet is it fair for me to move on?

The rest of the day moved in a blur. Now with all the details for the wedding situated and confirmed, the engaged party had dinner.

Dinner was extravagant. With roasted game and fish from Brittney's kingdom to roasted grains, vegetables and fowl from Byakuya's lands. To wash it all down? A red wine.

Byakuya sat down at the improvised dining table in his atrium. He sipped at his wine and nibbled at the cheese plate.

Suddenly the guards opened the doors to let in the princess.

Without even thinking of it, Byakuya had stood up from his seat to welcome her in. " Princess." With her hand in his, he pressed a real kiss to the tops of her fingers. " How did your day faire?"

What am I doing? Is this...what it feels like?

I was a bit taken back by my fiancé’s willingness to present my hand with a real kiss, a real care about my day. A flush paints my cheeks, meeting his eyes with a soft smile. I did not even tried to hide it.

What am I feeling inside?

No, no I can’t. This is all a show. He stated already I’m nothing more to him. I’m just his Princess for the kingdom. That is all, but why is my heart racing? And why do I find his long black hair quite beautiful?

“It went marvelous. How was yours, dear?” I respond, full curiosity present in my tone. Probably too curious and endearing for my own good, but something has to settle the noise my heart makes in my eardrums.

I shouldn’t be feeling something.

[recurring-polynya]

Today’s AU suggestion comes from Tumblr user @missdramaqueensworld We had a bit of a back-n-forth, and I hope you don’t mind that I mushed a couple of your suggestions together into a Lighthearted Superheroes AU! Byakuya has always given me Big Bruce Wayne vibes, what with his extensive wealth and his flair for the overdramatic and his propensity for collecting orphans. I think I got the spirit of the thing (and, of course, the opening line!) I hope you like it!! (Note: I didn’t include the original prompt because it was very detailed and I didn’t want to give everything away, but please give credit to @missdramaqueensworld for all the good ideas and me for all the terrible superhero names)

Read on ao3 or ff.net

🦸    🌸    💥

“Hisana,” Byakuya called, as he contemplated the secret niche that was hidden behind the rear panel of his ancillary special occasion shoe closet. “Where is Senbonzakura?”

“Where’s what?” his beloved wife’s voice rang back.

Byakuya gritted his back teeth. “The mystical sword that has been passed down through twenty-eight generations of my family that allows me to fight crime as the mysterious hero Captain Sakura?”

Hisana leaned up against the doorframe of his closet. “Haven’t seen it. Where’s the non-mystical, yet very expensive tuxedo that allows you to escort me to the charity benefit that I’ve been planning for three months?”

“I am not joking, Hisana, I have a responsibility to the city!”

“That’s right, you do! You’re a charming and handsome philanthropist who is helping his beautiful wife raise piles of money for underprivileged children!”

Byakuya tried to rack his brain. Where could he have left the thing? “You know very well what I mean. The city is under attack by dark forces. Dark forces, Hisana!”

Hisana put her hands on her hips. “Don’t you have sidekicks for this?”

“They do not like being called sidekicks, they are allegedly adults now. Besides, you are the one who told me to stop bothering them so much. They have their own lives now, you said.” Which vehicle had he used last? The Sakura Bike? The Sakura Jet? He didn’t think it was the Sakura Jet-Ski, but honestly, all of last week was just blurring together.

“They can have their own lives on nights when I don’t have a charity benefit,” Hisana hissed.

Wait. He’d had that unfortunately team-up with the Great Desert Brothers (or were they calling themselves Phantom Thief NelDoPe again?) and he’d had to spend a great deal of time cleaning “Infinite Slick” off of Senbonzakura afterwards. The sword was probably on his workbench down in the Sakura Cave. Byakuya turned and attempted to exit his own closet, only to find his way blocked by the one opponent he had never truly bested: his 4’11”, stunningly beautiful and amazingly brilliant wife. “Excuse me,” he said.

“Excuse you?” Hisana asked, her eyes wide with false innocence. “You are not going down to the Sakura Cave.”

“I am going to the Sakura Cave.”

“You’re going down to the Sakura Cave because you’re going to drive us to the charity benefit in the pink Lambo, right?”

Byakuya regarded her. “The Sakuramobile is for official Captain Sakura business only. You are welcome to take the Aventador or the Huracan if you like.”

Hisana threw her hands out at her sides. “Byakuya. Look at me.”

Byakuya looked. Respectfully, of course. His wife was clad in a form-fitting navy blue sheath that flared just below her knees. From the front, the neckline was high and modest, but he knew for a fact that it swept low, exposing nearly the whole of her back. Her hair was swept up into an intricate knot at the nape of her neck. An array of tiny diamond hairpins shone like stars among the night sky of her tresses. Her makeup, as always, was impeccable, from her silvery smokey eye to the kissable red of her lips.

“Imagine!” she wailed. “Me! Walking through those huge doors at the Museum of Contemporary Art. By myself! To my own fundraiser!”

“I can imagine it,” Byakuya agreed. “You will turn every head in the room. That cad, Kuchiki, they will say. The fool. He knows not what he has.”

Hisana narrowed her eyes at him.

“The most beautiful woman in Seireitei City, for once, away from the overprotective glare of her impossibly handsome husband.”

Hisana rolled her eyes.

“You will have the undivided attention of every man in the room and more than a few of the women. They will be elbowing each other out of the way for the merest crumbs of your regard. And you, being you, should no doubt be able to spin these tragic circumstances into a positively dizzying pile of donation checks. That should make the orphans very happy, yes?”

Hisana’s face was screwed up into a lovely scowl, as her desire for his company warred with her love for parting cretinous billionaires from their walking-around money. Byakuya didn’t blame her, of course. She was a very patient and understanding woman to so frequently part from her charming and debonair husband in the best interests of Justice. Nevertheless, the city needed him at this desperate hour.

“And I promise,” Byakuya continued, lowering his eyelids seductively, “that I shall sweep in before the night concludes, to rebuke those fools who would ever doubt my devotion to you.”

The tip of Hisana’s nose twitched. He had her.

“You have to show up at the dedication of the new community center.”

“Of course I would show up--”

“In the costume.”

Byakuya’s jaw tightened. “Hisana.”

“Captain Sakura is the third most popular superhero among children aged 7 to 12.”

“Third! I used to be second!” Byakuya had an angry suspicion whom he had been overtaken by.

“Used to be,” Hisana replied. “Maybe you should think about making more personal appearances. And flex more. I hear that children love flexing.” Dammit, this further confirmed his suspicions.

Byakuya heaved a sigh. “Fine. I will show up and charm the little rapscallions. I will not ‘flex.’ Please, may I go now?”

Hisana gracefully stepped to one side. “Good luck. Stay safe.” She touched his arm gently as he swished past, and went up on her tiptoes to bring her face closer to his. “And check the umbrella stand in the front hall. That’s where your magic sword was last time.”

Captain Sakura alighted on the rooftop of Metropolitan Bank with the grace of a drifting flower petal. A large hole cratered the bitumen and the smell of C-4 hung unpleasantly in the air. Below, police sirens wailed and sirens cast blue and red reflections. Also, there was bickering.

“Are you sure he can breath in there?”

“I am a professional, of course he can breathe! You don’t believe me? I’ll trap you in a block of ice!”

“I never said I didn’t believe you, I just-- hey, look who’s here! Good to see you, Captain!”

Byakuya crossed his arms over his chest. “Yuki-onna. Sakura Boy.”

Yuki-onna, Mistress of the Ice and Snow, groaned. “You know very well he goes by Red Ronin now.”

Sakura Boy looked very much like he was biting his tongue as he tapped his massive whip-sword on his shoulder.

“Who was the perpetrator?” Byakuya asked, squinting inside the block of ice.

“That toothy bastard, Preying Mantis,” Sakura Boy supplied.

“He is one of the Ten Espada, you know, they often travel in--”

“We caught his dweeby sidekick downstairs, the police already have him,” Rukia replied. “We already swept the premises. You really didn’t need to come out.”

“It is bad enough,” Byakuya bit off, “that you two refused to take a honeymoon. You are supposed to be on a… a whatsit…” he waved one hand vaguely. “A stay-cation?”

“Eh, it’s not like we have hobbies,” Renji added, poking the block of ice with his sword.

“And aren’t you supposed to be raising money? For underprivileged children?” Rukia accused.

“I will be making a dramatically late entrance,” Byakuya snapped.

“Well,” Renji frowned philosophically, “as long as you’re here, can you help us figure out how to get this guy down to the ground?”

Children. You could raise them, give them their own utility belt, teach them to drive a jet ski, but they would still ask for your help in moving a seven-foot-tall mantis man trapped in a block of ice.

“Of course,” Byakuya agreed.

[recurring-polynya]

a little in love now and then, part 4/? | ao3 | ff.net |

Summary: Abarai  Renji doesn’t have a fortune, but he does appear to be in want of a  wife, at least in Lady Kuchiki’s opinion. Fortunately, Lady Kuchiki also  has a sister, and a woefully eligible one, at that. (itty bitty Hisana  Lived! AU)

Rating: T, for minor cussing

This time: A Turn About the Gardens, p1: Rukia considers her options and also Renji’s shoulders.

Older parts: | part 1 | part 2 | part 3 |

Rukia couldn’t believe her sister thought Abarai Renji was handsome.

The young men in Hisana’s social circle got their hairs cut individually, and carried parasols to maintain their pasty complexions, and would go home if they showed up to a party where someone else’s outfit looked too much like their own.

Abarai Renji’s nose had already been broken at least twice by the time he entered the Academy, and it had taken on an additional swerve to the left in the intervening years. He’d tried his best to tuck his unruly hair into a low ponytail, but the humidity was causing little strands of it to fuzz out and escape his headscarf to stick to his forehead. His skin was the dark tan of someone who spent everyday outside, weather-be-damned. Two of his fingers had that tell-tale look of having been reattached by some Fourth Squadder too close to the end of their shift. He had the build of an ox, if an ox liked to hit the gym in its spare time.

Obviously, Rukia thought he was maddeningly handsome, but she was well aware of how terrible her own taste was. He didn’t seem Sister’s type at all, though.

Right now, he was gazing around the garden as they strolled, hands clasped behind his back.

The most handsome thing about him, she thought to herself, without acknowledging what she was thinking, was the way he carried himself. The first time she had seen him and her brother together, it was clear they hadn’t quite figured out each other yet. But somewhere along the way, possibly on Sokyouku Hill, they had figured things out. Renji was respectful to Byakuya, sure, but he wore his rank comfortably, probably more comfortably than what was obviously his New Year’s haori, which looked like it could stand to be let out a little in the shoulder seams.

Rukia sucked her teeth, desperately trying to think of something to say to him. She should just make fun of him, really, get things back on the old familiar ground. Every joke that spring to mind just seemed too sharp, though, too mean.For possibly the first time in their acquaintance, Rukia worried about sticking him too deeply.

"So, er…" Renji decided to break the silence on his own. "Which ones are the orchids?"

Rukia abruptly forgot her fears. “You dummy. You moron.”

He just grinned at her, his shoulders twitching with silent laughter.

“Orchids are delicate flowers, and valuable, too. They are in the greenhouses, where no stray breeze or raindrop could ever cause them distress.”

“Ah. I see,” he replied, and she wondered if he did. “I’m a little new to this fancy stuff, you see.”

What was he playing at, anyway? “Look, you know why my sister invited you over, right?”

To her surprise, he honestly looked a little perplexed. “Seemed like she wanted me to meet you.” He paused for a long moment, as though he were weighing whether or not he wanted to say what he was thinking. Rukia wasn’t sure she liked that, a thoughtful Renji. She preferred a Renji whose brain was connected directly to his mouth. “It’s just that most people in this situation, I think, might be surprised to find out that you never mentioned to your sister that you knew me.” By “surprised” he meant “hurt”, of course, although she wasn’t quite sure if he was trying to tell her that he was hurt or reassuring her that he wasn’t. In the old days, it had always seemed very easy to tell him things without actually having to tell him anything, but now, she was having a lot of trouble getting a read on him. A guilty little voice in her head kept asking whether this had ever been an effective form of communication. He turned to look at her, a sly twinkle in his eye. “Then again, I think I had known you for about... seven years before you told me that Rukia wasn’t your real name, so I don’t really know what I was expecting.”

“It was awkward,” Rukia finally excused, defensively. “If I’d been around when Brother hired you, of course, I would have told her. I was kinda busy, if you may recall, and now, it’s so far past when I should have said something…”

“Well, it puts me in a bit of an awkward spot, too, you know,” Renji pointed out, mildly. He didn’t sound nearly as angry as he had a right to. “We used to coordinate these things. Are you plannin’ to tell her or you want to keep pretending to be strangers? That could be kinda fun, y’know, every time I see you, pretending we’ve never met before.”

“Oh, stop it,” Rukia scolded. “I’ll… figure out a way to tell her.” The problem was, of course, that she needed to get Hisana to lay off this matchmaking nonsense, and if Hisana found out they had been childhood friends, she would become an unstoppable force of nature, a huge, flaming Sokyouku firebird with hearts for eyes.

“So...why did your sister invite me over?” Renji asked curiously.

Rukia pretended to be interested in a patch of bearded iris. “A big part of being noble is socializing,” she explained. “It’s very exciting to invite a new person over, instead of the same old bores you’ve known for the last two hundred years. She’ll then go tell her friends about how delightful you were, and your inbox will be full of invitations to take tea with a bunch of other bored noble ladies. I don’t suppose you’re any good at mahjong? Good mahjong players are in such demand these days.”

“I am terrible at mahjong, as it happens.”

“Even better, probably.”

Renji regarded a plum tree. "Do you think we should slow down, then?"

“Sl--slow down?” Rukia spluttered.

Renji gave a too-obvious nod over his shoulder, where Hisana, Byakuya, and Touma were dawdling on the garden path behind them. “Your sister and brother-in-law are very good at walking slowly,” he observed dryly.

Rukia clenched her teeth at her sister’s horrifically obvious attempt to afford them privacy.

“But if the point is socializing--”

“No,” Rukia cut him off. “Sister would just find a way to walk even more slowly.”

“Wow,” Renji commented. “That would probably require some obscure branch of reverse-shunpou. Touma doesn’t look like he’s enjoying it very much.”

“I think he wants to be with me. Usually, I walk with him, so Brother and Sister can have a few minutes together,” Rukia explained, eager to divert the subject. “And he spends the entire time fussing because he wants to be with Brother.”

Renji gave her that inscrutable look again, and Rukia realized he was trying to figure her out. “If you like,” he finally said, “he could walk with us. I don’t mind.”

Rukia swallowed, then turned her head, and called back, “Sister, if Touma wants to walk with us, just let him!”

A relieved Hisana stopped trying to restrain her offspring, who barreled forward as fast as his chubby legs would propel him. Surprisingly, Rukia didn’t seem to be the person Touma was so desperate to see.

“Hello, there, Future Vice-Captain,” Renji greeted her diminutive nephew genially. “We meet on your territory today.”

Touma’s face screwed up, his nose wrinkling. “UP!” he demanded, in his most Kuchiki-like tone.

“And here I thought I was only good for top-spinning,” Renji grinned, tossing the boy up onto his shoulders. From his high perch, Touma beamed, the king of all he surveyed.

“He likes you,” Rukia murmured. Touma never warmed up to strangers. If they were lucky, he just tried to bury himself in Brother or Sister’s clothing. Otherwise, it was shouting. Rukia cleared her throat. “‘Up’ is new, I think. I haven’t heard him use ‘up’ before.”

“He’s a nice kid,” Renji replied, purposefully lurching dramatically from side to side while Touma squealed with delight.

“He’s my nephew and I love him, but he’s a terror,” Rukia pointed out. “His nurse is probably lying down in her room with a cold cloth over her eyes right now.”

“Can’t be more trouble than his pop,” Renji singsonged under his breath as he paused to let Touma pull at the leaves of a maple.

Suddenly, for the first time, Rukia let herself indulge in Hisana’s scheming. “The best way to avoid getting married off is to marry yourself off first.” Renji was a hundred times better than those spoiled noble sons that usually came around to tea. Hisana and Touma had obviously fallen to his charms, and even Byakuya seemed to tolerate him. Renji had been her friend once, as close as friends could be, really. Would it kill her to… consider it? He really did have nice arms.

“Rukia?” Renji was regarding her curiously.

“What?” she demanded, testily.

“Your face is bright red. Are you okay?”

Rukia took a deep breath through her nose. “I fibbed before,” she blurted out quickly. “My sister is… matchmaking. That’s why she invited you here.”

Renji froze, until Touma yanked on a piece of his hair with particular vigor. “Ow! Ow, buddy, that’s attached!”

“She’s such a romantic. If I told her we were old childhood friends, there’d be no talking her out of it,” Rukia muttered.

Renji had extracted Touma from his hair and was now carrying him upside down and pretending this was a natural and normal way to carry a child.

“Pardon my ignorance of the details,” he said slowly, “but aren’t you a little out of my league?”

“My stock has gone down lately,” Rukia shrugged. “I was already looked down on for being adopted, and almost getting executed didn’t do me any favors.” She chewed her lip for a moment. “And that’s sort of the point. Sister doesn’t want to see me married off for political gain, so she’s got it in her head to find me someone I like, and get the Elders to sign off on it at a time when they’d just as soon get rid of me.”

“Oh,” Renji replied. Then, very slowly, he said, “And your sister thought you’d like me?”

“Well, she likes you,” Rukia replied, crossing her arms over her chest. “I hardly know you.”

Renji put Touma down on the path, and the boy ran ahead to the bridge over the koi pond. “It took seven weeks the first time.”

Rukia blinked. “What did?”

“For you to like me. When we first met, you saved my life, me and the guys, and we split some water with you. You started hanging out with us almost immediately, but I could tell you didn’t like me. Seven weeks later, I made a humorous remark about a mutual acquaintance, and you laughed so hard you snorted. That’s when I knew. That you liked me, that is.”

“It was Haneda Kousuke, and you said his face looked like a butt that had been sat on too long,” Rukia cackled, unable to keep from cracking up as she said it.

Renji couldn’t help grinning either. “I was trying to be polite, up here in fancy-land.”

His eyes caught Rukia’s, and for a moment, no time had passed. He was her best friend again, her comfort, her confidant, the other half of her soul. “Never,” she exhorted him. “Not when it’s just you and me.”

And then her cheeks were burning and she was looking away, embarrassed. She glanced back at him out of the corner of her eye, and he was just looking down at her fondly. “I was hoping maybe it wouldn’t take seven weeks this time,” he said softly. “But I can wait for as long as you need.”

Rukia swallowed against her dry throat, and took a long time of pulling a stale piece of bread out of her sleeve and breaking it into bits for Touma to toss to the koi.

“I did want to see you again,” she finally admitted. “It’s nice to see you, is what I mean. I’m sorry to get you caught up in Sister’s grand schemes.” Touma scampered off and tossed the entire handful of crumbs into the pond, wholesale. Rukia sighed. “I’ll tell her the truth about… you know. How we are. I promise.” She tossed a crumb into the pond, and watched, glumly, as the koi preferred to jostle for Kouma’s cluster bomb over her lowly offering.

Suddenly, there was a much larger hand cupping her own. Rukia stared at it stupidly as Renji pinched out a few of her bread crumbs. Did he linger just a moment longer than necessary, before crouching down next to her nephew? “One at a time, pal,” he said gently, tossing out a crumb and holding out his hand for Touma to do the same.

Touma tried to grab the rest of Renji’s handful, but Renji closed his fingers around it. “One. Who taught you about patience? Your auntie?” He opened his hand again, and, scowling, Touma extracted a single crumb. Renji tilted his head up toward Rukia. “It would be good to get our stories straight, I think,” he said, “but maybe you should hold off on explainin’ to your sister ‘how we are’ until we get that figured out ourselves, eh?”

Rukia’s cheeks burned. “Did you hear the part where she wants you to marry me, you dummy?”

Renji tossed another crumb into the pond. “I heard it.” He didn’t say anything further.

“Oh,” was all Rukia could think to say.

[recurring-polynya]

a little in love now and then, part 3/? | ao3 | ff.net |

Summary: Abarai  Renji doesn’t have a fortune, but he does appear to be in want of a  wife, at least in Lady Kuchiki’s opinion. Fortunately, Lady Kuchiki also  has a sister, and a woefully eligible one, at that. (itty bitty Hisana  Lived! AU)

Rating: T, for minor cussing

This time: Renji has no idea what's going on, but at least the food is good.

Older parts: | part 1 | part 2 |

Rukia looked the way Renji had spent 40 years imagining she would. People use “refined” to describe rich people sometimes, but it was really true in this case. Even from the earliest days of their acquaintance, Renji had been able to tell that despite her scabbed knees and coarse language, Rukia was an amazing person-- smart, strong, beautiful. The best person, possibly. Life as a Kuchiki has only smoothed her rough edges, washed away the imperfections, shined her to a polish.

Her face still had the same delicate bone structure, but her skin was smooth and glowing instead of dry and chapped, accented with a delicate touch of makeup instead of smears of dirt and less savory substances. She spoke precisely and formally, every trace of her Rukon accent a distant memory. Her hair was glossy and smooth, even if she still favored a tidier version of the short, layered style he used to hack it into with the same knife he used to gut rabbits. Her eyes-- he’d always loved her eyes, and the dark blue kimono she wore looked like it had been specially dyed just to match them.

The scowl was exactly the same, though, and somehow, it was the one thing he hadn’t expected. In his imagination, she was always happy here, because he wouldn’t be able to stand it if she weren’t. But scowls were Rukia’s public face, he reminded himself, smiles are reserved for close friends, and he didn’t qualify anymore.

“--have you ever attended the Seireitei Orchid Exposition, Lieutenant Abarai?”

Oh, no. Renji had been too busy being in love with Rukia to notice that Lady Hisana was talking to him. This was a problem. He was a little overwhelmed, to be honest, between the amazing food and the elegance of the house and Byakuya over there, staring off into the middle distance, but paying attention to everything Renji screwed up, which he would surely want to go over in nauseating detail tomorr-- orchids? Lady Kuchiki asked you a question, moron, he lambasted himself. Say something about orchids.

“Ah, can’t say that I have,” he managed. He wasn’t sure if he could identify an orchid if his life depended on it.

“It’s coming up next week, and it’s quite a busy time for us. Byakuya and I are competing this year.”

“You may call it that,” Byakuya commented, a hint of steel in his voice.

“Against each other, I mean,” Hisana clarified. “Usually we work together, but one of my long-running experimental strains has finally flowered this year and it is going to sweep the competition.”

Byakuya let out a single, tiny snort.

Renji’s eyes darted between his hosts.

“My husband is well known for producing absolutely perfect specimens that look as though they popped out of an orchid textbook.”

“You say that is if it were a bad thing,” Byakuya replied.

“My orchids are exciting,” Hisana countered. “People have written poetry about my orchids.”

“I do not know what you are complaining about. I have written poetry about your orchids. As I have told you since you began the project, red orchids bear notoriously irregular blooms, which the judges carry a heavy bias against. In a competition that lacked a solid, classically beautiful specimen-- my Neofinetia falcata, for example-- you would, indeed do well. I am sure you will take a prize or two for originality.” He paused, and then said, in the manner of a man who has fallen into this trap before, “You know I am a great admirer of your orchids, dear.”

Were they trash-talking? Were they flirting? Renji’s eyes darted over to Rukia, who looked like she wanted to die.

“Does Lady Rukia also grow orchids?” he asked, unable to keep a grin from breaking out on his face as he tried to get the words out.

Hisana’s face lit up, and she looked at her sister expectantly.

Rukia was staring deeply into her soup. “I have a pepper plant. It made a pepper once.”

There was a long silence.

“It was a very good pepper,” Byakuya pointed out mildly, and then took a sip of his own soup.

Cautiously, Rukia looked up and scrutinized Renji’s face. It occurred to Renji that while her situation was pretty clear, she probably had no idea what he was like these days. Taking a position at the Sixth, showing up for dinner with his hair combed-- did she think he was some kind of snotty bootlicker, trying to climb the social ladder? Well… well, he sort of was, but only because he wanted to meet her family’s approval. And it wasn’t just show, he did try to be an actual good person, a good friend, a good vice-captain. He offered her a hopeful half-smile, willing her to understand, I’m still me, just a slightly better me. I have a good job and one nice haori and bankai, but the part of me that cares about you hasn’t changed at all.

Rukia made a rueful facial expression, and turned back to her soup.

Renji supposed the old days of reading each other’s minds with a simple glance were long gone, as well.

“Rukia will be playing her shamisen at the Orchid Exposition,” Hisana added, clearly trying to lob the conversational ball back into her sister’s court. It was clear Rukia had no intention of lobbing it back.

“Huh! Music at a flower show,” Renji tried to rescue her. “‘Magine that.”

“Yes,” Rukia said flatly. “Sometimes people get...tired...of looking at the flowers.” Rukia continued to stare at him, and Renji realized maybe the mind-reading days were so far past after all, because the message couldn’t have been clearer: Go ahead, Abarai Renji. Keep pretending you give half a shit about this rich people nonsense. I dare you.

“It’s mostly for ambiance, there’s a continuous musical program,” Hisana explained, either oblivious to, or willfully ignoring her younger sister. “Rukia is very skilled, though, it’s always a treat to hear her play.”

Renji knew he couldn’t say it with a straight face, but dammit, he was going to try. “I had no idea that you were so talented, Lady Rukia. Do you--” a tiny snort escaped his nose, “--enjoy playing--” another one followed, “--the shamisen?”

Rukia’s eyes twinkled, and the corners of her mouth turned up the tiniest bit. “It’s great,'' she replied. “I love it.”

Byakuya looked up briefly from his meal, looked confused, and went back to eating.

Renji tried to compose himself, and glanced back at Rukia’s older sister, whom he expected to be scandalized by their conduct.

Instead, Hisana just looked incredibly smug.

[recurring-polynya]

(I saw your tag looking for people to share headcanons about your last post so-) Byakuya’s weird dream girl should have an interest in weird plants! Bya’s very pretty traditional garden gets a greenhouse addition after they’re married and it’s filled with pitcher plants, venue flytraps, etc and he’s confused but had the greenhouse built anyways for her. I’m already in love with the idea of him finding an absolute weirdo to marry and it’s great!

Yaaaaaassssss, this is exactly what I am talking about. I am in love with this.

I have actually written fanfic where Byakuya is Extremely Into Orchids, much to Rukia’s eternal boredom and frustration, and I love this idea of him building all these new greenhouses and they argue all the time over the pickiest, most detailed details of plant growing and Which Plants Are Best and who has won more blue ribbons, and they won’t go in one another’s greenhouses, but then, like, she saves his dying prize orchid, one of the six he named after Hisana, and that’s how he realizes he does, in fact love her, and Rukia is just like why WhY WHYYYYYYYYYY

[cooliogirl101]

(1/2) I've been wondering about the Gin/Hisana situation too and it reminded me of a thing i've noticed in 'bantering' couples. Sometimes they're so used to the their initial dynamic of teasing and ribbing each other, it becomes difficult to be /kind/ to each other. Gin is not kind. From what you've said, Hisana might become similar. So it hard to see them in a romantic relationship that's not mutually destructive and them hurting each other. But really the other thing that's actually nagging is

(2/2) The way things played out in your canon, Gin is directly responsible for the 100 year hell Hisana is gonna go through, as well as Byakuya and Rukia. Yeah sure he was 'behind enemy lines' and secretly against Aizen but it's not going to be easy to logic away the pain and grief caused by his actions, let alone for Hisana to forgive him and actually enter into a mutually loving and respectful relationship. Their dynamics in the drabbles is awesome but your canon is very painful. (isthisok?)

(3/3) Sorry one last quick thing: was Walk Too Lifetimes meant to be a fix-it-fic or a partial fix it? Did you want a happy ending?

It’s true that Gin is definitely not a nice person and Hisana is rarely kind with him the way she so often is with other characters-- but I would argue that they’re both...pretty darn good at sensing where the other’s boundaries are. For instance, Gin gets a great deal of joy out of annoying Hisana but he’s never truly cruel to her, and he’s never once taken advantage of the rare instances that Hisana allows herself to be vulnerable with him. He has enough emotional blackmail on her to truly hurt her, and yet he...doesn’t, for reasons he doesn’t fully understand himself.

There’s also a weird amount of honesty in their interactions. Gin would never allow himself to be truly...well, himself with Rangiku, he’d never expose her to that side of him, just as Hisana would never show Byakuya the more ruthless part of herself. But with each other-- it turns out there’s a lot you can share with someone when you think they don’t care enough to judge you.

As for Hisana forgiving Gin-- you’re absolutely right in that if it had been anyone else Gin had hurt in that way, she never would have forgiven him. But Hisana has always been coldly, ruthlessly practical when it comes to her own well-being, and the fact of the matter is, Gin’s involvement had no impact on how things turned out. He could have been on the other side of the world and things still would have turned out the exact same way, because Aizen Sousuke was the mastermind behind it all, not Ichimaru Gin. Gin could have chosen to be involved, or he could have chosen to not be involved, and things would have ended in Hisana’s death either way; at least by choosing to be involved, he could further cement his loyalty in Aizen’s mind. Of course, ‘not technically blaming someone’ and ‘trusting someone’ are two very different things, and what little trust that existed between them has definitely taken a hit. 

WTL was not meant to be a fix-it fic, really more of a what-if fic, but I’m not a fan of sad endings so I’m not going to write one. It will be either bittersweet, or hopeful, or happy, or a mixture of all three, but I have no intentions on it being depressing. 

(also yes, it’s perfectly alright to send in your thoughts on certain potential pairings/plot details. In fact, I welcome them :) Just don’t, you know, tell me which direction I should take the story or tell me my writing sucks or that I should update faster, and we’re good)