Characters: Rukia, Kaien
Summary: And she will be ready.
Pairings: Onesided Kaien x Rukia
Warnings/Spoilers: Spoilers for Soul Society arc
Timeline: Pre-manga
Author's Note: Feedback would be appreciated but is never a requirement. And yes, it was this short on purpose.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.
When night comes Rukia is free and loves him unreservedly. There is no room in her soul for ambiguities, so she simply loves him completely.
The fire inside her is a monstrous storm; it burns indiscriminately and sears her flesh as well as what she imagines his skin to be. She lives, burns and dies all in the space of one night and rises like a smoldering phoenix with silken black feathers from her own ashes.
The barriers are cast in stone and iron and there's nothing that can pry the protective ring away from Kaien. He remains oblivious, of course; there's no need to see what isn't on the surface and Rukia is master to her own emotions, locking them in glass boxes clear but opaque.
It's obvious, but isn't.
And Miyako settles on her bones like a form-fitting shroud called reality. Her kind gray eyes and sweet smiles makes the fire smolder down and the embers flicker one last time before dying. The phoenix takes over from there.
But the fire's still burning.
When the sun rises Rukia is again a slave and her own walls are erected, a fortress from which behind the walls she watches the world go round.
Watches him.
Kaien is there, Miyako is there. Rukia puts out her fire but lets the incense on the altar smoke and, when the time comes, she will be ready.