8title: amber lights
by: whisperedsilvers
prompt: forest
summary: Rukia thinks she's found the sun. —Rukia/Ichigo
The first time Rukia meets Ichigo, he's up a tree. He's literally up a tree. He looks tired, kind of lost, and kind of scared.
The memory is vivid, tangible and it fills her with a nostalgia that borders on affectionate.
It's autumn, in the midst of October and it smells like syrup and clove. It's a warm smell. So warm, she remembers faintly. The oak rough against her fingertips and the maple trees change from green to gold.
In south Tokyo, her brother owns a small piece of land in the back of his home, the forest leads to a river that separates the bustling city from the quiet country. Sometimes, she's in the garden picking flowers to decorate the manor. Sometimes she's reading a book near the living room. And other times, she's learning how to bake or she tries to bake, but she only does this when her brother is out running errands.
He learned the first time that leaving Rukia in the kitchen only leads to disaster. Even at eight years old, he still refuses to let her use a pot spoon. The memory of her almost burning down his kitchen still gives him chills. She pouts and tells him that it's his birthday. She wants to bake him something.
Byakuya is weak against his little sister's innocent smile and her all too big eyes.
So he sighs and says fine.
His maids laugh quietly in a corner.
So Rukia takes her small wicker basket and walks down the small hill into the forest.
Rukia wants to find something special to make for her older brother's birthday. Apples? Pumpkins? All she knows is that she wants it to be special, because it's her Nii-sama's birthday and that is all that matters.
"Is it alright if we allow her there?" Byakuya watches his younger sister skip down the grass into the thick brush, "By herself?"
The head-made tries to bite back a smile, "She's fine. She's always been independent."
Byakuya still sighs with exasperation, again.
Her boots are kind of big around her knees, but it keeps her warm. When the wind slips past her ears, she shivers and tugs her bunny knit-hat over her head tighter.
But she thinks she looks cute.
With her brown, wool coat and tan sweater dress, with her black leggings and super cool, limited edition Chappy purse. She's very, very cute.
Rukia tries not to stumble over fist-sized rocks and weeds that are as tall as her knees. The grass is cold-pressed, like the ice creamery in the town and she's wobbling over the uneven ground of the forested area. It smells really nice this time of year, she notices, and then she walks slower, almost wanting to take in the fresh crisp smell of maple and something like pine.
.
"Um, hello?" Rukia looks up at the sound of something rustling and sees a bright shock of orange trembling in between the branches, the red leaves hiding nothing but his hands.
The orange pauses and then peers down.
She stares at him – it's a boy! – he has the cutest ears she's ever seen! Cuter than Chappy and she so terribly wants to pet the soft fur of his ears. She smiles up at him and exclaims cheerfully, "Hello! You have pretty ears!"
The boy shrinks, red flushing over the tip of his nose and huffs, "They're not pretty! They're cool!"
Rukia blinks, "But…they're orange."
"What's wrong with orange?" he bristles.
"Nothing," She mumbles at his tone, "I just thought they looked nice."
The boy grumbles something underneath his breath, but he looks at her with curious eyes and a frown marring his lips, "I like your hat."
She looks at him with violet-colored orbs and beams. At least someone appreciates her rabbit-themed beret, "Do you wanna play a game?"
The fox blinks, "What kind of game?"
"Have you ever heard of tag?"
.
"Nii-sama!" Rukia runs back into the house with a basket full of things – vegetables and fruits he thinks with acceptance - and a boy.
Byakuya blinks widened charcoal orbs and stares.
He shuffles awkwardly at her side, his hands ringing in the center of his being and he keeps his gaze down.
"I'm going to keep him!" Rukia declares with a smile brighter than the smile and then pets his – fox?! – ears.
And if Byakuya were a lesser man, he would've gaped.
.
"Okay, we have to make sure the flour is level," Rukia instructs from the corner of the kitchen. She hands Ichigo the whisks and looks at him seriously, "Can you mix?"
"Yes," he grumbles and sits on his knees at the counter, "I used to help my kaa-chan all the time."
"So you can make sweets?" her eyes sparkle.
Ichigo bites down a flush and looks at the bowl with a scowl, "I can make cakes…and muffins."
"I love muffins!"
"I'll bring some for you next time, then," he tosses in some blueberries when she isn't looking.
.
Ichigo sits on the pillow Rukia left for him in her room as she's gone to check on the muffins and promised that she would be right back so they can take a nap together. Her room is pretty, he thinks, for a girl, of course. It's a mix of soft purple and blue skies. It's pretty in its own right, he knows this when he buries his head into her pillow and inhales.
Wildflowers.
Byakuya peeks into the room with a half-hearted glare, it makes Ichigo stiffen because he can feel the intensity from his side, the pinpricks of displeasure roll and his ears twitch.
"Nii-sama?" Rukia interrupts his glare-fest and looks up at him with wide eyes, "What are you doing? You're supposed to be in the garden!"
"I came to check on you and…." he looks at the boy strangely, "Ichigo."
"We're fine," she sniffs childishly, "But we have to talk about your gift, so you need to go, please. Nii-sama, it's supposed to be a surprise!"
"Very well," he sighs and leaves her with the fox.
Rukia shakes her head and jumps onto the pillow, "Nap time?"
Ichigo nods, he's surprised by how close her face is.
This human, he thinks, is pretty.
.
"Are these muffins?" Byakuya's eyes take in the bunches of muffins on his countertop, Rukia bouncing excitedly in front of him and Ichigo looks almost shy.
"Ichigo helped me make them!" Rukia grabs the fox's hand, "He said he made it with his mom before she went—" she cut herself off and squeezes the little boy's hand, "Before she got sick."
Rukia is only eight, but she knows how to shake Byakuya's heart without even trying.
Byakuya eats the muffin slowly and nods his head in appreciation, "It is acceptable."
Rukia whispers loudly into Ichigo's ear – they twitch ever so slightly – and, "That means Nii-sama loves them."
Ichigo flushes in embarrassment.
And Byakuya smiles ever so slightly.
.
Rukia didn't notice that Ichigo had a tail until later, much later. When they're watching a Chappy film and she accidentally trips on said tail.
"What was that?" Rukia asks after she's righted herself and brushes away his embarrassed tears.
"My tail," Ichigo whimpers and then sniffles.
"You have a tail?" Rukia's eyes widens at that and she glances down at the bushy sienna-colored pelt with a snowy tip.
She had an entire discussion with her Nii-sama about proprietary and other boring things later that night.
.
Shifters, as humans like to put a label on things, are considered a superior race among other species. Their sense of smell is stronger, their eyes keener, their hearing sharper, and their awareness of tastes their awareness of tastes borders on sensitive. They are much more advanced than say an ordinary human.
They are the superior race.
But Ichigo doesn't see it that way.
.
At twelve, they are still rambunctious, but less childish.
Even when Rukia hits puberty – a word that Byakuya hopes to never hear again – she has a growth spurt and towers over Ichigo.
"I'm taller than you now!" she grins at her new found height.
Ichigo scoffs, "For now."
.
It happens in five months.
Ichigo towers over her, but instead of making her feel hunted or small, he smothers her in an aura that is both protective and warm.
She doesn't stop holding his hand, not even when they start high school, and that's where the fun really begins.
.
"Ichigo," Rukia looks down, he's sitting flat against the wall of the rooftop and asks, "Can you open my juice box?"
He sighs and opens his hand out for the box, "I don't get why you can't just buy a bottle. I know your brother can afford them."
"But I like the box," she huffs and snatches her box back once he puts the straw in.
"You can never open it," he argues with logic.
"Yeah but you always open it for me," Rukia says with a small smile, "I don't need a bottle when I have you."
Ichigo scowls and a flush burns his ears.
.
"I hate math," Rukia grumbles as she throws herself onto her pillow, the carpet of her floor cushioning her fall and she groans into her pillow, "Who needs calculus?"
"Technology?" he glances up from his phone, his back rests against the foot of her bed and a manga book lay half-open at his feet.
"It was a rhetorical question, Ichigo," she flips over and rolls her eyes, "All these derivatives are giving me a headache."
Ichigo frowns at that. Tossing his phone onto the bed, he grabs a spare blanket from her chair and pushes himself next to her, "Here, let's take a nap."
"I'm not four,"
"Who says you need to be four to take a nap?"
"The general population," she snorts but rolls over so he can rest his head next to her.
"Foxes take at least three naps a day," Ichigo points out matter-of-factly, proceeding to cover them with a fleece, lily-dotted blanket.
"Lazy," Rukia teases and then inhales sharply when he tugs her into his chest.
"The laziest," he chuckles and the vibrations soothe the pulsing in her temples, and bribes her, "I'll let you play with my tail if you take a nap with me."
"Scandalous,"
"Shut up, Rukia."
.
Byakuya leaves a tray of snacks and water bottles on Rukia's dresser.
No one, till this day, can confirm how a picture of Ichigo snuggled up to Rukia was taken and sent to Kurosaki's father.
The maids know, of course.
But Isshin is close to insufferable and demands to meet his third daughter that Ichigo has been hoarding away to himself for the last seven years.
.
At sixteen, Ichigo figures out just how important Rukia is to him when a dodgeball is slammed into her head.
She blinks at him, violet overtakes her pupils and she falls into him in a dead faint.
Ichigo's incisors sharpen violently, his ears shift and his tail is stiff. He pulls Rukia to him, intent on keeping her from harm and it is his instincts that recognizes her as a mate.
It's worry and terror that churns in him.
Because every molecule in his body is designed to protect.
And that includes Rukia, above all.
.
"Hey," Keigo pops his head in from the lunch room, his puppy ears drooping at the sound of rain, "Have you seen Rukia?"
Ichigo's ears twitch at that, he tilts his head and snaps his book shut, "No, why?"
"Wanted to ask her to go on this group date with me," he grins like nothing is wrong with that sentence, as if the world is simply okay with that statement and that there is absolutely nothing wrong with that declaration, "I think I can finally put the moves on her."
"What moves?" Ichigo snorts and puts his book in his bag.
"Oh you know," Keigo makes a joke out of it, tosses his arm over the carrot-head's shoulders and his fingers dance over his hand, "The old toss an arm over, hold her hand and kiss her move."
Ichigo narrows his eyes and punches him in the stomach, hard.
"Rukia is my human," he states with irritation and strolls towards the door, ignoring his classmate's dramatic gasp of breath, "Remember that, Keigo."
"Do you have a claim on her?"
A pause.
Ichigo turns his head to glare at him, embers and smoke, his ears twitch and he hisses, "Don't test me, Keigo. You won't win."
.
"Uh, Ichigo," Rukia asks with a hand underneath her books, her bag slung over Ichigo's shoulder, a lollipop in between his teeth and an arm wrapped around her shoulders, "Why are your friends staring at me?"
"First of all," Ichigo scoffs, "They are not my friends."
"And the second?" Rukia snorts.
He shrugs, fingers grasping the edges of her hair in a curious, but affectionate matter and she feels something inside her bloom at the gentleness in his eyes.
Ichigo says with a quirk of the lips, "It's not really important, is it?"
