Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Green ❯ Chapter 1

Green

By: eternalsailorsolarwind AKA youkai_girl

 

Disclaimer: Bleach and all of its characters are owned by Tite Kubo, his Japanese publishers, and Viz. I only play with them for grins and giggles.

 

A/N: I wrote this long enough ago that I don't remember the prompt. Hiding his emotions behind a mask, Byakuya still feels them keenly. Especially jealousy. Byakuya/Ichigo.

 

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It was most unbecoming for a man of his station, but telling himself that did not lessen his feelings. Long considered by just about everyone to be emotionless and cold, he was anything but. Few understood that the stoic mask he habitually wore in public - and often, in private - was just that, a mask. Fewer still were those allowed to see beyond that mask; privy to the emotions that he himself often denied he had.

 

And right now, Kuchiki Byakuya felt jealous.

 

It was insane, he knew, watching the small crowd of people surrounding his lover. Most of them were only Ichigo's friends, and had no interest in him as anything other than as a friend. Madarame and Hanatarou, for example. He had no qualms when Ichigo was around them; no worries about their easy camaraderie.

 

Others, however, made his insides clench at the ease with which the substitute shinigami interacted with them. Inoue was obvious; her heart worn on her sleeve - even if his lover was completely blind to it. His own lieutenant was suspect, spending inordinate amounts of time in the former ryoka's presence; trying to get him drunk. But it was Rukia - his own sister - who worried him the most.

 

Byakuya could never quite define their relationship to his satisfaction. One moment, it was teacher-student, the next combative siblings, and five minutes later, something else entirely. Was she in love with Ichigo? And what would happen if she was, since his lover was incapable of saying `no' to her?

 

Trained from birth to be the “perfect noble,” Byakuya had a difficult time pushing past the aloof demeanor that very training had instilled in him. Allowing himself to give into his desires where Ichigo was concerned had taken a large amount of time and patience on both sides. Things neither man were known for nor particularly blessed with.

 

He was envious of the ease with which those other people in Ichigo's life could express their feelings. They could interact with his lover without feeling off-balance most of the time. He was jealous of the fact that it would be easier for Ichigo to love them that it was to love him. Sometimes, his feelings of envy were so intense that he felt his eyes must be turning green.

 

A certain set of brown eyes meeting his across the room brought the noble out of his thoughts. Ichigo was looking his way, seemingly able to read his mind. Ignoring for the moment those surrounding him, the younger man favored him with a smile. Those smiles, almost as rare as his own, reminded Byakuya that Ichigo had chosen him, not one of the others, as his lover. Him. He had nothing to be envious about. Instead, everyone should be jealous of him for winning the substitute Soul Reaper's heart.