Requiem

A/N: A TB charrie is involved..... I... kinda needed to write this to get over my ex....
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She was as beautiful as he remembered her to be, and though she had changed in appearance, her spirit remained the same. She was still short in stature, that was true... but her cheerfullness and her spunk never changed at all.

Leon Garcia de Asturias had never thought of being born as a Shinigami in his afterlife.

And he never expected his love Stephanie Summers to also be there... except that she was Kuchiki Rukia in this life.
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The first time he had met her was when he was still living in Rukongai. It was simply a wavering aura in the air (later known to him as reiatsu), a familliar warm feeling, a feeling of longing and hopefullness that made him think of Stephanie, that made him exit his run-down house, and run into a girl with short black hair and sparkling purple eyes. From the way the picked herself up to the way she apologized to him, Leon could only think of one girl wo shared the exact same characteristics; Stephanie Summers.

But his love had died many years before him, killed by a vampire and buried in her burning house before he could save her.

So why was it she reminded him of her?

"Gomen, gomen... I should've watched where I was going..." She laughed, scratching her head as her red-haired friend came up, scowling protectively.

"It's my fault. Don't apologize, kid." Leon waved it off, earning a glare from the other man.

"Excuse me, we're way older than you are... a century old, maybe. Don't go around calling Rukia a kid. She's almost 80 this year," He said sharply.

"Renji!" Rukia exclaimed, face flushing red, but a hand came down between them, grapsing her shoulder protectively.

"Our patrol's over. Let's return and report to Yamamoto-soutaichou."

"Byakuya-Nii-Sama!" Rukia smiled and looked up at another man, an aristocrat by the looks of it, her eyes shining. Byakuya nodded at her once and turned, releasing her shoulder. Renji and Rukia followed as he left, the girl turning to give Leon a wave before she vanished.

From their uniforms and swords, they were Shinigami. Rukia certainly didn't look like Stephanie, but the manner in which she greeted her older brother reminded him of the way Stephanie used to greet him.

Leon was intrigued.
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The second time he met her was when he had entered the Academy, hoping to become a Shinigami and join the ranks of the Gotei 13. Everyone knew him to be different from the others, thanks to his appearance and his strength, and he was a slightly lonely man because the students steered clear of him.

He learned that souls were reborn again when they died, some retaining their looks and others given a different body. Leon had no doubt that Stephanie was Rukia, and they were both the same person, but in different lives.

"Hado no 31! Shakkahou!"

Rukia's voice rang out sure and clear as she took down the Hollow they were supposed to purify, but couldn't handle. A red ball of fire shot out at the Hollow, instantly purifying it in a second. The Academy students watched in awe as Ukitake, Rukia, Kiyone and Sentarou stepped out of the shadows, the captain wearing an encouraging smile on his face.

"Good work, everyone. Except for that last Hollow, you managed to take down the rest. Well... the last one was kind of tricky. I shall do your evaluation and pass your marks to your teacher. Let's just say that some of you might just be working for me in less then a month."

As cheers went up among the students, Leon smiled. He was looking forwards to becoming a Shinigami. At least.. it would put him one step closer to Rukia.
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"Nii-sama...."

"What is it, Rukia?"

Rukia opened her eyes to look up at her brother, who was deeply absorbed in a book while letting her use his lap as a pillow. "Aren't you going to the graduations? I overheard Yamamoto-soutaichou saying that the Divisions need to absorb some new members in order to run effciently."

He says that every year, Byakuya wanted to reply, but searched for a different answer instead. "Whether I go or not isn't really your concern. Your health however, is my concern. I shall tell Ukitake to exempt you from your missions this few weeks to recuperate."

"Aa... Arigatou, Nii-sama..." Rukia mumbled, looking away. She had come down with a bad case of fever after her last mission to the Living World. Byakuya had been furious after Unohana told him that it was poison from the Hollow that had attacked her, all the more reason to keep her away from the Vice-Captain position. Rukia wasn't too concerned about the position, but the look on Byakuya's face made her feel.... guilty.

Guilt that she could've died and almost gotten herself killed.

"Forgive me, Nii-sama."

Byakuya froze at the sentence and put down his book, looking at her, confusion flitting across his face. "What for?"

"Because... Because I made you worry..." Rukia closed her eyes again.

Silently, Byakuya marked his page, set the book aside and picked her up in his arms, burying his face in her hair. "Don't apologize, Rukia. It wasn't your fault." His hand ran through her hair, soothing her.

Rukia was surprised as Byakuya hugged her. he had never shown that much of emotion in his life towards her before, but it was soothing to know that he cared. "Byakuya-Nii-Sama..."

"Sleep, Rukia... Just sleep.." Byakuya leaned back against the tree he had been sitting against, keeping her in his arms as he rocked her to sleep.
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She wasn't there at the graduations, and neither was her brother.

But Leon didn't care as he walked in Sereitei proudly, now clad in his black and white Shinigami uniform, his sword by his side. There was lots of time. Lots of time for him to prepare himself, get close to her, and rekindle their relationship that they had in their past life. Up ahead, he saw Renji and Shuuhei talking, and decided to join them.

"Abarai-fukutaichou. Hisagi-fukutaichou."

"Leon-san!" Shuuhei greeted cheerfully. "Congratulations on your graduation! Which Division will you be joining?"

"My Division, apparently..." Renji grinned. "We always give the newcomers Hell, and Kuchiki-taichou scares the shit outta them."

Kuchiki..... Leon blinked. "Wouldn't.... Kuchiki Rukia be related to Kuchiki-taichou in any way?" He asked curiously.

Shuuhei and Renji looked at each other before bursting out in laughter. "He doesn't know!" Shuuhei exclaimed. "Well, Leon... to tell you the truth, Rukia is Kuchiki Byakuya's adopted little sister. They belong to one of the noble families in Sereitei. Rukia's well on her way to becoming Fukutaichou from what I hear."

"And talking about Byakuya..." Renji lowered his voice so only they could hear. "It seems that... he's in love with her."

"Nani?!" Shuuhei gasped. "Kuchiki-taichou... in love with his sister?"

"Well, they aren't really related..." Renji said thoughtfully. "And I'm happy for Rukia if she does marry Byakuya. I mean... Byakuya may be icy cold and a stick-in-the-mud on the outside, but from what Ryorin gathers from the Kuchiki estate's servants, he can be really passionate and caring if he wants to be."

"Suge..." Shuuhei looked genuinely interested. "So Byakuya might be proposing to Rukia-chan soon. Aren't you sad that your childhood friend is in love and is taken by the only man you want to surpass? He's always been stronger than you... now he's taken awya your love. Aren't you pissed?"

"Me? Nahhh.." Renji looked content. "From the time I let Rukia go, I knew she wasn't going to be my wife anytime in eternity. In fact.." He began grinning again. "I've gotten myself a new girlfriend."

"Abarai-kun!" Kamaitachi Ryorin's voice soared in the air, reaching their ears as the emerald eyed girl walked up. "Ikkaku's calling everyone for a drink. Wanna come? Rukia-chan can't make it. She's still sick and ya know what? I saw her sleepin' in Kuchiki-taichou's arms today! Apparently, they were in the 6th Division's garden, and she fell asleep, so Byakuya had t' carry her back to t' mansion."

"Honto ni?" Renji and Shuuhei gasped.

"Yep." Ryorin grinned. "C'mon, red-head.... there's a couple's drinkin' contest today. Shuu, Ran-chan wants ya to be her date."

"Damn, we have competition!" Renji took Ryorin firmly about her waist. "Let's go. 11th isn't a place where people wait."

"'Kay..." Shuuhei looked over his shoulder at Leon. "You want to tag along?"

Leon, who had been standing quietly in disbelief when he first heard of Rukia and Byakuya, shook his head. "No, I'll... I'll pass..."

"Wise." Shuuhei nodded. "Isn't good to get drunk on your first night, escpecially if your captain is Kuchiki-taichou. Well, I'll see you around."

With that, he walked off, leaving Leon alone.
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He wasn't at her level yet in this life, and it seemed that he never would be. She was of nobility, and was destined to be loved and married by one. He felt like he was a dog, and she was a star... and he was barking at a star, which was out of his reach.

"Stephanie..."

If only he hadn't broke up with her in his past life.