The Music of Angels and Demons: Part 10

"Father! I swear if you don't hurry up, I'm going to leave without you!"

Standing in the front hall with his arms crossed and foot tapping impatiently, Ichigo was more dressed up than usual in an almost completely black outfit with only an off-white cravat with gold embroidery and some gold trim along his shoulders and around his cuffs. In his right hand, he carried a large half-mask that was also black with only the slightest hint of gold around the edges.

On Ichigo's left, Ryuuken stood holding two cloaks and two sets of gloves and he said in his usual dead-pan tone, "The master should be down shortly. I helped him to dress, so he must be saying good-bye to the young mistresses."

Turning and taking his cloak from Ryuuken, Ichigo adjusted it around his shoulders as he muttered, "Be that as it may, he needs to hurry up."

"Or what, Son?" called Isshin's voice from up the stairs, "You'll miss something of importance, perhaps, like a certain young opera singer's entrance to the masquerade?"

Laughing jovially as he approached Ryuuken and Ichigo, Isshin struck a confidant pose with his hands on his hips as he said, "Don't worry Ichigo. We'll get there in plenty of time for you to witness young Orihime's grand entrance and then whisk her away to the dance floor so that no other man can possibly claim her attention for the evening!"

Clenching his fists and looking as though he was about to knock his father out flat on the rug, Ichigo ground out, "That's not the point at all. It would be very rude and tactless for the host of this masquerade to arrive late. And just what are you wearing? We're not Scotch."

Crossing his arms and giving his son an exasperated look, Isshin replied, "This is a masquerade ball, Son, where people dress up as all sorts of characters. Therefore, I don't have to be Scottish to have an excuse to wear this kilt. Besides, only real men have enough courage to wear this sort of costume in public."

Quirking an eyebrow, Ichigo muttered, "Or have confused courage with stupidity…I just hope you have underclothes on."

"Well, since you're so quick to criticize," huffed Isshin, "who are you supposed to be? An upscale undertaker?"

Rolling his eyes and heading for the door, Ichigo called over his shoulder, "Let's get going before we really are late…and I'm Hamlet!"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Over at the Kuchiki residence, Hisana applied one final dab of powder to Orihime's cheeks before she leaned back and said with a satisfied sigh, "There now. That should do it."

Looking over Hisana's shoulder, Rukia grinned broadly at Orihime and said, "Your character is supposed to be a lively and playful, not pensive and reserved."

Opening and closing her mouth several times, Hisana finally took pity on Orihime and said soothingly, "If you're not sure, Byakuya and I would have no problem offering our apologies for your absence tonight. I'm sure everyone will understand since you've been working so hard lately."

Taking a deep breath, Orihime said in a soft yet firm tone, "No, I'm fine. I was just thinking about…well…"

Reaching over to gently lift Orihime's chin, Hisana stated matter-of-factly, "While there has been no official understanding reached between the Kurosaki's and our family, I think it is fairly safe to say that after all the attention and time the young Kurosaki heir has spent with you that you might want to start considering what your reply would be if you were asked a certain question."

Brushing a stray strand of hair from her forehead, Hisana gently pressed her lips to Orihime's cheek and said, "You'll be fine. Just enjoy yourself tonight and let the future worry about itself."

In the front entrance, Byakuya waited with hat in hand staring off into the distance as if lost in thought. However, at the near imperceptible sound of footsteps, Byakuya turned his gaze to the doorway and watched his family enter. To those who did not know the man, they would have thought that his expression had not altered in the slightest, but to those who knew him well, they could easily tell that he was proud and quite pleased with the sight of his wife and 'daughters' all dressed up and ready to go.

Extending his elbow to his wife, Byakuya simply said, "The carriage awaits," and when they arrived, Byakuya silently dismissed the servant who came forward to help the ladies into the carriage in favor of doing it himself.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In celebration of the Christmas holidays, Isshin Kurosaki had organized a masquerade ball that would be held for all opera house employees at the opera house itself. Other opera house donors and patrons had been invited as well, so all in all there were to be about three hundred guests in attendance at the ball. Rather than having the opera house orchestra perform, Isshin had 'invited' the National Orchestral Society to come and perform for the evening's festivities.

While the opera house would be officially closed over the holidays, after the New Year's holiday, the opera house would begin its run of The Tales of Hoffman, which they had been rehearsing since Lucia di Lammermoor successfully took off in early November. For this opera, Maestro Otoribashi had once more recruited Orihime for one of the main singing parts, only this time it wouldn't be for a small and rather insignificant aria. For this opera, Orihime would be asked to play the role of Olympia and sing the aria she had listened to and performed in the streets all those years ago. The aria which had brought her that much closer to Ichigo and made her feelings for him begin to bloom.

Since Aizen's disappearance, Orihime's life had mostly returned to normal, but not quite. Now she had something of an unofficial suitor in Ichigo Kurosaki. There were very few days that Orihime would spend at the opera house when Ichigo would not show up and spend at least five minutes talking with her and sometimes her friends. He and his family had also been to dine at the Kuchiki house twice and each time Orihime got the distinct impression that Isshin was quite pleased with how she and Ichigo got along with one another.

Still, as Hisana had mentioned before, there had been no understanding reached between the two families. Ichigo had not asked for permission to formally court Orihime, so there was no way of knowing for sure if marriage was a possibility or not. More than once, Rukia had told Orihime that if Ichigo didn't love her that he wasn't the kind of person to go out of his way to spend so much time with her and on the one hand Orihime agreed with Rukia's assessment. However, on the other hand, Orihime wished that Ichigo would simply tell her one way or the other how he felt so that she could figure out how to act around him.

When they arrived at the opera house, Byakuya stepped out first and once again waved away the servant who came forward to help the ladies out of the carriage. Hisana went first and stood to Byakuya's right as he reached back in to take Rukia's hand and then Orihime's. Once again, Byakuya extended his elbow to Hisana and gracefully escorted her up the steps and into the grand entrance.

Turning to grin playfully at Orihime, Rukia gave a small curtsey and extended her elbow asking in as deep a voice as she could manage, "My lady, would you do me the honor?"

Trying in vain to suppress her giggles, Orihime answered in a high squeak, "Why of course, my good sir."

Looking up at her husband, Hisana saw a mixture of emotions that both warmed her heart and made her want to embrace him. They had talked before about how Rukia and Orihime were no longer little girls, but it was moments like these when they would say or do something to bring forth memories of when they were young and innocent. Byakuya was starting to get used to the idea of having to let them go someday, but Hisana knew that part of him wished that day would never come. And right now, she couldn't blame him for feeling that way.

Such emotions were banished when Isshin's jovial voice called, "Welcome, welcome! Ah, dressed up as…ah, dressed as whom, I wonder?"

Next to Isshin were Shunsui, who was dressed as a matador, and Ukitake, whose costume was that of a Roman Catholic cardinal, and Shunsui said in a mock surprised voice, "Why Mr. Kurosaki, you don't know? By the look of that quiver of arrows and the ornate box, I would say that we are standing in the presence of none other than Eros and his lovely wife Psyche."

Making a slight bow, Ukitake added kindly, "And if I'm not mistaken, they have also brought their daughter, Hedone, along with them."

"True, true," Isshin said as he bowed formally to the trio before looking up and asking, "However, who is this young lady supposed to be?"

Giving a small curtsey, Orihime repeated, "Supposed to be."

Taking a small step back, Isshin said slowly, "I'm not sure."

Once again, Orihime repeated, "Not sure."

With a chuckle, Ukitake enlightened Isshin by saying, "She's supposed to be the nymph Echo."

"Ah!" exclaimed Isshin, "I see! Well, I'm delighted to see you."

"Delighted to see you," Orihime echoed.

Clapping his hands together once, Isshin said cheerfully, "Charming, absolutely charming. Well, I'm sure I shouldn't detain you here any longer. If you go on through, you'll see that the stage has been set up as a dance floor and refreshments are located around the auditorium."

Giving Orihime a wink, Isshin said in a loud whisper, "At the moment, I have no idea where that son of mine has got to, but I'm sure he's around here somewhere."

Glad to have a veil hiding her face, Orihime dipped her head in acknowledgement and repeated, "Around here somewhere."

For his part, Ichigo played the part of Hamlet quite well in that he stood off to the side and simply observed the festivities with his usual taciturn attitude. Even though he was polite with anyone who tried to talk to him and he had become more comfortable around the opera house crowd, in this setting, most people tended to gravitate towards their closer friends, which was just fine with Ichigo. He'd rather observe the 'goings on' around him for the time being anyway.

Ichigo was just about to take a sip of punch when he saw something, or more specifically someone, and completely forgot about everything else. While the sight of Byakuya dressed in a knee-length golden toga and carrying a bow plus a quiver full of arrows was certainly something one didn't see every day (and Ichigo had to admit that the man managed to make such a ludicrous costume look elegant and manly) and his wife walked beside him dressed in a flowing blue and silver toga carrying an ornate box with a pair of black and silver wings gently flapping with her every step, they weren't the ones who caught Ichigo's eye. Also, while Ichigo did briefly notice Rukia standing just behind Byakuya and Hisana wearing a stunning golden and violet toga and wearing a garland of flowers around her head and then wrapped around her shoulders like shawl, it was the completely veiled figure walking next to Rukia which caught Ichigo's eye.

Making his way over to where the Kuchiki family stood, Ichigo allowed his eyes to take in the sight of Orihime's costume. At first glance, the toga looked like a plain cream color, but when one got closer a shimmer of gold thread used throughout the material gave it a kind of glow. While Ichigo could clearly see Orihime's eyes, the lower half of her face and her hair were covered by a golden colored veil. A simple golden coronet sat just above her hairline and underneath the veil, Ichigo could just make out that Orihime's hair was decorated with strings of pearls and blue flowers. On her back, a pair of cream colored, downy wings set off the outfit perfectly as they too were decorated with golden thread and strands of pearls.

Remembering the proper protocol just in time, Ichigo bowed formally and greeted Byakuya and Hisana first and said, "A pleasure to see your family here tonight. Compliments of the season to you all."

While Hisana returned Ichigo's greeting right away, Byakuya stood looking down at him for an extra moment or two before he replied slowly, "And season's greetings to you as well."

Before Ichigo could say another word, the group was suddenly set upon by Chad, Renji, Uryu, Rangiku and Gin. For the three friends, Ichigo deduced that they were supposed to be The Three Musketeers with Uryu taking on the role of fancy dressing Porthos, Chad assuming the part of the reserved and religious Aramis and finally Renji playing the hard-to-read Athos. In the case of Rangiku and Gin, their costumes were a little harder to place since Rangiku was dressed in a fancy ball gown with jewels and Gin was also dressed up in a nice suit, so it almost seemed to Ichigo as if they were not coming to a masquerade but both had fancy masks covering their faces to keep with the party's theme.

"Ah! Everyone gathered at last!" exclaimed Rangiku as she settled herself in the midst of the group, "Now the party can really get started!"

The next thing he knew, Rangiku had whirled upon him and clutched at him elbow saying dramatically, "However, I've just been dying for a dance, so you'll be the one to take me."

Completely taken aback by the absurdity of Rangiku's statement, Ichigo had no control over his limbs as the woman all but dragged him towards the dance floor. By the time his brain had started working again, he found himself facing his first dance partner of the evening with the music about to start. With a knot in his stomach, Ichigo realized that he couldn't back out now without looking like an idiot and a cad, so he ground his teeth and waited for the orchestra to begin.

As the music began, Ichigo thought to himself, "Of course it would be a waltz," but before he could sink any deeper into his own thoughts, Rangiku spoke up in a more serious tone that completely took him by surprise.

"While I don't have any logical, legal or any other sort of right to ask you this, I'm going to anyway for the sake of a dear young woman I care about. What is your problem?"

"I…what?" was all Ichigo was able to manage before Rangiku cut in saying, "What I mean is that for the past few months you've done nothing but tip-toe around and toy with Orihime's emotions and I want to know why."

Giving Ichigo a hard look, Rangiku asked, "Do you intend to come to an understanding with Orihime's family or not? Whether you do or don't, you'd better tell Orihime in no uncertain terms tonight or else I'll…I'll…I don't know what I'll do, but you'll certainly be sorry."

Having only enough concentration focused on where they were dancing in order to make sure that they didn't run into any other couples, Ichigo's mind caught on to the situation and he replied, "You're right when you said that technically you have no ability to ask me these things and to be perfectly honest, I don't know how to answer you at the moment."

When Rangiku's blue eyes began to turn decidedly frosty, Ichigo continued rather hastily, "However, in answer to your earlier statement about me trifling with Orihime's emotions, to my mind, nothing could be further from the truth. That never has been my intention and all the time I've spent with her has legitimately been to get to know her better before I proceed to the next step."

Looking up briefly and seeing Orihime dancing together with Chad, Ichigo said simply, "Any hesitation or uncertainty you have seen from me is simply because I distrust myself when it comes to her. She is so…her and I'm so…well, me."

Almost to himself, Ichigo mumbled, "Am I really good enough for her?"

As the music ended and Rangiku curtsied to Ichigo and began to applaud the orchestra, she said, "Orihime would say you are, so I guess that's good enough for me."

Gently taking Ichigo's elbow and allowing him to escort her from the dance floor, Rangiku made one final comment, "Just remember that 'Faint heart never won fair lady'," then she turned to Gin and cried joyfully, "Gin, dance with me next," and in the same manner as before, Rangiku whisked her chosen dance partner away.

Grinning at the retreating pair, Ichigo then noticed Chad escorting Orihime in his direction and he was about to step forward when Uryu suddenly appeared in front of the pair and claimed Orihime for the next dance. Orihime's eyes connected with Ichigo's for a brief moment and Ichigo felt a little better when he saw what seemed like an expression of disappointment in those beautiful gray eyes. Then he thought he saw a look of smug satisfaction on Uryu's face and just as he was about to charge onto the dance floor after them, Ichigo felt a small hand pull him forcefully back.

Looking down, Ichigo's eyes connected with the half irritated, half amused violet eyes of Rukia as she said simply, "Uryu's just doing that to get under your skin. He's good at finding the weak points of others and using them to his advantage."

Noticing a tall red head approaching, Ichigo smirked down at Rukia and replied, "Well, two can play at that game," and now it was Ichigo's turn to propel an unsuspecting partner onto the dance floor.

"Well," said Rukia just as the orchestra began playing a lively polka, "this ball could certainly become interesting quickly since obviously the hosts have decided to negate the use of a dance card. It's anyone's guess who will dance with whom next."

Thinking for a moment, Ichigo responded, "I guess that's true. Makes room for more spontaneity," with a wry grin, he continued, "And that's probably exactly what my father and Shunsui wanted. Those two are a right pair of old goats."

Noticing another couple a little to their right, Ichigo asked, "Out of curiosity, do you have any idea who they," he nodded his head in the direction of Gin and Rangiku, "are supposed to be?"

Turning her attention to the couple in question, Rukia looked thoughtful for a moment before she replied, "I think I remember Rangiku mentioning something about Dickens's novel Great Expectations, but I'm not sure."

"Oh, I see now," said Ichigo, "They must be Estella and Pip then," with a smirk, Ichigo quipped, "I wonder which ending their story will have."

As Ichigo twirled Rukia around, he saw her give him a kind of confused look for a moment before understanding flooded her expression and she returned Ichigo's teasing grin. While this wasn't their first conversation, Ichigo found himself feeling more at ease around Rukia whereas before most of his attention had been focused on Orihime. Recalling Rangiku's words, Ichigo realized that if he did want to take his relationship with Orihime to the next stage, then he would have to receive her family's approval first.

Seeming to understand where his thoughts were going, Rukia stated matter-of-factly, "Christmas is coming up and I'm planning on going shopping within the week. I usually go with Hisana and Orihime, but if you were considering buying something for Orihime, I might have some ideas to share with you."

Impulsively, Ichigo asked, "What makes you think I was going to get Orihime something?"

Rolling her eyes, Rukia said in an exasperated tone, "Because you need to quit dragging your feet already," with a sly grin, Rukia added, "That and I'm fairly positive Orihime is considering getting you something special."

"Oh," Ichigo said dumbly, "Oh, I see."

As the song finished, Rukia patted Ichigo's arm and said in a mock sympathetic tone, "Oh, don't worry too much about it. Trust me and I'll help you get the most exquisite gift for Orihime that she's ever gotten."

Quirking an eyebrow at the much shorter woman, Ichigo said warily, "You mean you'll make me pay through the nose for whatever I'm going to get her."

"Well," Rukia replied in as innocent a tone as she could muster, "years from now, you don't want your wife reminding you of the first gift you ever got her and how it was so cheap."

"First of all," Ichigo countered, "Orihime would never do that. And second of all…you'd be ok with…you know…"

Looking up at Ichigo, Rukia replied, "I wouldn't say something if I wasn't sure. And I wouldn't offer to help you if I didn't think you would make her happy or love her like she deserves."

Unable to come up with anything to say as he lead Orihime back to where Byakuya and Hisana were sitting against the wall, Ichigo allowed himself to consider the pros and cons of taking the next step with Orihime. It took him less than two seconds.

All of a sudden, Ichigo saw Renji stalk past him and Rukia. Completely surprised that Renji hadn't come forward to claim Rukia for the next dance, Ichigo turned and saw Renji exact his revenge. Before Orihime had even stepped off the dance floor, Renji had spun her around and led her back onto it. As he walked away, Renji turned to give Ichigo a triumphant smirk.

"Touché," grumbled Ichigo to no one in particular. Now he would have to wait even longer before he could finally dance with the young woman he had actually wanted to dance with from the beginning. Well, at least his last two partners had not been trying to force themselves on him, like he had experienced before at other parties.

Next thing he knew, Ichigo felt a small hand take his arm and he turned to see Hisana standing next to him. Inclining his head in understanding, Ichigo led Hisana onto the dance floor.

This time, Ichigo was the one to open conversation as he asked Hisana, "May I ask you something?"

"But of course," Hisana replied kindly.

Collecting his thoughts for a few moments, Ichigo asked, "If I were to…if I wanted to…how would I…"

Showing pity, Hisana answered, "If I'm not mistaken, you're asking about how to approach Byakuya and I so that you may court Orihime. Correct?"

Giving her a half sheepish, half grateful grin, Ichigo replied, "Well, yes."

"I'd say that you probably want to talk with your father first. Then he and Byakuya would have a talk, after which you and Byakuya would probably have a discussion and lastly we'd ask Orihime what she would like."

Hisana smiled broadly as she finished, "And if by the end everyone has come to an agreement, then we can all start making plans for…whatever might come next."

For the rest of the dance, Hisana and Ichigo didn't speak, but it was an amicable silence. For her part, Hisana was allowing Ichigo to think about how to proceed and to (hopefully) build up the courage to talk with both Byakuya and his father sometime in the next few days, if not tonight.

When the dance finally did end, Hisana leaned in to say softly, "Just remember that if either my husband or your father did not approve of the match, then they would have done something long before now. Any marriage has its own share of difficulties, but together, a man and wife can face them head on."

Unexpectedly, Hisana let go of Ichigo's arm to halt another couple's progress and the next thing Ichigo knew, Orihime's small hand had been tucked into the crook of his elbow. Now this night was starting to become much more enjoyable. Maybe he'd just propose tonight and…no, that was no good. For something this important, he needed to proceed with decorum. Orihime deserved that much. Enough time for spontaneity later.