Coffee
Humid Karakura days.
Ichigo saw coffee steam come out of the streets from the sidewalk, and little jets of sweat fly off hands wiping foreheads.
He tried to imagine drinking coffee in weather like this. It was impossible; all he could feel on his tongue was asphalt.
He wished it was cold, the Karakura snow days. He wore big jackets with fur around the neck, and black gloves. The warm heartbeat of a coffee cup on his hands was unmatched.
And again, rather oddly, his teeth never felt cleaner.
But it wasn't winter in Karakura. It was summer, and asphalt coffee streams were the closest he'd get to his dream.
For today, he was booked to write a paper at a nearby café. Literature major days. The walk there was usually a short one, but today, the muscles underneath his shirt were burning up. Walking itself didn't feel too uncomfortable, though the bottom of his feet reminded him of his mother's simmering stove top meals. Simply being outside was a pain.
Imagining snow and hot coffee in that kind of humidity made breathing a little short.
People told Ichigo that he was always brooding, and that sometimes in public he moved like a marble statue if he was thinking too much. He ran into a man who seemed a lot bigger than he actually was. His body was like cold surface of a cave, and he was rather skinny. He wasn't sweating at all.
He also had a very odd set of tubes that separated parts of his hair into neat joints.
He wasn't wide, nor particularly muscular, but his eyes screamed commands out. He didn't look into you, or through you; he looked beyond you.
Ichigo hadn't realized that his laptop was a cracked open egg, cooking on the ground until the man was gone. He wondered if it was running into him, or seeing those eyes.
Either way, the paper was out of the question now, and he was on his way back home.
He could have called another friend, Inoue or Sado, and worked at their apartments. Sado's apartment probably would have been hotter than it was outside, but it would have been quiet. And afterwards, they could have gone out for some drinks to end the day. Inoue's apartment was probably a lot like frozen ice cream, with red and green sprinkle wallpaper to make her summer feel like Christmas. They could watch a movie on her over sized TV.
But Ichigo found himself down the stairs and out the door.
The sun hadn't faded at all, and he'd worn a sweater out. It didn't really make sense, especially the people who walked by giving him looks.
But all he could think about was the ice box outside the café, with chocolate ice cream bars and sweets that his mom bought him when he was a kid. He didn't have much of a sweet tooth anymore, but he enjoyed the cold air that stayed in the box no matter how long it was left open.
If he chose to forget for a few minutes that the box was powered by circuitry, he could cool his hands off in another world, where "cold," never seemed to end. He could feel the pinch before gathering snow for a snowball on his sweaty hands.
It wasn't the winter coffee he wanted, and maybe it wasn't even as good as the air conditioner and ironic winter decorations at Inoue's or the cold beer at Sado's, but he felt like getting his hands cold.
He wasn't tugged at by the webs of the universe to some great cause; he just wanted to go to that box.
When he got close to the café, he padded the red skin on his neck with both hands. Better to lather them up; it felt colder that way.
He expected some kids to be peering into the box, eyeing the favorite treats they couldn't afford. He'd planned to pay for those kids, and then open up the portal for himself.
Instead, he found a short woman, so short she felt like half his size, straight out of an ice storm horror. She had on a white jacket one size too big, long black boots that caught up to her knees, and a yellow scarf. On her hands she had leather gloves that shined like expensive car seats, and on her head was a black, knit beanie. Her hair wasn't very long, but it wasn't quite short either. It was a saturated black.
He got about halfway to the box, which she looked into with real purpose, before he'd decided that he'd be better off just waiting inside.
"Hey, are you buying an ice cream? I don't mean to get in your way."
"No, actually, I guess I'm not here to buy one at all. I just like how cold the box is."
That was a weird thing to admit to someone he didn't know.
"So you think it's hot outside too, huh? It seems like I'm the only one who thinks it's too cold."
"You mean you're not dying under that jacket?"
"Well why would I be stupid enough to wear this if it made me sweat? Hmm? I'm freezing."
"Yea, I guess you're right. Anyway, I'll just be here a few minutes, I won't bother you."
The air inside the box was just as cold as always, and Ichigo's finger tips started to go numb. He hadn't been seeking a respite from the sun, not at all, but he felt relieved that the box was the same as it always was. It made him feel the same.
He was happy, too, that the woman behind him hadn't stood in his way. Now, it was like she wasn't there at all.
"Now I've never seen anybody do that. You're not going to buy anything, really?"
He could feel the sleeve of her jacket up against his arm now, while she examined his hands, and their relationship with the box. She was really cold.
"No, I just like the cold air inside the box."
"So you stand here with the box open for a while and don't buy anything? Isn't that stealing?"
Embarrassing.
"I guess you're right. I'll buy some of this after I'm done."
He'd never bought himself the sweets.
"So, if you're so cold in a place like this, you must be from some place way up north, right?"
"No, I live on the other side of town. I'm actually supposed to be meeting my brother for coffee today, but he hasn't shown up."
He was looking for sweets his sisters would like the most. His dad, too.
"Well how long has it been since the agreed meeting time?"
"A few hours, I guess. You know I was gonna come early this morning, but I…"
"You what?"
"I went to the wrong café, ha. I waited at the wrong one for five hours! I thought I got lucky when I noticed in time to get here, but, I guess not."
The woman in front of him was laughing, but Ichigo remembered the time his mother asked him to clean up his room before his family came over. He put it off for two days, and on the third day, when he was riding his bike home, he remembered.
When he got in the door, his mom had given him a big hug and kissed him on the head before going back to conversation, and he thought she hadn't noticed yet. He remembered running to his room, and opening the door. Everything was clean, spotless in fact.
He didn't leave his room until the next morning.
"He probably had a good reason for not coming."
"Of course he did! He's not some weirdo who sticks his hands in ice boxes all day! He's a detective for the police!"
She gave him a hard elbow, but she smiled. Her eyes looked like they were watching far beyond the stars, straight into the black behind the sky.
"Oh, a big shot huh? Well, what's his name?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?"
"Mmm, you know what, not really. I was just making conversation."
Another elbow, though it was far less bony elbow and more padded jacket this time. He could feel her side pressed against the sweater that was stuck to his muscles thanks to the humidity.
"I'd like to know your name, though. If you-"
"Kuchiki Rukia. That's my name."
She put her hands in, a few inches away from his. She'd taken her gloves off, and he could see how pale they were. She stretched out her fingers as far as they would go, and they shook a little. Her knuckles were red. She put her face to her hands in the box and blew.
Her breath looked like coffee steam frozen in the air. Her nose was red like an apple too.
"You seem like you've done this before; does it help pass time?"
"How much time do you need to pass?"
"How long is this place open?"
She wouldn't look at him after she said this. She didn't move, either.
"It's warmer in this box than out here. Thanks for showing me. My hands feel better."
"Kurosaki Ichigo, that's my name."
He waited for her to look up.
"That's a dumb name. Not as cool as my mine, not even close I'm afraid."
He picked out the ice cream for his family, and removed his hands from the box. They felt warm.
"I guess I'm off then. I hope I'll see you around Kuchiki Rukia."
"Yea, me too, Kurosaki Ichigo."
He turned around to go buy his sweets and go home.
"Hey, I'm sorry to ask you this, but, if you see a really tall guy with kenseikan in his hair, would you tell him his sister is waiting for him?"
When he looked back, she was smiling. He stared for a while. He didn't feel sorry for her in the slightest.
"Yea, sorry, I know it's rude of me, so don't worry –"
"You're pretty selfish, you know. I can't let you spend all day with your hands in there for free."
"Hey! I'm going to pay him!"
"I'll wait with you until it closes. Lucky for you, I finished my lit. paper earlier today, so I'm free."
"Do I get paid to babysit you?"
"Yea, anything you want, honorable Kuchiki."
"I'd like a cup of coffee."