Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, any related franchise or the characters
It was a hot day in Karakura Town. Really hot. The kind of hot when even camels and desert scorpions take one look at the glaring sun and say 'I (heart) shadows'. Kuchiki Rukia was definitely no camel (although a certain Abarai would be happy to list her similarities to the dangerous scorpions) and her zanpaktou was an Ice Type, which made the heat even more intolerable for her. She Shunpo-ed over to the nearest ice cream stall and stood under a tree, watching the hoards of people being driven into the store by their children and the oppressive heat.
Rukia scowled. Bloody gigai had felt so cloyingly hot that she'd left it behind in Ichigo's room. Now, enviously watching a kid smear a massive glob of chocolate ice cream on his face, some of which actually trickled down into his mouth, she wondered if she had been too hasty.
Another little boy walked past her, licking his strawberry ice cream off a waffle cone.
Everyone has their limits and Rukia had reached hers. She ran to Ichigo's house, lightly jumping over the trees and buildings in her way and finally leaping into his bedroom through the open window. It was deserted, the bed neatly made for once and the walls covered with pictures of……….Chappy the Rabbit?
Kurosaki Ichigo had gone on (read: been dragged off by his father on) a family vacation (read: torture) He was currently sitting on a beach down south, sipping a disgustingly fruity drink that the hotel staff referred to as 'Welcome Drink' and scowling at any male who got too close to Karin or Yuzu. His father had mercifully decided to leave them alone for the day and gone to visit a friend who apparently lived in a town a couple of miles away.
Rukia opened the closet door to find her gigai slumped on the cushions inside. She'd hidden it anyway just in case some nosy neighbors decided to check on the open window. She entered it, wincing a little. After years of using the same gigai, she still wasn't used to the strange sensation that accompanied entering it and the feeling of suddenly being weighed down.
She climbed out of the window carefully so as not to damage her gigai and took a cab to the ice cream parlor.
"You fare, Miss" grunted the driver, jerking a thumb in the meter's direction. He was evidently a man of few words and fewer manners.
Rukia turned her bag over in her quest for some change but found none. Her purse was missing. Cursing, she asked the driver to take her back. The driver grunted again (really, was the man a Neanderthal?) and took a sharp U-Turn, nearly throwing Rukia off her seat. She got back up, a little green. The sight of a cab's floor is never exactly pleasant and this one was positively puke inducing.
"Here" grunted the Neanderthal / Driver.
"Wait a moment please, I'll be right back" assured Rukia, running up to the house. She went around the back and climbed up the pipe to the window for the fourth time that day.
"Money, money" she muttered, rummaging through Ichigo's desk. It was the only place in the house that Ichigo had warned her not to touch so naturally it was the first place she looked. What could an ordinary teenage boy be hiding except some extra cash? Right?
Rukia's logic would have worked perfectly if Ichigo had been an ordinary teenage boy. Fortunately, he wasn't. So when she pulled the second last drawer open she found a bright red book inside……
…….A book called Kurosaki Ichigo's Diary.
I'd like to recommend a Kyou Kara Maou fanfiction called The Diary to everyone! It inspired me to write this story although my story is in no way a copy/imitation of it.
Please review!