A Restless Night : Part One
"Stop in the name of the law!" Ichigo shouted as he aimed his pistol at the bank robber. The man, who was wearing a black mask, decided to answer by firing his own gun in Ichigo's general direction.
"Shit!" The strawberry headed police sergeant exclaimed as he ducked behind the relative cover of the nearby pillar. "Why the hell are you shooting that dam thing at me for? Someone could get hurt dam it!"
A few more shots were fired in Ichigo's general direction as the masked robber shouted." That's the idea!"
"Look I don't care how much money in that bag!" Ichigo shouted. "If you kill anyone with that gun, you pretty much dammed your soul to hell and if that doesn't bother you there is also no way us cops would ever stop hunting you down if you killed one of us your dam idiot!"
"I'm not an idiot copper!" The robber yelled as he fired a few more rounds in Ichigo direction. Ichigo smiled to himself as the rounds bounced off the concrete behind him, the idiot was now going to have to reload, which of course took a fair few seconds and required some concentration.
"You're under arrest punk!" Tatsuki shouted. Ichigo managed to pop himself around the pillar in time to see the effect of well aimed roundhouse kick on the mans hand, sending the gun flying, and had a great view of the follow up of the fist that landed under the robbers chin.
She had already cuffed him by the time he got over to the two of them; Tatsuki didn't mess around when it came to getting dangerous criminals under control.
"Thanks for the distraction Office Strawberry." Tatsuki said with a playful smile and nod. "The idiots of this world just can't seem to ignore that hair of yours."
Ichigo smirked back at her.
"So you're finally admitting you're an idiot then?" Ichigo said as he leaned in closer to Tatsuki.
"Well I live in the same apartment as you, work with you everyday and now and again I even…" Tatsuki said cheerfully before pausing briefly to frown and stamp her foot on the robbers hand as he tried to slowly crawl away. "… Share your bed. So I must be a complete utter idiot."
Ichigo placed his hand under her chin.
"And you're the idiot who was always there" Ichigo spoke softly. "I'm never going to forget that."
Rukia woke from her daze in the Kuchiki Estate, sweating and ill at ease. It been only a week since she had said goodbye to Ichigo, a week since she left his life forever, and the guilt was already setting in.
She put on her Shinigami uniform and left her room, it was way past midnight and by all rights she should have been trying to get back asleep, but Rukia had already spent far too many nights restless in her bed and only falling truly asleep after the light of day had lit her room. So tonight she was going to try and get some air and see if that helped. It was long shot, but Rukia was growing sick of being stuck with her own thoughts and four walls and right now anything seemed better than that.
It was a cold night. Admittedly Rukia had known far colder, but it was still far from, warm. So she decided to make her way across the rooftops to the Thirteenth Division's training area to quieten her thoughts with a bit of training. It was some distance away from the Kuchiki Estate, but Rukia hardly considered that a problem since she was far from in a rush.
Rukia bounced along the rooftops, but her mind was still far from quiet. Thoughts of Ichigo filled her mind, thoughts of Ichigo kissing Tatsuki, holding Tatsuki, marrying Tatsuki and having several small and adorable children that Ichigo would never abandoned, because Ichigo wasn't the sort of guy who would do such a horrible thing.
Rukia was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't notice that she was being followed.
"Well this is pleasant surprise!" Shunsui shouted cheerfully as he started to jump alongside Rukia. "I happen to be travelling about at night and who do I run into but one of the beautiful women in the Soul Society".
Rukia promptly tripped.
Now several things were going mind as she fell towards the ground. One, it had been a very long time since she had last tripped. Her balance was great, as was her coordination, heck her Zanpakutō's attacks were called dances for crying out loud. Two, hardly anyone ever called her beautiful. Everyone said her Zanpakutō was beautiful, but the complements were always directed towards her blade, not her. And three Rukia was very certain that Shunsui was way too old for her.
She didn't hit the floor.
"Now now Rukia-chan." Shunsui spoke into Rukia's ear as he grabbed her around her chest and stopped her fall.
"Much as you would like to fall for me Rukia-chan, we can't have you literally falling for me, because if you did that Jūshirō-kun would be so mad at me for letting one of his Division hurt themselves on my watch…. And well he's my best drinking buddy."
Rukia quickly wriggled her way out of the Captain arms as she solidified the soul particles under her feet and felt the warmth of embarrassment enter her cheeks.
"Can't a girl get any privacy at this hour?" Rukia shouted loudly in attempt to hide her embarrassment.
"Not with that kind of Reiatsu Rukia-chan." Shunsui said as he stood there in the air in front of her. "It all twisted and messy and feels like it needs a good wash in high quality shampoo."
"Are you comparing Reiatsu to hair?" Rukia asked sharply.
"You mean you don't Rukia-chan?" Shunsui said quizzing. "I mean its weaves about in strands, it's rather complicated and sometimes you really appreciate a good simple wash."
"So how would I dye my Reiatsu then if it's so like hair?" Rukia asked with smirk. There was no way he could continue the allegory with that.
Shunsui smiled.
"Follow me Rukia-chan and I'll show you exactly how you dye your Reiatsu!" Shunsui shouted as he flashed stepped to the top of a building. "Assuming of course you're willing to face the truth of the different hues?"
Rukia raised her left heel slightly with some caution; her captain often warned her of Shunsui's enigmatic nature and tendency to dress things up as games…
"You do want to know don't you Rukia-chan?" Shunsui asked as he looked to her, his face somewhat worried.
"Of course!" Rukia said more confidence than she was feeling before following the captain.