Title: Origami Roses
A/N: Yay yay! It was my birthday yesterday and I got this really cute little chibi thingy from my friends. And guess what? It vibrates! Like 'tzzzzzzz...'. Or-gas-mic. And a cute Chip (the chipmunk) soft toy!
Anyway, I decided to complete this and get it up today! Erm, cute little IchiRuki thing that I thought up as I am currently obsessed with origami. Hope it's fluffy enough for you guys! I'm not good with this... D: Plus, this is my first ever Bleach fic. But enjoy anyway! Please R & R! Thx!
Origami Roses
"Ichigo?!"
"I'm in here!" the shinigami substitute called back from his room. He heard Rukia's light footsteps pad through the doorway.
She walked right up to his desk and he saw her slight shadow splay across his math homework. Then, she simply stood there mutely.
For a while, there was silence in the room. This was only possible because Kon was currently having a tea party with Yuzu and was once again dressed up in a frilly charming little dress while being made to listen to pointless one-sided conversation between a little girl and her inanimate stuffed toys.
"Uh... Ichigo?" Rukia said again, this time with a hint of stammer. Ichigo cocked an eyebrow. Okay, Rukia does NOT stammer. Something was wrong. He looked up to address her.
"What's wrong, Ru-"
He stopped short.
Thrust right under his nose, nestled in the palm of Rukia's tiny cupped hands was a small paper rose, made out of red origami paper. It was a sweet little thing, albeit slightly lopsided at a couple of petals.
"H-Here..." she mumbled, barely audible. She refused to meet his eyes and pushed the rose nearer towards him though he was already near centimeters from swallowing it.
She looked up when he didn't take it. Ichigo noticed her cheeks were stained a delightful shade of red, almost as scarlet as the rose itself.
"What's this for?" Ichigo said, his brow traveling further up his forehead as he tapped his pencil repeatedly on the desk. He tried to keep a skeptical look but in reality, the corner of his mouth was already twitching upwards.
Rukia was too embarrassed to notice this but she decided that she didn't like the tone he was using. Her eyes flashed as her meek demeanor vanished and she scowled.
"Whaddaya mean 'what's this for?', dumbass! I know you think it's stupid but I did it for you, okay? So just take it already!"
She threw the rose onto the question about linear functions he'd just been working on before she came in. Then, she angrily made to stomp out of the room, the volume of her footsteps belying her size.
Before she got to the doorframe however, a pair of strong arms caught her around her waist and held her still. She gasped from surprise and was about to shout at Ichigo when he whispered into her ear.
"Hey, how can I think something my girlfriend did for me is stupid?"
Try as she might to resist it, the sheer proximity of his warm breath and body sent shivers down her whole frame.
"Then, why didn't you take it right away?" She said, trying and failing to keep up her angry façade.
Ichigo, of course, saw right through it. But instead of calling her out, he decided to just let her cave in herself.
Smirking, he started by kissing the shell of Rukia's ear. She squirmed in his grip.
"I-Ichigo! What the hell are you doing? You- aahh..." She squirmed again, which just made Ichigo hold on tighter. He laughed quietly as he heard her make the cute soft sound in her throat. It was his favourite; sort of like between a gasp and a moan.
Nobody but Ichigo knew how sensitive Rukia actually was, especially to his touch. And he was taking full advantage of it at the moment. He let his kisses carry down her jaw, nipping softly once.
No way in hell was Ichigo going to get away with humiliating her that easily! He knew how much nerve she had to gather to give him that imperfect self-folded paper rose to him and he had purposely kept her in suspense like that! He was getting the cold shoulder for at least-
"Unh..."
Did he just nip her earlobe?
No no, stop! She was going to be firm! She wasn't going to cave!
"Stop it, Ichigo!" Rukia tried to pry his arms of to no avail. "I'm not kidding!" Her attempts got weaker as he neared her mouth. "I'll kill you if you- eep!"
Ichigo had gotten to the -extremely- sensitive spot on her neck, just below her chin. She squirmed even harder but it wasn't to get away anymore. He flipped her around, his arms still around her waist and proceeded to kiss her full on the mouth.
She tried to resist, she really did, but she soon found herself kissing back. She felt like hitting Ichigo as she felt him smirk against her lips but decided that the taste of his mouth was too good to give up at the moment.
She'd just let him win this time.
--
"So... what's this for again?" Ichigo said as he fingered the rose on the desk. Rukia, who was sitting on his lap, slapped his fingers aside before he ruined the fragile flower.
"Baka, don't do that! It'll crumple. And besides, I already told you." The blush was coming back again, Ichigo grinned inwardly. "It's to celebrate our one month anniversary. Don't tell me you forgot!"
"Of course not!" Ichigo quickly replied. "I already got reservations at that stupid ice-cream shop you like so much." He said.
'And it's going to burn a hole in my pocket, that's for sure. Come on, reservations for ice-cream?!' He thought as he watched Rukia's lips grace into a smile. He smiled back at her.
'But I guess it's worth it.'
"Where did you get this idea anyway?" Ichigo said, indicating the paper rose. "It's so not like you."
"Stop saying that! I can do girly things as well as any other girl, you know!"
"Pft, yeah right."
THWACK!
"Okay okay, I'll shut up!"
"Good! Anyway, I... got this idea from a shoujo manga I was reading and I asked Inoue-san to teach me. It seemed really sweet so I thought, well... you know..." She trailed off, her blush more prominent than ever.
"And well, it's supposed to be like... I mean, it's supposed to mean that I'll love you forever, till this rose perishes. And well, paper roses can't die, so..."
Ichigo kissed her delicate nose, a small blush appearing on his own cheeks. "Yeah, I get it. Thanks for the flower. And right back at you with the 'love you forever' thing."
He helped her out of his lap and took her small hand in his much larger one. It was soft for someone who wielded a sword so often. His felt rough against it and he had only been in this shinigami business for a year or so.
"Come on, let's go get that ice-cream."
--
"What are you talking about?!" Ichigo roared, ignorant of the tears streaming down his face.
Renji just looked at him sadly, tears stains of his own gleaming on his cheeks. He felt devastated, but Ichigo probably felt ten times worse.
"What do you mean she's dead?!"
"Th-The hollow got to her to fast and she wasn't armed. Ukitake-taichou couldn't save her in time." Renji said quietly. It was rare to see the fukutaichou like that and it showed just how much he was affected by this tragedy as well.
"NO! She's Rukia! She doesn't give up so easily! You're lying, you bastard!" Ichigo shouted so loud, he felt as if his throat had torn apart.
"Look, I wish I were too! But screaming isn't going to get her back!" Renji said.
"Stop it! She's not dead!"
"Unohana-"
"Shut up! Shut up!"
Ichigo ran blindly at Renji, fist raised, his mind wiped blank of all coherent thoughts except to punch Renji over and over again. Punch him so hard that he'd just shut up and stop saying horrible things about Rukia, because she wasn't dead and she was still alive.
In the local hospital, in Rukogai, uninjured, wounded.
Anything. Except dead.
She had already died once; she shouldn't have to suffer again. She was so kind and so cute in her own special way. Fate would not be as cruel to tear her away from him. She was happy with him. She needed him.
"Rukia is not dead!"
Renji hadn't even moved. Ichigo clenched his fist even harder and relished the nails biting into his palm as he charged at him.
"Accept it Kurosaki Ichigo. Rukia is dead."
Byakuya suddenly stepped in front of his stunned lieutenant and nothing save the surprise of hearing Rukia's name spoken so endearingly by the Kuchiki head froze Ichigo on the spot.
He was panting and his tears hadn't stopped. He looked like someone whom Atlas had just decided to dump the sky onto his shoulder without warning, so deadened yet so crazed was the look in his eyes.
Byakuya regarded him stoically, though he himself was lamenting over his dead sister-in-law inside. He turned to Renji.
"Come, we should take leave." He said before turning to address the orange-haired teenager. "I trust we will see you at the funeral?"
Ichigo merely stared at him uncomprehending. There couldn't be a funeral because Rukia wasn't dead.
Byakuya inclined his head, understanding his pain somewhat as he had also gone through the same thing when Hisana had passed away.
Then, the two disappeared into the twilight.
Ichigo dropped to his knees and pounded the hard concrete sidewalk. Again and again his fist met the unyielding ground and fresh crimson blood appeared on his scraped knuckles.
Tears dripped down his chin and splashed onto the unforgiving ground, unable to seep into the ground. They would stay there, but only till they evaporated in a few minutes.
The tears on his cheeks, in his eyes, would dry soon too.
But the tears in his heart would take a much longer time.
'Rukia...'
He just couldn't believe it.
--
He hadn't slept in days.
The next three days was spent wandering around aimlessly, feeling numb to everything save his pain and yearning to see Rukia again.
But he couldn't, the fourth division had strict orders to release her body to only to Kuchiki clan for the funeral.
--
'Was it for selfish reasons?' He thought as he looked down at her petite little face.
She laid in a grand coffin, entirely too large for her small body. The two stab wounds through her chest caused by the hollow's long claws had been covered up by her lovely white dress.
It looked so pristine on her that Ichigo had to look away from her before he broke down again.
"I love you, Rukia." He whispered into her unhearing ears.
His heart was quietly accepting it at last. Rukia was no longer alive; she was dead.
Maybe, he was the one that needed her. Maybe she was happy where she was now, wherever souls from the Soul Society go to after they died. Perhaps she didn't need him anymore.
Now that she was gone, the paper rose became a void.
Ichigo clenched the hand in his pants pocket into a fist. He wasn't sure what to do. There was a weird foreboding in his mind that was telling him to stay away from home. But he didn't want to linger here and see Rukia with her so-still face and her once vivid violet eyes closed.
He looked up as the sky darkened and raindrops started to fall.
He had no tears to mix with the rain that day, but his heart was still weeping.
--
He was silent even as he walked into his room and noticed at once what was wrong. Now he knew why he had felt dread in returning home.
He slowly walked over to the bookshelf and knelt down. He gently picked up his red origami rose. The one that Rukia had given him just last week.
It had been crushed completely flat.
He looked at the shelf and noticed that it had been clumsily dusted. The corners still had triangular shapes of thick dust, like someone had just carelessly swiped across the surface of the shelf. It was definitely not Yuzu's not Karin's work.
Feeling like his father had something to do with it, Ichigo put the crushed paper rose back onto its original position on his shelf, next to some thick books he hadn't touched for ages.
"It's supposed to mean that I'll love you forever, till this rose perishes. And well, paper roses can't die, so..."
Perhaps this was an indication. The paper rose had 'died'. She no longer needed him, loved him.
He threw himself onto his bed. And there he laid for hours, till the dark sky faded into day and the rising sun splayed rays of orange, red and yellow over the land.
The rays crept into his bedroom. But he didn't feel any happier nor any refreshed.
He felt no anger for his father. He felt no pain either.
He felt nothing.
--
"Ichigoooo! How dirty it is in your room! When was the last time you cleaned it?!" Isshin barged into his son's room with no warning whatsoever.
He stopped short when he saw his son lying on his bed, staring listlessly at the ceiling.
Isshin was worried. All Ichigo ever did was go to school, eat and then stare at the ceiling till he fell asleep. All done mechanically too, with no life to his movements or eyes.
And it was restless sleep too, with lots of tossing and turning. At times, he'd caught him crying silently in his sleep. Once, the whole household had been awakened as the sound of Rukia's name being shouted over and over again had echoed through the house.
Isshin doubted that Ichigo had gotten a good night's sleep since... then.
"Come on, son." The former shinigami said, his voice very much softer and gentler than seconds before. "It's been two months since sweet Rukia-chan... Well, you have to move on soon, ya know? It's not like her love for you has lessened."
Ichigo didn't even turn and Isshin sighed dejectedly, turning around to exit the room.
"I don't know." Ichigo said suddenly and his father whipped around at his voice, even though he sounded so monotonous.
"I'm not sure anymore."
Ichigo's gaze drifted to his father but it seemed like he had finished what he had to say.
"Why not clean your room a little. You can divide your attention then and you won't feel so sad, even if only temporarily." Isshin suggested as he closed the door behind him. He knew at this point, there was no point telling the boy to move on or get over it.
When his wife had died, it had taken years for him to really get over it. And even now, he felt like he couldn't live without that giant poster of her in the house.
Hmm, maybe he could get a giant poster of Rukia-chan for Ichigo...
Ichigo half-heartedly did as his father told, only because he was naturally a neat sort of guy anyway. He decided to save the closet for the last; he didn't think he could bear cleaning out the place where Rukia had slept so many times before.
Rukia...
Even thinking of her name made a sharp stab of pain pierce through his heart.
He moved on from the desk to the bookshelf. He dusted the top three layers and came to the dustiest layer of all. He never read any of these books.
He started wiping the edges and nearly jumped as a small red thing dropped onto the floor. He placed his cloth on the shelf and bent down to pick it up.
It was the origami rose that Rukia had given him. It was safe to say that he'd totally forgotten about it.
In a sudden surge of emotion, he made to throw the paper flower into the wastebasket. He raised his arm and was about to fling it in. But something made him stop.
He lowered his arm down and peered closely at the rose. He was quite sure his eyes were playing tricks on him because he though that he'd just seen some writing on the underside of a petal.
He thumbed a fold open and his heart nearly stopped beating.
He wasn't delusional. There was writing. Rukia's writing. He was sure of it.
He quickly crossed over to the desk and sat down. He held the rose in both hands and with deliberate slowness, he started unfolding it, his heart now pounding in his chest. His breathing was shallow and his hand kept twitching in excitement that he was afraid of tearing the rose.
He was itching to get it open but at the same time he was afraid of what Rukia had written inside.
Fold by fold, he meticulously opened it.
Finally, a very creased piece of 5' x 5' red origami paper was spread out in front of him. The writing was on the underside.
Rukia had written quite a lot. He started reading.
"Dear Ichigo,
Happy Anniversary!
I can't believe it's been a month seen we got together but it has really been the happiest month of my life. Haha! I still remember how much you stuttered when you first ask me out! And I didn't tell you then, but I was so happy I nearly leapt into your arms.
If only Inoue-san and Ishida-san weren't there.
Inoue-san taught me how to fold this and I admit that I'm not all that good. So don't laugh if it turns out funny! This rose is supposed to say that I'll love you forever until it dies. And paper roses can't die, see?
But really, Ichigo. I'm still not used to having a boyfriend but I want to say that you're the best boyfriend any girl could have. I don't think I'd ever dare to tell this to you face to face so I had to settle telling you here. Even though I don't know whether you'll ever unfold this or you'll just throw it into the thrash.
One last thing. No matter what I say or where I am, just remember this.
I love you, Ichigo.
Love, Rukia
P.S.: But in case it does die (haha, I don't think it will but never mind), here are instructions to make a new one. So our love will continue forever."
Ichigo blinked. Below was crude drawing of two Chappy bunnies holding hands which Ichigo supposed was a rendition of Rukia and himself.
There was also a long and complicated list of instructions of how to fold the origami rose. Ichigo stared at her words for so long till they became a blur.
Then, he looked away from the paper suddenly and jerked open the drawer on his right.
He pulled out a square sheet of white paper and started to fold.
--
"How're you doing in here, Ichigo?!" Isshin as usual charged into his room without knocking.
He immediately halted in his steps as he caught sight of Ichigo sprawled across his desk, fast asleep. He was even snoring a little. Around him were dozens of origami roses in varying colours.
They were very good, better than the one he had accidentally stepped on some months ago.
And two red origami roses laid on top of Ichigo's upturned palm as he slept soundly, one freshly made and another one very creased, as if it had been refolded from a crumpled piece of paper.