"Rukia has been acting a little strange these days."
"Oh?" His gaze turned to the raven-haired girl and lingered there. She felt his eyes on her but ignored this; something she had worked to grow accustomed to, so Renji doesn't find out about their affair. "How so?" he asked Renji.
She could hear their conversation, but pretended not to.
"I don't know, just been distant and all," Renji replied. "I figured it's just her studies, because you guys had that exam, right? She said she's really grateful for you having that group study thing at your house all the time."
She found the situation quite funny, but at the same time felt sad and guilty towards Renji. He didn't know Ichigo's little group studies involved a little more than studying and a little less people than what she had implied before. For some reason, Sado, Ishida and Inoue had never made it to a single meeting.
"But then…now your exam's over, right?" Renji continued. "She's still kept to herself. I don't know, I feel like I'm losing her."
True, she thought. Or maybe he never had her to begin with. Why had she ever gone out with him? Forget him being the one who's always been there, before Ichigo came along. She felt like she didn't even really have any actual feelings for him. Everyone just expected them to get together one day, and they did. And it's hard to break off because they're so close.
"How long have you guys been together again?" Ichigo asked absentmindedly.
"Two years. But I feel like I've been with her all my life."
"Well, you did grow up together."
"Yeah."
"I guess," Ichigo said, finally sounding like he was focusing on the conversation fully now, "you'll just have to wait until she tells you. I'm sure she will."
"She hasn't said anything to you, has she?"
"Oh, no." She heard Ichigo's chair being drawn back followed by footsteps, and she could see from their reflection on the window that he had stood up and was walking into Inoue's kitchen.
"Kuchiki-san!" Inoue's voice rang out and the bun presented in front of her face by the ginger-haired girl caught her attention. "Have one, I just brought it out of the oven."
"Thank you, Inoue," she said, taking the warm bun into her hands. The bread's top was curved smoothly and lightly glazed. She held her hand up vertically and placed the bun's flat side against her palm.
"What are you doing?" She looked up and saw Ichigo standing over her, a bottle of beer in hand. He sat down on the center table, facing her. "Nothing," she replied. She held the bun in her hand and leaned forward, not too close to him, though.
The sliding door to the balcony opened and Keigo stuck his head in. "Guys, look! Someone's setting off fireworks!" He returned outside, leaving the door open for them.
Everyone in the room, Rukia, Ichigo, Renji, Inoue and Tatsuki stood up and went to join the other group outside. Inoue fit herself into Ishida's waiting embrace, Tatsuki and Mizuiro hesitantly let Keigo drape his arms over their shoulders and Sado stood in the back, as he was tallest of them all and did not want to block anyone's view. In the middle of the balcony, among their group of friends, stood Ichigo and Renji, with Rukia in between them.
The sky lit up with the fireworks, as Keigo had earlier said. Someone must have been bored, but fittingly so, for it was Inoue's birthday. Rukia watched as Ishida whispered into Inoue's ear, earning a giggle from the happy girl. And she wondered, how did Inoue do it? How did she straighten her feelings out, how was she able to forget Ichigo?
Ichigo's fingers inconspicuously brushed against the back of Rukia's hand. At the same time, Renji pulled her into him. She looked at Ichigo, whose jaw hardened and eyes became unfocused from the fireworks spectacle.
"This is a nice moment," Renji said quietly to her.
"Hmm…" was all she said.
"Is something wrong?" Renji asked.
"I…"
Ichigo was listening, but she didn't know if he could hear amidst the booms and cracks plus the music from within Inoue's house. She looked around her gathered friends. They were having so much fun. The show, however, was short-lived.
"Meh, I guess he ran out," Keigo said blandly.
"Oh, well, it was a nice three minutes," Inoue said cheerfully.
"Rukia?" Renji said.
"I have something to say," Rukia suddenly said, loud enough for everyone to hear. They all looked toward her, although Ichigo looked like he already knew what it was she was to announce. But she knew he didn't. He was in for a surprise. He's thinking now, that she was going to reveal their relationship.
Flashes of a plus sign ran through her mind, and the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. She remembered throwing up over the toilet seat.
Slowly, she took Renji's hands in hers and faced him. "Renji…" she said softly. "I'm pregnant."
Everyone was speechless. But only Renji's face was all she could see, and she could see he was horrified. He didn't want it. Of course, not. For a long moment, his mouth opened and closed with no sound coming out.
Inoue was the first to speak. "Rukia?"
All of a sudden, Rukia burst out laughing, and everyone was stupefied. "Oh, my god! Your faces!" she choked out amidst her laughter. "Especially yours!" She pointed a finger at Renji, whose eyes had grown wider still.
Inoue was the first to speak again. "I hate you!" she shrieked, beginning to laugh. Everyone followed suit, Renji clutching at his heart in relief.
"Sheesh," Renji said. "I should've known it was a joke."
"Yet you looked like you were about to piss yourself," Tatsuki said.
"Come to think of it, it's been over two months since we last did it," Renji said thoughtfully, which earned him a smack to the stomach from Rukia. "Ow!"
"That's private information!"
Renji chuckled. He leaned towards her and kissed her lovingly on the cheek. "That was a good one," he said. He pulled away from her to follow the group who were heading back inside.
Rukia remained, and with her was Ichigo.
"Rukia," he said.
She walked to the railing and placed her hands on it. Tightly, she gripped the metal that fit into her fist.
Flashes of a minus sign ran through her mind. And the blood stain on Ichigo's bed. Isshin had known. He was there to make sure she was physically stable. Yuzu was there, too, to replace the bed sheets and to prepare food for her while she stayed in the clinic. By the time Ichigo and Karin had come back from playing soccer, the three of them had gotten everything that pointed to Rukia's accident out of the way and never to be revealed.
Until now.
"I lost it," Rukia said quietly.
Ichigo brought his arms around her and held her tightly. She began to cry.