Close Enough by zenithoflife
'Kuchiki-san! Go out with me!' Mizuiro pleaded. 'Just one date!'
'Oh, Kojima-kun,' Rukia smiled fakely as she batted her eyelashes. 'I'm afraid I'm a little too old for you.'
Ha, you don't know how true that is. Ichigo thought to himself as he sucked loudly on his straw. Perhaps if he focused on his drink, he could tune out Mizuiro's pleading—and was that Keigo sniffing in the background?
God, why on earth did he have such disgusting friends? Ichigo grimaced as he tried vainly to block out what was going on next to him. Yes, someone in Soul Society must have got something in for him. He could just envision Byakuya smirking at his current plight.
'Kuchiki-san!' Mizuiro's begging was becoming increasingly desperate as he attempted to drown out Ichigo's obnoxious drinking sounds and Keigo's weeping.
Rukia continued to smile demurely albeit it becoming a little forced. 'I'm sorry—'
'But, Kuchiki-san—' Mizuiro implored. 'If you knew the depths of my passion for you—'
Ichigo's drinking sounds and Keigo's blubbering were reaching ear-splitting decibals when Rukia finally snapped.
Rukia was a very calm person by nature. After being trained by Kuchiki Byakuya on the various ways of Appearing To Have A Stick Up Your Ass 101, she was more than ready for anything that fate could throw at her. After all, Kuchikis did not lose their tempers. Hell, she doubted that they even knew what it was.
But she seriously doubted that an average member of the Kuchiki clan had to deal with being irritated by a perverted male who was a 100 years younger and had raging hormones the height of Mount Everest to boot.
Throw in an annoying carrothead who made it his sole purpose in life to aggravate the hell out of her and a heartbroken pervert who had been trying to hit on her on a daily basis...
All in all, it was unsurprising that she lost her temper.
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Mizuiro nursed a bump on his head as he bemoaned his fate. 'How could she be so mean to me? I even broke up with all my girlfriends for her!'
'Are you serious?' Ichigo levelled an amazed stare at him. 'Don't you always have one or two as backup?'
Mizuiro stared at him. Ichigo could have sworn that he saw the fires burning in the background representing his apparent passion for Rukia. 'Kuchiki-san is the epitome of what all men want from women! To prove my undying love to her, I have readily undergone the greatest sacrifice of my life!'
'Yeah, what is a sacrifice to you is merely what's normal for the rest of us. And why the heck would all men want Rukia? She's the furthest thing from a woman,' Ichigo muttered as he turned away.
'Awww, Ichigo! It's not fair for you to hog such a wondrous work of beauty from all of us!' Keigo bawled as tears seemed to flow endlessly from his eyes. 'And she turns down all of us just for this beast! You are not worthy, Ichigo!'
A vein twitched in Ichigo's forehead. 'Keigo, shut that trap before I shut it for you.'
'But, Ichigo—'
Ichigo turned enraged brown orbs on him as Keigo cringed away.
Luckily for Keigo, the gods were on his side that day as an unwelcome intruder burst into the rooftop, interrupting their conversation.
'Kojima!' She screeched as Mizuiro hastily tried to cower behind Ichigo. 'How dare you dump me!'
She stormed up to the stunned Ichigo as Mizuiro attempted to appear non-existent.
Ichigo had to admit, that girl had well-defined…assets. Her ample bosom could even rival Matsumoto's in the area of its enormity. No matter what they had to say about Mizuiro's morals, he had to admit that the guy could really pick them…
He smacked himself internally. Now was so not the time to be thinking of this random stranger's boobs, especially when said breasts belonged to a homicidal maniac who appeared to be on the verge of attempting to make Mizuiro a eunuch.
The both of them tried their best to ignore Mizuiro's pleading glance.
Or rather, Keigo shook his head while Ichigo backed away hurriedly. No way was he getting into the relationship problems between Mizuiro and Unknown Stranger.
You could hardly say that Ichigo valued his life with all the life-threatening situations that he jumped into with Rukia, but he liked his head where it was, thank you very much. He was pretty sure that even the bonds of brotherhood didn't stretch that far…
'How could you?' She sobbed, distraught, as she clung onto the front of Mizuiro's shirt. 'I loved you!'
Ichigo and Keigo sweatdropped simultaneously. Wasn't she livid…?
'Aiko—' was all that Mizuiro managed to choke out through her death grip. 'I—'
Ichigo swore inwardly never to get involved with any women. Especially not any with who were equipped with extremely well-developed gifts as they usually ended up thirsting for your blood when you dumped them.
Slap!
Mizuiro now had a swollen cheek to match the rather visible lump on his head.
Done with her unfaithful boyfriend and thirsting for her next prey, Unknown Stranger—or Aiko advanced on Rukia with the intensity of a raging pit bull.
'How dare you steal my boyfriend, you—' She shrieked before raising her hand to slap her.
Rukia tensed as she waited for the impact, and waited, and waited and waited.
'What the fuck are you doing?' A male voice snarled. Rukia's eyes flew open and a familiar orange-haired substitute shinigami seemed to be almost radiating animosity in his rage.
Ichigo had found himself leaping forward instinctively and grabbing Aiko's hand as it descended.
Feh, stupid shinigami who didn't even recognise a catfight when she was in the middle of one…
Aiko glared at the unwelcome intruder, as she pulled her arm from his grip.
'This is none of your business, you orange-haired freak.' She growled.
Rukia expected Ichigo to retreat rapidly. After all the years of knowing him, she could discern between his angry scowl, happy scowl, exhausted scowl and scowl scowl. And now he was wearing a livid scowl, plus she was pretty sure that 17 year old boys did not make it a point to interfere into other girls' quarrels.
Hell, knowing Ichigo, if it involved two girls fighting, he would probably be the first to run for the hills.
'Well, when you tried to hurt her, you made it my business,' he stated forcefully. 'And your business is with Mizuiro. Rukia has nothing to do with it.'
If anything, Aiko's menacing glare became even more lethal. If eyes could kill, Ichigo would have been ten feet under the ground. Her stare was even worse than Byakuya's and that was saying a lot…
'Well, when he asked her out, it became my business! I don't need some random chick to trespass on my territory. And don't try to lie, I saw him asking her out!'
Ichigo fought the impulse to rub his hand over his face. Damn Mizuiro, he just had to get him involved in his multiple relationships, didn't he?
And who was the one who leapt to Rukia's defence? A mocking voice asked.
Ichigo scowled deeper. It was merely friendship. He leapt to her defence because he was her friend. It was what normal friends would do for each other.
And would you leap to Tatsuki's defence then? Or Orihime?
I wouldn't need to, he defended angrily. Ishida would be there to protect Orihime and if anyone tried to hit Tatsuki, she would send her on a one-way trip to Mars.
Keep trying to tell yourself that.
Ichigo scowled. Wonderful. He was trapped between two girls, one who wanted him dead and he was hearing voices in his head. Could his day get any shittier?
He cursed. Someone in Soul Society definitely had it in for him.
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Rukia gaped, disconcerted at Ichigo's back. Why would he—?
'Ichigo,' She forced out through gritted teeth. She clenched her fists. It was because she was weak, wasn't it? That damn carrothead simply didn't know how to keep his nose out of other people's business. 'I can take care of myself perfectly well.'
'Yeah, listen to her, Ichigo,' Aiko repeated mockingly. 'And get out of our way so that—'
'Listen here,' Ichigo bit out. 'I don't give a shit on what happens between you and Mizuiro. It is his business if he wants to date bitches with sticks the size of Japan shoved up their asses. But whatever the hell it is, Rukia has nothing to do with this.'
To back up his statement, he bestowed on her his Kurosaki Patented Scowl which totally beat the Kuchiki Glare hands down.
Aiko felt a chill run involuntarily down her spine and gave him a last dirty look before storming out the door.
Ha! Take that Byakuya! I still beat you in the How To Scare The Shit Out of Your Opponenet department! Ichigo applauded internally.
The sound of the door slamming shattered the sudden silence that enveloped the crowd of spectators and a mass of hushed whispering broke out.
It's a three way triangle… I heard that Aiko and Mizuiro were going out before Rukia came… Ichigo's always been in love with her…
Ichigo glared at them, frightening them back into silence. The years of his carefully cultivated cool and unconcerned image…he could practically see them flying out of the window.
He rubbed his forehead. Great, he now had a freakin' headache to boot.
'Ichigo…' Rukia's voice broke him out of his reverie. He turned back to her, surprised.
Ichigo wasn't expecting any thanks. Hell, he wasn't even expecting a smile. But whatever it was, he definitely didn't expect Rukia to direct her anger at him.
'I can take care of myself perfectly well! I don't need your help. Go help someone who wants it. Or better still, needs it!'
She raised her eyes to his, and to his surprise, he saw uncontained fury swimming in her violet orbs. He drew back, startled, as she stormed away, leaving a bewildered Ichigo in her wake.
Ichigo stalked back to where he was sitting and without a word, slammed Mizuiro into the floor; before he stormed, fuming, out of the door of the roof.
Ishida pushed up his glasses, while surveying the entire scene, without saying a word.
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Freakin' women, Ichigo cursed. You never knew what the hell they were thinking. You help one and you think that she might have been at least a little relieved—but wow, it turns out that she wanted it to continue and now, she hated him to boot.
He kicked a stray stone on the floor moodily, sending it flying with a pile of gravel.
Argh, he hated himself sometimes. It seemed that whatever he said, whatever he did—it just wasn't enough for her. So what if he got into her fight? What the fuck did she expect him to do? Sit there and watch her get slapped like some wounded puppy? She should just get together with some wimpy asshole like Mizuiro or Keigo…
Except that the thought of her with anyone other than him made him feel like bankai-ing their ass to Soul Society and back.
He stilled. What the fuck was he thinking? He didn't like her. He never did and never would. Why on earth would he like a shinigami who was ten times his age and who had a secret obsession about kicking him in the shins everytime she saw him? Who seized every opportunity to rebuke him for his irresponsibility and impulsiveness? Who dared to hit him when he behaved like a fool but still understood him even when it seemed that nobody did?
Ichigo kicked all of such thoughts out of his head. He hated her. Especially all the more after she publicly humiliated him and utterly ruined his reputaion.
And he tried extremely hard not to remember the warm feeling that engulfed his heart that she gave him one of her rare smiles.
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Damn irritating shinigami substitutes, Rukia glowered at the ground. That aggravating carrothead was always protecting her. Stay back, Rukia. I'll deal with this, Rukia. What the hell did she have to do to make him see that she could take care of things herself?
She directed a glare at an unsuspecting student. Ichigo behaved like she was some fragile china doll that would break at the least problem. She wasn't weak. She knew how to defend herself.
She frowned angrily as the student gave a little shriek and ran away.
'Kuchiki-san, no matter how much you glare at the ground, its not going to reply,' Orihime's sunny smile could be heard through her voice.
She raised her head, erasing her previous irate look and replacing it with a smile. 'Not at all, Inoue-san. I was just a little infuriated at Ichigo and taking it out on the ground. At least that's better than on his shins, right?'
Orihime's sunny smile faded into a contemplative look. 'You know, I've never seen Kurosaki-kun get so irritated before. He usually stays out of all this kinds of catfights.'
'Catfights?' Rukia questioned, puzzled. 'What's that?'
Orihime beamed. 'Uhm, its…erm…when two women fight over a guy!'
'I was not fighting with her over Mizuiro!' Rukia flashed back. 'It was just that things ended up this way.'
'Inoue, you got it all wrong,' Ishida sighed, as he ran his fingers through his hair. 'Catfight is a term for an altercation between two women, typically involving scratching, slapping, hair-pulling, and shirt-shredding as opposed to punching…'
'Okay, okay,' Rukia cut in. She didn't need Ishida's nonstop ramblings to add on to how much her day could get any worse. 'I get the idea.'
'But she's right, you know,' Tatsuki chimed in. 'I've never seen Ichigo so agitated. Even when Orihime got some flak from the rest of the girls. You know, because of the blond hair and blue eyes and all the boys fell in love with her—Ichigo didn't even jump in. I had to threaten to punch them before they all left.'
'Yeah, well,' Ishida spoke up emphatically. 'Kurosaki was always afraid of girls. Or rather, getting involved with them.'
'Why on earth did he jump in headfirst today?'Tatsuki pondered out loud. 'He should have known better than to interfere. It's an unwritten rule that guys aren't allowed to get into catfights.'
'Who knows?' Chad remarked dispassionately. 'Sometimes, with Ichigo, its better not to ask.'
'But then again, it was lucky that Kurosaki did what he did,' Ishida piped up. 'He was probably afraid that the girl would have physically assaulted you.'
'I can take care of myself perfectly well!' Rukia flashed back. 'I don't need Ichigo to hang over me like an overprotective mother hen. I have quite enough of that from Ni-sama and Renji.'
Orihime smiled. 'But when you love someone, all you want to do is to keep them safe.'
'But —I—he—we—don't like each other! We hate each other's guts!' Rukia stuttered.
Orihime merely smiled knowledgeably, as Ishida pushed up his glasses and Tatsuki cleared her throat.
Why was it that what was so clear to everybody else was hidden from both of their eyes?
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The bell rang shrilly as students and teachers alike filtered through the door.
'Bye, Kuchiki-san!' Orihime sang out. 'Bye, Kurosaki-kun!'
Rukia waved while Ichigo merely grunted in reply.
He had been answering everyone's questions with monosyllabic replies after that incident.
She stared at his back. She had merely told him not to take care of her so much. Why on earth did he—?
'Come on,' Ichigo's voice interrupted her train of thought. 'Let's go home.' He averted his eyes, choosing to stare out the window instead.
She stared at him, perplexed. She was the one who should have been infuriated, she should have been the one who was venting her anger on everybody else.
'Yes, come on,' she grabbed her bag and offered up a conciliatory smile.
But why on earth did he insist on avoiding her eyes?
Ichigo scowled. He didn't know what the hell was he thinking. The atmosphere had been so rift with tension between the both of them that it had been a relief when he finally got home.
Throwing his bag on the ground, he buried himself in his homework. Homework was a glad respite from all of the stupid unwanted annoying thoughts that assailed him when he thought of a certain raven-haired midget.
The door opened, and he looked up perfunctorily. Oh god no, was the first thought that entered his brain.
Rukia had on her resolute face.
Now, Ichigo respected doggedness. He was all behind it, seeing that it was an unwavering single-mindedness that got him to Sereitei to rescue her.
But when Rukia put on her resolute face, it was because of she acknowledged a problem and she was going all out to face it. And it was now directed at him.
Fuck. He didn't need this shit now when he was struggling with trying to understand why he leapt to her defence as well as her current reaction to his response.
Oh crap, she had started talking.
'Ichigo,' Rukia pronounced. Dear god, why did it sound so much like a death sentence to him? 'Why did you stop Aiko from hitting me? I can take care of myself perfectly well. I don't need you to constantly try and defend me.'
He could hear that I am not weak, so don't try and think that I am tone in her voice and he didn't know why, but it infuriated the hell out of him.
'Well, you are,' He replied brusquely. 'You haven't gotten your full powers back, so you shouldn't overexert yourself.'
'Oh, and I'm so sure that a 17 year old female is a lot worse than a Hollow. I was quite sure that I have more than enough power to take her down,' Her eyes flashed. 'So don't try and coddle me, Ichigo. I am not a child.'
He lowered his head to continue with his schoolwork, ignoring the way her glare was boring holes in his back.
He didn't know why but her insistence that she didn't need him niggled at the back of his head.
Just then, he found his pen being snatched out of his hand.
'Fuck, Rukia!' He exclaimed incredulously.
She glanced at him briefly. 'If you could just look at me and stop trying to do your homework, we can talk this over like mature adults.'
He groaned. 'I don't want to discuss this over. I don't even want to have a conversation with you right now.'
'Well, we wouldn't have the need to have this conversation if a certain substitute shinigami didn't feel the need to become all overprotective of me!' She spat out.
'Well, I'm afraid that if the shinigami in question wasn't so weak and pathetic, then the substitute shinigami wouldn't even have to be taking care of her!' He snarled.
She recoiled. She had sensed his eyes following her in the corridor, watchful and alert, always alert for signs of anything that threatened her—but this was the first time he had told her that it was because she was weak.
Ichigo stole a glance at her and saw that the colour had risen in her cheeks and she was trembling. He squashed down the sudden impulse to apologize, to take back his harsh words—anything that would stop her from appearing so—so—broken.
Why the hell did she have to raise this question now? He didn't know why the fuck he leapt to her defence, why the sight of her injured inflamed his anger and why—and why he was occasionally tempted to kiss her.
Except now she appeared to hate him even more now.
'I understand now,' Rukia gave him a sardonic smile, as he flinched impulsively. Why did she have to look so blank? 'Thank you for gracing this frail feeble shinigami with your valuable time.'
Rukia leapt out through the window and gave in to her overwhelming impulse to run as far as she could, to anywhere—just away from him.
Ichigo cursed vilely under his breath, before punching the wall hard.
Why did he have to say that? He just had to make things worse by insulting her fighting prowess didn't he? He knew perfectly well that she was occasionally miffed when Byakuya or Renji raised the fact that although Ichigo had siphoned his power from her, he was now the better fighter: stronger, faster and had already reached bankai while hers was still only in shikai form.
Ichigo threw himself into his chair and tried to focus all his attention on his homework before hurling it against his door.
Che, he was getting soft.
Ichigo closed his eyes tightly and tried his utmost best not to think of black haired midgets who smiled as softly as the rain and possessed intriguing violet eyes that could see into the depths of his soul.
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To be continued…