MadokaKotone: Now for my BLEACH story premier!!! Remember, I'm going to warn you; this is a FIRST. I'm new to BLEACH, too, so bear with me.
Madoka: Well, there's a first time for everything! (Cracks knuckles) Alright! Here we go!
Kotone: Do you really need a Disclaimer? For BLEACH nonetheless…
Madoka: Why would I own Bleach; it stains my clothes! (Light-bulb) Oh, wait!
DISCLAIMER: "Why would I own Bleach; it stains my clothes!" –Madoka.
Kotone: (Karin face) …That works I guess…
Madoka: On with the story!!!! Oh, the italicized part is a
SUMMARITIC FLASHBACK…
(if that's a word…well, whatever…)
"No! Of course I don't like her, how would I possibly like someone like her? She's always with me, annoying me with her voice, and just plain--- no, I don't like her."
Rukia heard his whole outburst, everything he said stained her heart black, they were boring through it with simple words… coming from a mere human nonetheless. She knew they were talking about her. That's when she shut the door and sunk back into the confinements of her, or Ichigo's, closet.
Chapter 1:
Truth and Consequence.
A stream of air burst into the bedroom through the opened window, caressing the face of a golden haired teen. As the air current swirled around his head it curled and twisted the goldenrod locks. He had a distant look on his face. There she goes again, he thought to himself, and frowned. Not even waiting for me.
She seemed to do that a lot lately; she would leap out the window before he protested, ignore his 'Wait!'s and 'Hold on!'s, and brushing him aside on school property. Sure, Rukia does that a whole lot, but she was driving him crazy at this point.
Ichigo grabbed his over-shirt off of his bed, chucked Kon in the closet, and headed towards the door, engulfed in his freight train of thoughts.
As he heavily thumped down the staircase, Ichigo ducked to see under the wall and into the kitchen. His two younger siblings came up to him. When he reached the bottom of the flight of stairs, one of them stuffed a plate of… something, in his face, smiling with bags under her shut eyes. It looked like soggy, meshed toast in raw egg with a bit of slimy sardines. When he eyed the sickly platter in front of his mouth, his eyes bulged. Yuzu must've woken up a little late. He scrunched up his nose and lifted his arms to guard his face in record time, "Y-Yuzu, What the heck is that?!"
Yuzu put on a pouty face, "Breakfast Ichigo," She then smiled sweetly. "Eat up!"
Karin then popped up behind her and made a hand gesture, catching Ichigo's attention; the finger-slitting-neck sign, A.K.A don't-even-whiff-it sign. He nodded slowly in return, and Yuzu swerved her head to observe Karin with saggy eyes. She only saw Karin's toothy fake-smile. The mother of the family sighed, "Whatever, but you'll be sorry you didn't eat this morning,"
Karin drawled with her usual face pasted back on, "He would've been sorry even if he did," she smirked, "Trust me, don't ever let Yuzu try to cook; especially if she gets up late."
Yuzu frowned while her big brother chuckled, "Learn from experience?"
Karin suddenly gagged, cupped her mouth, and then nodded in approval. She said through her fingers, "Ohhhh, yeah," Then she sped towards the nearest bathroom.
Ichigo and Yuzu then looked at each other, shrugged, and then went separate ways; Ichigo to the front door and Yuzu to the trashcan to dump the vicious-looking clump of unknown substance away. It wouldn't budge even when she titled the plate upside-down, so she took a big fork and tried to pry it off.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Yuzu's eyes magnified, and soon the bathroom was occupied by two.
The orange topped high-schooler walked down the sidewalk to school, staring only at the ground below him. He was thinking of Rukia again and how this was the fifth time that they haven't walked to school together that week.
He looked at the empty spot beside him, and half frowned/ half pouted.
There wasn't even a hollow to bring them back together in that same week, of all weeks to pick.
Ichigo then stopped to lean his head on a light-post to gaze up at the billowing huffs of cotton glaze over an endless azure road.
Then his stomach started to argue with him. He frowned and closed his eyes. Why, of all days, did Yuzu try to make something other than toast?
Carrot-head clutched his stomach, thoughts U-turning back to the only person that snoozed in his closet. At first, he thought she was just mad, pushing him away whenever he would ask to go wherever she was headed.
Then, her voice started to sound different to his ears; it sounded hollow, isolated, and maybe… remorseful? He thought about past conversations he had with her, thinking if he just needed to apologize to her for something that accidentally slipped out of his mouth.
Ichigo thought for a while, but nothing came to him, so he pushed off the pewter varnished light-post and went back to walking to his school. He whispered to himself, his voice mended into the breeze, "I wish you'd talk to me, Rukia,"
"Achoo!" Ichigo popped his head up.
Someone sneezed, he heard it.
He looked behind him, but there was no one.
He looked ahead, and there was Rukia, emerging from a corner about a hundred feet away. How he heard her sneeze, even he doesn't know. His eyebrows raised in realization.
Ichigo broke into a run. He was going to straighten things out with her right now.
Ichigo's yell was lifted by the spring breeze, "Rukia! Wait!" His carrot-colored spikes rising and falling in sync with his pace.
The raven-haired girl stopped in her tracks. Ichigo… Please go away…She then lowered her head and went back to sauntering along.
Ichigo raised an eyebrow, still dashing towards her, "Rukia! Rukia!"
Why are you following me, Ichigo? The girl just kept dragging her legs forward, though reluctantly. I know you don't want to be seen with me anymore.
Ichigo had had enough, "RUKIA, STOP!" He finally caught up with the still lagging female and gripped her shoulder.
Her eyes clamped shut. Ichigo!!!
Roughly, but tenderly, he swung her around to face him. When he saw her face, his jaw dropped.
She was tearing; her orbs looked like glimmering pools of deep ocean water. They looked like rain puddles left on the deserted streets at midnight, with little white strips of captured moonlight jutting back and forth over the soft ripples. Rukia dared not to look up at the one person she was crying over.
Ichigo sympathetically loosened his grip on her small shoulder, and squeezed it gently,
Normally, he would brush off people's feelings, like he didn't really care about their life…
But when he met Rukia… He started to change.
Ichigo gazed at her, "Hey, what's the matter?"
Rukia still didn't look up, or speak for that matter.
The naïve boy that seemed self-centered on the outside…felt different around Rukia.
Ichigo's hand squeezed more tightly, "Hey, look at me,"
Rukia kept silent.
He knew that deep down, out of all the people close to him, she was the one that he would do anything for. He would unquestionably suffer if she left his life again, which he knew he'd be expecting soon, but this was getting too unbearable for him.
Ichigo hand left her shoulder, and so did his warmth. Whatever she wanted to do was not his choice, but hers, and he respected that.
Rukia looked diagonally from where his hand was, and watched it fall back to his side while voicing her sorrowful thoughts, "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine, just go with Orihime and be happy,"
The high school boy didn't hear her however, because he spoke at the same time she did, just a bit louder, "Look, I know you're mad at me… I have no idea why-"
"-What?" Rukia looked up at him finally, confused at his statement.
He drowned in her twin pools of rippling cobalt. He tried to talk, but no words came out. She looked too vulnerable in this particular state.
He finally got it together and spoke to the girl beside him, "You're mad at me, I know,"
She blinked away her tears, shaking her shady head, "I'm not mad at you,"
He raised an eyebrow, "You're not?"
Rukia shook her raven-colored spikes again, "No. Why would you think that?" She then whipped her head left to right, inspecting the path. Suddenly she was pushing Ichigo to go ahead of her while trying to change the subject. She spoke hastily, "Ichigo, you heard me; don't worry about me. I'll be fine. Go with Orihime and be hap-"
He stopped, "-O-Orihime? Why would I be with her at this time?"
Rukia ceased shoving. It was her turn to raise a surprised eyebrow. Her words came out reluctantly, "Well… you like her, don't you?"
Ichigo's shoulders tensed, "Huh?! What the-?! Why in the world does everybody ask me that question? Last week Keigo asked me the same thing!"
Rukia froze, "H-he did?"
To Be Continued…
(A/N:) Hey it's me again, hope it's not that much of a cliffy… okay well, if it is
Gomen gomen!
Reviews are greatly appreciated if you feel like it!
Catch ya later (soon)!
R.E.
-P.S.- yeah, I know; I'm starting yet another story (slaps self) but I have ideas for this so this one shouldn't take that long.