Disclaimer: Bleach and Resident Evil 4 characters belong to their respective owners.
A/N: ANYONE ELSE LOVES PLAYING RESIDENT EVIL??? 8D
First dialogue sequence was totally based on me and my sister when I first played this game, except there was a LOT more pitchy screaming from my sister's part and yells of "DIE DIE DIE!" from my part XD
As usual, enjoy, people~ 3
It's Game Time
"AAAAAAAAAAHHH!!! Rukia-chan! Shoot! SHOOT!"
"I'm shooting! I'm shooting!"
"Rukia-nee! That one's taking the girl away! He's taking the girl away! Kill hi— Yeah! There you go!!"
"That's dangerous! Use the rifle instead of the handgun, Rukia! BLAST HIM!"
"Ohmigod! Behind you! RUKIA-NEE BEHIND YOU! HE HAS A PITCHFORK!!"
Ichigo went downstairs that morning, partially-asleep, half-deaf and fully-annoyed to figure out what in the name of Aizen was making such a big fuss in the morning. Coming over to the living room, his question was answered… though suddenly Ichigo felt as if he didn't want to know.
He found all the curtains in the room drawn, the lights shut, and five people scaring the socks out of their skins with a horror game in the PS2. Rukia, alert and determined on the controller; Yuzu and Inoue squeezing the life out of two innocent pillows on the couch; Karin on the armrest, her nails leaving not-so-wanted indentations on the settee; and Tatsuki on the floor, glaring a death glower at the zombie on the screen for displacing her heart from her chest all the way to her stomach.
Augh, not again… Ichigo thought.
Ever since Rukia bought that damned game, she's been on the PS2 ever since. The worst thing was that the competition for the TV heightened to a whole new toweringlevel. And since the twins always sided her, it feels like ages since he'd properly turned on the TV.
"How long have you been—"
"Shut up, Ichigo!" Both Rukia and Tatsuki growled at him. The eyes of the other three were glued to the screen watching the character —Leon, his name— as he endlessly shot the incoming horde of zombies in his path with his gun.
Despite himself, Ichigo stood there as he watched Rukia pressed the X button with shunpo-like speed as the continual rain of bullets burst through the torsos of the zombies.
As the last zombie fell, lifeless, to the ground, the barely audible yet distinct intone in the background suddenly ceased to play. Ichigo could hear the evident relieved sigh from Orihime and the twins. He thought he could hear the rapid thumping of their hearts as well.
Then there was an eerie silence, broken only by the intermittent whispers of the wind, in the game. Nevertheless, a triumphant grin was plastered on Rukia's face as she controlled Leon to walk up the mountains, zigzagging across the rust-covered traps.
Yuzu let out a giggle as the previous tension died away. "Leon is so cool!" she suddenly pronounced, getting grins from Karin and Tatsuki and agreeing nods from Orihime and Rukia.
Rukia?
Agreeing nods from Rukia?
Ichigo crossed his arms and clicked his tongue. "Tch. That guy's cool? He's just a game character! And all he does is just shoot mindless zombies!"
"He is, Ichigo. Don't deny it," Rukia muttered, her eyes still glued to the screen. Leon was walking across a pathway littered with dead branches and brown leaves, slowly and carefully, his dirty-blond hair ruffling in the wind. A girl clad in orange was following behind him, her head looking left and right for any sightings of more of undead people. Their footsteps echoed throughout the lonely, deserted place. Tap, tap, tap.
Rukia continued as Leon walked further cutting across the pathway. "And shooting 'mindless zombies' are not as easy as it looks, y'kn— Argh!"
Rukia cursed loudly as a zombie suddenly jumped in front of her from out of nowhere, hands holding a sickle, swiping it at the character. Rukia blasted it with her handgun with a big bang as another horde of zombies came shuffling towards him. Rukia cursed again as she equipped her character with the much more efficient shotgun.
Knowing that Rukia was already in the zone, Tatsuki continued, "And Ichigo, have you even played this game? Not easy, I'll tell you that."
The resolute boy just won't give in losing to a game character. He rolled his eyes and sat beside his childhood friend. "I battle with hollows on a daily basis. I think I know a lot more than that guy," he retorted.
"Hollows don't hold sickles or pitchforks or dynamites in their hands," Orihime added.
Oh, great, now Inoue's in her side too? What would it take to get some support from the girls in this house?
"Some of 'em have Cero! And they're huge! And if I remember correctly, I was the one who battled with Aizen. And I'm pretty sure that gets much more points than shooting couple of moaning zombies."
"Leon-kun fought with a giant," Yuzu piped up.
"Aizen won't die with bullets and knives," he said matter-of-factly. "And giants are capable of death by zanpakutous."
"Still," Karin said, conclusively. "Leon's awesome."
"Oh, come on! It's just a game, people! And he's just a game character!" Ichigo stood up and had wanted to get out from that room, but Rukia had paused her game and turned her heads towards him. The smirk plastered on her face made him stay.
"Jealous of Leon, Ichigo?" She teasingly rolled her eyes. "Men and their ego— hah! Jealous towards a game character of all things…" She tutted thrice, receiving laughs from the other four.
Ichigo narrowed his eyes towards her. "1) I am not jealous. 2) Admit it; I'm better than that guy. And 3) He is just a game character; get that through your head, why don't you?" Ichigo crossed his arms and stood his ground.
A mischievous grin bordering her lips, Tatsuki teased, "Ah, you're… okay, Ichigo. But I havta admit, Leon is good-looking." She turned towards the gamer and poked her side, "Right, Rukia?"
She answered swiftly, a grin on her lips, her eyes still connected to the TV screen, "Oh, yes. Very, actually."
Ichigo turned to glare at Leon on the idiot box. The scene had changed from that forest pathway to the inside of an abandoned house, where the zombies were breaking through the barricaded windows. Leon, controlled with Rukia's skilled hands, threw a flash grenade at a group of fire-brandishing zombies.
"Woohoo!" Karin exclaimed as the zombies were stunned, blinded by the brilliant flash of the grenade. "Kick the crap outta 'em, Rukia-nee!"
Yuzu shrieked, "Careful! That one has the virus!" The head of the zombie exploded, and replacing it was a pinkish organ-like creature with razor-sharp swiping tentacles. Rukia shot it with unsurpassed accuracy and incomparable composure.
"Yayness!" Orihime clapped her hands. "Ah, upstairs, Rukia! Upstairs!"
"Grab everything later, Rukia! Go!" Tatsuki pointed towards the stairs. For the first time in years, Ichigo saw Tatsuki— Tatsuki! Of all people!— bounce on her seat in excitement. "Go! Go! Go!"
Knowing that he was about to be ignored, in the presence of that game character, Ichigoleft the room, his permanent scowl even more apparent. Well! He knew that he was better than that guy—what was his name? Lex? Lou? Len? Whatever. The point was, Ichigo just knew he's better.
So it was good enough.
And for Pete's sake! He battles hollows on a daily basis, fought –and triumphed— with one of Soul Society's most powerful shinigami, Aizen. Plus those freaking arrancars before that. And he has his own hollow to battle with once in a while. So he knew he was better than that guy.
Though… it wouldn't hurt her to just say that, wouldn't it?
Ichigo shook his head through and through. Fine, he didn't need Rukia's words to establish that he's better. Of course he didn't. In anyway, why was he angsting over that game character again? He was not jealous! And not-jealous people do not angst over game characters. Of course not.
As Ichigo took a piece of chocolate cake from the fridge, a shout of cheers was heard from the living room.
"FINALLY! They're gone! You did it, Rukia!" Tatsuki's voice boomed throughout the house.
"Take that!" Karin yelled soon after.
Rukia punched the air with a loud "YESSS!!"
Yuzu and Orihime high-fived each other with another cheer to add to the other three's.
He clicked his tongue in annoyance. What were they? Cheerleaders? Ichigo rolled his eyes (NOT in annoyance!) and had wanted to shuffle over back upstairs. However, Rukia grinned triumphantly when Ichigo passed the living room again, making him stay for a moment.
"Told you Leon was awesome," she said.
Well, that decided it.
Ichigo made up his mind; he hated that guy, Leon.
They were talking about that game again during dinner.
"Oh, oh, oh and Leon was on his last few drops of energy when suddenly all those zombies just left!" Yuzu said, excitedly. Apparently the adrenalin rush from merelywatching that game hadn't really passed her bloodstream yet.
Which, Ichigo thinks, is ridiculous! It's been two hours —two hours!— since they escaped from the deadly house with a swarm of the undead and they're still talking about that… why?!
"Oh yeah! I thought Leon was gonna die again at that point," Rukia said, much fervently.
"Rukia-nee, you're amazing when playing just now!" Karin stated. "You should play again tomorrow morning! It's Saturday, right?"
Somehow, at that moment, Ichigo had a feeling he'd never touch the sports channel again up until they finished their precious game. What a hollow feeling, that is.
"You know what I think?" Rukia said, her voice was dripping with that 'I'm-gonna-annoy-Ichigo' tone. "I think that whatever that Ichigo can do, Leon can do it too~" Ichigo's left eye twitched. Oh, that tone never fails….
"No way can he do that!" he cried, exasperated. "He… is… just… a game character!" Ichigo enunciated every word clearly as if teaching a kid a new fact—a fact that did not seem sensible in her head.
"He's still awesome. Admit it."
"Not. How many times did he die while trying to defeat those things? You died at least 10 times, right?"
She looked unaffected. "So? Everyone needs chances. Do you know how long you were in the Fouth Division after your battle with Aizen?"
"Yeah? So? I helped save Soul Society."
"Exactly. You were helping to save Soul Society. Leon is helping to save Ashley. Equivalent aims. So there."
He decided that he didn't want to know who Ashley was and why was she with him—he knew if he asked… these three girls will be talking about it so much he wouldn't hear the ends of it till next week!
"Yup," Rukia said, eating a spoonful of curry rice. "Leon is awesome."
Ichigo slammed his hands on the table and irritably ate his dinner in his room that night.
A quiet knock on his door awakened Ichigo that night. He cursed whoever was behind that door before getting out of his bed. Sleepy-eyed, he thrust open the door… to see Rukia behind it, hair frizzed, pyjamas rumpled and eyes looking away from him.
He knew that look. He knew it very well.
"Bad dream?"
She replied with the subtlest of nods. Her eyes still weren't meeting his. Her eyes never did when she came up to his room in the middle of the night because of this. Silently, he opened the door a bit wider, as if saying, "Come in. It's cold out."
Rukia gave the hallway a quick glance, as if checking for any more unpleasant individuals from the figment of her imagination. Satisfied that there was none, she scuttled inside his room and promptly jumped in his bed. Ichigo joined her soon after, with a mischievous grin etched on his lips.
"Zombies?"
"And Aizen."
Ichigo gave a chuckle. "Nice combination." Pulling the blanket higher for her, he hooked her hair behind her ear. "Now sleep." Ichigo turned around so his back faced her and he faced the door.
A while later, he could feel Rukia holding on to his shirt. She spoke softly, "Ichigo, you're… okay, I guess."
A smirk bordering his lips, he turned round so he faced her. "Admit that I'm much better that that guy. Leon couldn't do this, now can he?"
She narrowed her eyes, and stared back at the ceiling.
Rukia was not gonna answer him.
"Huh? He couldn't, now could he?" He couldn't stop that triumphant tone from emerging his voice. "That's coz he's a game character and that's all he is."
She still stayed silent, and Ichigo took that as a triumphant win.
"But Leon is still awesome," she said.
Ichigo noticed that there was the word 'But', so she does admit it; albeit not verbally. Anyway, that's as good as he was gonna get from her, he guessed. But he simply couldn't swipe the grin away from his face. He turned around again to face the door.
"I want the TV tomorrow to watch," Ichigo suddenly stated, turning again to face her.
She stared at him for a while and then said with a flat dead tone,
"Not a chance, Kurosaki."
(Yes, I admit, that was silly XD)
Edit: Assault Godzila mentioned that the bud guys in this game aren't really zombies-- more like parasite-infected victims. But I'll just leave it as zombies, since it's difficult to paraphrase that phrase X)
As usual, comments are loved, reviews are cherished, and constructive criticisms are appreciated. Any mistakes—grammar wise, characterization wise and plot wise are my own :) It'll be nice if someone pointed those out, if any :D
Much luffs, people~ Thanks for reading!