© Copyright 2011
Written work by MsMifuyu
A/N: Happy Valentine's day. :)
[Note: Please read in 3/4]
The day that most guys like himself dreaded.
Single guys.
For guys that were dating, there was a sort of silent guarantee that screamed "I will get chocolate" in their attitudes. Their girlfriends would walk up to them, black rings under their eyes from cooking all night, and hand them a little box of love.
Single guys on the other hand, would not be so lucky. There were approximately eight hundred students currently attending Karakura High. Approximately half of those eight hundred students were female. And a quarter of which were dating some of the male populous of the school or someone outside of school.
Thus the chances, of a single guy in the school to get chocolate, were probably as low as the chance of getting hit by lightning. Miniscule. Though there were those who never failed to hope.
"Man…" Renji scratched his head, making a face as they walked down the halls. His shirt untacked, as per usual, and his top button undone, "Today sucks."
"Why's that?" Ichigo's face stayed expressionless as he tried to ignore the lovey dovey scenes going on around him.
"Valentine's day…?" Renji tilted his head, looking at his friend strangely, "don't we just always hate on it because there's no chance we're getting anything…"
"Mm…" he mindlessly agreed.
"Well then again, out of the two of us, it's just me that…"
"No."
"Don't make me laugh."
"What?"
"You do!" Renji looked at him wide eyed, pointing at him accusingly, "Don't lie!"
"…"
"…"
Renji shrugged. This was what happened every year. Renji would get nothing, as his tattoos that made him look like a gangster, scared many people, even some of the actual thugs in the school. Whilst Ichigo would get the lot.
"You're the school idol after all." Renji rolled his eyes.
"Huh?"
"You didn't know? The chicks dig you!"
"…"
"I heard this one chick saying once, He's so handsome and he gives off this mysterious vibe… kyaa~!"
Ichigo cringed at Renji's failed attempt at imitating a girl's voice. Rather than what he intended, it sounded like the obaa-san that came to their clinic every month to get her medicine.
The two turned a corner. And for the first time, they weren't late for class. Although they were perpetually tardy, today was special.
Sliding the door open, Ichigo was met with a girl he'd only glimpsed for a collaborative half a day throughout the whole year thus far. What was her name again…?
"Kurosaki-san," she said, holding out a small box of chocolates, "please accept these…!"
Pushing his prop glasses further up the bridge of his nose, he gave her a small smile.
"Thank you," he said, causing a relieved smile on the girl's face, "But I don't like chocolate…"
An array of gasps from girls chorused throughout the room.
The girl's eyes widened. And that was the moment he remembered her name. Tanaka… Midori? Renji scoffed at him, earning him a raised eyebrow,
"What?" he asked defensively as he watched the girl's eyes turn watery as she quickly sped away.
"Nothing." Renji said, following Ichigo to his desk at the back. As he threw his bag on the desk, another girl sauntered up to him. Renji closed his eyes, folded his arms and leaned his head back whilst muttering unbelievable under his breath.
Ichigo had never seen this girl before. Her bleached brown hair was curled like the model girls in the magazines the girls in his class admired, her lengthy lashes looked completely fake whilst her eyes were rimmed with black eyeliner, her skirt reached just enough to cover her butt whilst her blouse was undone enough to show cleavage. The ultimate slut look.
"Yes?" he asked, clearly unimpressed by this girl's appearance.
"Here, have my chocolate," her high pitched, fake cutesy voice hurt his ears as she handed him her obviously bought box of chocolate. Her posse lined the doorway commenting,
Wow she's so brave
Even after he said that she still goes
"Didn't you hear me when I told Tanaka-san just then?" he looked the girl straight in the eyes as she tried to bend down to show her cleavage, "I don't like chocolate. So please…"
"I thought you were lying so you wouldn't have to accept it from… y'know… her." Her eyes were wide with truthful shock.
"No. It's the truth."
"Just take it anyway." She insisted, pushing the chocolate back at him whilst walking away, "Give it to your family members or something."
As she swayed her hips slowly walking back to her friends, Ichigo made a clear statement when he dropped the box onto Renji's desk saying,
"Here. Have it. You love chocolate right?"
Renji opened one eye, unfolded his arms and ripped into the chocolate. Ichigo went back to looking at nothing in particular whilst he let the girl go red with embarrassment and walk off in shame.
That should teach you to walk around half naked. He laughed to himself.
Truthfully, he loved chocolate. Renji knew that. He loved it so much, if he could, he would bathe in it. But this year, he didn't care about chocolate from anyone but her. Ichigo didn't understand how no one could see it. She was the epitome of beautiful. Her black curls, which were a rarity these days, cascaded down her back whilst her violet eyes were hidden behind a pair of black rimmed glasses.
Just as the imaginary girl wandered off from his mind, the real Kuchiki Rukia walked through the door. She entered, ignored by the class who were off in their own conversations, and gently placed her bag on the desk almost in the centre of the class. Rukia slid into her seat and pulled out a book, silently reading.
Ichigo's heart sank as he noticed her bag didn't have a familiar bulge in it like the other girls. So she wasn't going to give chocolates to anyone this year?
And he slouched in his seat, his mood turning more and more miserable by the second.
The bell rang just as Renji sucked the last bit of melted chocolate from his fingers.
"Alright everyone, settle down. Take your seats." The teacher walked in, her stacks upon stacks of books in hand.
Today would definitely be a long day.
Waiting for the lunch bell to ring was like waiting for his sisters to finish in the bathroom. By the time it did though, Ichigo woke up from his open-eyed daze with his hands cupping his face. The only thing running through his mind was, why won't she give me chocolate?
A sad yet selfish thing. Why was she an exception out of the tens of girl that had offered him chocolate that day? Sitting back in his chair, he reminisced.
It was the coldest day of winter and he needn't even huff to have a cloud full of smoke escape his lips. But rather, breathing made it all possible. His hands were frozen, unable to unlock themselves from the monster grip he had on his textbooks. Moaning from the pain of lifting his arm, he checked his watch. School had been finished for two hours already. Cleaning duty sucked. No. Rephrase. Cleaning duty with Renji sucked.
Renji would laugh at him, pat his shoulder, and run off before Ichigo could catch him and force a broom into his hands. So, the only one to do it, lest they both be in trouble the next day, was him. Sighing, he trekked down the few steps of the main entrance. The cold had made it impossible to see through his glasses, so he had to make do without his prop. Though there was no one to see him without them. Girls were an unstoppable force these days…
A petite sounding cough came from the bike stands next to the foot of the stairs. He looked to where the sound had come from. And there, bent down next to her bicycle, she shivered whilst her pink –turning purple- fingers tried to fix the chain. Tears had frozen onto her cheeks as new ones began rolling down them.
Such a sight made him laugh with the cuteness of it. Surprised by someone else's presence, she jumped.
"You look so pitiable," he chuckled, patting her head. Now that he had a closer look of her, the black hair that framed her face was nothing compared to her glowing violet eyes in the semi-moonlight. He'd seen her in class before, but had never paid much attention. In class though, she wore glasses that hid her beautiful eyes, so perhaps that was what was different.
As she sniffled, he continued,
"How about I try and help you here?"
Her eyes were wide as she nodded helplessly, wiping the tears with her dainty hands.
After hopeless attempts at helping her, Ichigo gave up, standing up whilst looking at the broken bike resentfully.
"I think I just tangled it more…" he said dejected. "I'll help you take it home then."
"No… it's okay," her soft voice said whilst shaking her head.
"Please. It's the least I can do. Anyway, a girl shouldn't be walking home this late at night anyway."
Still refusing, she tried lifting up the bike with her tiny body to no avail. Ichigo sighed, moving her aside, and effortlessly lifting it up. Upon contact with the bike, the cold sent a shock through his body. Touching the plastic on the bike was like holding a block of ice.
"Which way?" he asked through gritted teeth.
Walking side by side all the way to her house, he ignored his hands slowly going a deeper red, and asked her an array of questions about her.
What were her interests? Where was she from? How'd she end up in that situation? She'd diligently answer his questions to the best of her ability but he kept flinging more and more at her. His curiosity peaked. In turn, her received only a statement from her,
"You're not wearing your glasses,"
"Neither are you."
"Mine are annoying. Though it's been effective ever since I came to high school to fend off followers."
"… Mine are props."
"…"
They laughed at each other. What an odd thing to have in common.
Finally, they reached her house. And she began lifting his fat scarf he had wrapped around her neck off.
"No it's alright. You can keep it."
"Thankyou Kurosaki-san."
"…"
He looked at her bewildered.
"How do you know my name?"
She laughed.
"Who doesn't know your name?"
"Then what's your name?"
"Kuchiki Rukia,"
"Well, Kuchiki Rukia, goodnight," he breathed, dreading the cold walk back to his own house the opposite direction in which they'd walked.
"Goodnight," she said, slowly dragging the bike inside the gates and under cover.
The memory in itself was like her valentine's present to him. Though it was about a week ago. Sighing, he accepted that this was probably the only valentine's gift from her he'd get. Grudgingly, he sat back as he watched her sit in the same position, reading the same book silently even during the break whilst the chaos of Valentine 's Day happened around her.
How he envied her.
Waiting an entire day, constantly leaving his desk so he might've found something in his desk when he got back, and getting nothing from her sank his spirits even further. As people slowly poured out of the school, Renji turned to him,
"Let's go."
"I think I'm gonna stay a bit longer. Read some books or something."
"… Suit yourself Ichigo." Renji shrugged, grabbed his bag and rushed out.
But Rukia had already left. How sad. And even after waiting the whole day, he had yet to receive anything from her. A feeling of betrayal swept through him. But at the same time, he tried reasoning with himself. She had no obligation to give him anything. He helped her not expecting anything in return. As much as he would've liked it, she didn't owe him anything.
Throwing his bag onto his shoulder, he trudged out and home. What a sad day. He was stupid to hope. After Valentine's day every year, he'd pity the guys who had hoped the whole day and gotten nothing. Why would they wait to get a stupid box of chocolates anyway? He had hundreds every year yet he felt nothing but an empty void in his stomach. How stupid they were to hope for something so trivial.
Finally, he understood their way of thinking. You hope for a box from the one you love. Or at least that was how he felt anyway.
In a sodden mood, he pushed open the door to Kurosaki Clinic and stomped up the stairs.
"Ahh. Ichigo!" Isshin pounced, ready to kick him in the face. But Ichigo's hand caught his foot and swung him back in a quick motion before stomping up the stairs.
"…"
Karin and Yuzu looked at each other to confirm that Ichigo was being weird, but judging by the chocolatelessness, they could put the pieces together.
Ichigo flopped onto his bed, watching as the second hand on his clock went full circle, then as the minute hand went full circle. The sky had already gone dark, but he was still on his bed.
"Dinner time," Yuzu's voice came from downstairs, "I have something special for you Ichigo!"
"…" He painfully lifted himself up and walked zombie-like down the stairs. Taking his seat at the dinner table, he waited for everyone else to sit.
Yuzu walked up to him with an ecstatic smile on her face and her hands hidden behind her back. Before he could even raise an eyebrow at her suspicious actions, she pulled the fresh batch of chocolate from behind her back and offered it to him,
"Happy valentine's day onii-chan,"
Ahh. Even Yuzu was trying to console him with chocolate. Not wanting to hurt her feelings, he took a couple of little pieces and plopped it into his mouth. It was… truly amazing. Of course, it was Yuzu after all. She smiled as she placed the chocolates in front of him on the dining table, next to his bowl of rice.
"Thanks Yuzu,"
Isshin yelled from his office,
"Ichigo darling~ Could you get the mail? I should be getting an important letter today."
"Get it yourself old ma-"
"I'll give you 1,000 yen!"
Ichigo was out the door before his father could add the 'Just kidding', thus making it invalid. And as he swung the door open, he spotted Rukia, the mailbox half open and her frozen form.
He was too shocked to speak, so she spoke for him.
"Sorry… I was going to give these to you today… but I was waiting for the right time and eventually the day was over so I… came here… I can't cook so I bought these… But I heard you don't like chocolate… so…you can just…"
She had trailed off, blushing, but all he could see were her beautiful eyes glowing in the moonlight, and her soft breathing making little clouds of smoke every time.
"Like..." The word escaped the crazy jumbled of words that were being thrown around like bullets being fired through his head.
"Well…they're the good brand so if you don't… feel like it you could…"
Before she could finish, he cut her off with three simple words that deepened her blush so much, he thought she'd faint any second.
"I like you."