The sun's rays managed to penetrate the trees' thick leaves and branches and cast it's golden light down into the clearing where he sat and waited for... well, something. What that something was, he did not know, but he had had a nagging feeling in the whole body the recent days. It was as if something was just waiting for him to pay attention to it. All he had to do was find it, but it was just that, that was the hard part.
All he knew was that something would probably happen in this very clearing which he now found himself in, even since he had got the nagging feeling in his body he had always found himself here. When he was here, he always felt so calm, and the feeling was reduced to only a small shiver in the body that he could easily wave away.
His thoughts were interrupted by a sound of a branch that broke of just at the edge of the clearing. Quickly he ran to the nearest tree and climbed its branches to avoid being detected by whatever it was coming towards him. He cursed himself for not being more careful and attentive. Normally, he would feel whenever something was nearby. He had, ever since he was a little boy, learned how to decipher all the forests' sounds. His own father, Isshin Kurosaki, was the one who had taught him everything there was to know about the forest and its inhabitants, like his father, in turn, had taught him and so on through the generations.
He could not think of how many generations of the Kurosaki family that had lived in this forest before his mother gave birth to him 18 years ago. What he knew for sure, however, was that it was many centuries ago since the first Kurosaki family had settled here. Just as they once were simple people who had lived on what the woods gave them, he and his family lived along with the rest of the tribe in the same way as their ancestors did hundreds of years ago.
He managed to get up into the trees' most dense branches were you only could see him if you knew that he was there, before a human form could be discerned in the outskirts of the clearing. He made himself comfortable among the branches where he could not be seen from the ground, but had a good view of the clearing which now lay below him. The figure came closer and closer, and now he could see that it was a woman in his own age who came towards him! He had never seen her before and suspected that she came from the other village that lay a few miles away on the other side of the clearing.
What was she doing here, right at the border of their village? Did she not know that it was forbidden to cross the border and go into their tribe's territory? He thought she knew this, but it gave him no answer to his question about why she was here.
He decided to lie low for now and observe the woman to see what she did. Perhaps it would, with luck, give him the answer to his question. The woman was now stepping into the clearing and he saw that she had brought a basket. What was this? Why did she carry a basket with her in here? There was nothing to pick, or ...?
Now he could hear the woman whistle a tune as she walked into the clearing. It was a lullaby that he knew well. Everyone in his tribe who had children used to sing this particular lullaby for their children every night when they would go to bed. His own mother had sung it to him right up to his 12-year day, when all the boys in the village was considered to be old enough to begin to prepare for adult life.
They were taught how to fish, hunt, make weapons and other items that were considered to be something that only men could do. The girls were at the same time learning about what suited for a woman to work with, like sewing clothes, cooking, picking herbs, cleaning and more. The only thing that both girls and boys were taught together was how to heal the sick, sew wounds and how to survive in the forest by making use of what it could give you.
His thoughts were interrupted by the young woman's voice. "Let's see... Where do we have you now?" She put down the basket on the ground and bent down over one of the many flowers that grew in the clearing. "I know that you grow here somewhere, and I'm going to find you."
Then he understood what it was she was looking for. Some flowers in the woods was used for various medications used to cure people who were sick. It could be anything from a common cold to bowel obstruction, inflammation or infection. What he did not understand was why the woman beneath him had chosen to go this far to pick the flower, as it also grew flowers on the other side of the clearing.
As if the woman beneath him had read his thoughts, she said: "I know I really should not go this far, since I risk my life just by walking into this clearing, but we're getting so little of this flower on our side that I have no choice... Especially not now when my father is ill, maybe even dying, at home in his bed."
Quickly the woman picked up some flowers that were red and had a tiny white dot in the middle. This particular flower was used for those who were extremely sick and was dying. No one knew why this flower had the best chance of cure those who died, but the men and women who focused on becoming a healer, and who had the most care of the flower, thought there was something in the flower's leaves that made the sick get back their spark and wanted to keep on living. Perhaps it was a scent, or even the taste of the leaves as the sick got to chew on, which made that they found the strength to become healthy again.
He leaned a little farther out on the branch in order to get a better look at the woman beneath him, even though he knew it was risky. If she raised her head, she could see him now, or he could access a branch that would emit a creaking or a leaf could become loose and fall to the ground and attract her attention.
He could not explain it, but there was something special about this woman. There was something about her charisma. She felt strong, resolute, fearless and she was so beautiful! Could it be she who was this "something" that he had been waiting for? If so, why her? She was a woman from the other village, an enemy.
He and everyone else in his village had been strictly forbidden to so much as glance at another woman, or a man for that matter, from the other village. What he did now could put him in real trouble if someone from his village found out about it, especially his father. At best, he would just get a proper scolding, but in the worst case, he would be beaten and then hung up on a pillory in the middle of the village so that everyone could see that he had sinned.
The woman put down the flowers she had picked in the basket and got ready to go back to her village. She smiled and hugged the basket before she turned away from the tree he sat and watched her in. He began to relax and think he had managed to succeed from being discovered, when he saw the woman take a few steps forward and then stop. Slowly she put her head to one side and it looked like she was listening for something.
At first he could not understand what it was that could have gotten her to react in this way, but then he heard it too. The birds had stopped singing and the insects had stopped buzzing. Quickly he looked around but could not see anything unusual, but he knew there was something out there that had not been there just a second ago.
Then he saw it. It came silently sneaking obliquely behind the woman and was heading straight towards her. It was a great, gaunt, gray wolf with fangs bared. Drool flowed from its open mouth, and he understood that this was a starving wolf and that it would not take long before it attacked the woman.
The wolf crept slowly closer to the woman and when it was right in the clearings outskirts it pressed down to the ground and flexed every muscle in its body. At any time it would attack, it was only a question about seconds now.
Without thinking about what he did, he jumped down from the tree in the same second as the wolf howled and leaped toward the woman. She turned around just in time to see when the wolf jumped and she did not more than blink before the wolf instead of tearing her to pieces, was attacked by something that had been above it. She had no time to register what that something was, but saw how this somewhat endorsed the wolf, put its arms around its neck and lifted the wolf so that it was hidden behind the animals big body.
She saw that the wolf tried to get out of its attacker's grip, but it was useless. Whatever it was that kept the wolf away from her, was at least as strong as the wolf itself, if not stronger... She stood there paralyzed and watched while the life slowly disappeared from the wolf's eyes. Before she knew it, she saw how the large predator's body jerked one last time before it collapsed against its attacker.
Only then she could see the blood that oozed out from the wolf's throat. Without that she had noticed it, whatever it was that had attacked the wolf, had cut it deeply enough into the throat to make it bleed to death within seconds. Probably the attacker had used a knife or some other sharp object.
"Who... who are you?" she managed to say when the worst shock released. Since the attacker had not let go of the wolf, she still could not see who it was who had saved her. She slowly walked closer and only then her rescuer let go of the wolf.
It was a young man in her own age! He had orange, spiky hair, eyes as brown as amber, and he was wearing only a pair of worn shorts that looked to have been made from a large predator's skin. She suspected bear or wolf.
Again she asked who he was, but she got no answer now either. The man just looked at her with those amber eyes and they were so beautiful... She thought she saw curiosity, dismay and sadness, all at the same time. She wondered what it could mean, but before she could answer, the man turned away from her and started walking away.
"Wait!" she shouted and ran after him. She grabbed his arm and forced him to stop. She saw how he froze and became tense, as if her touch made him uneasy. "I wanted to thank you for saving my life over there. It was very brave of you to do what you did, and I am forever grateful. Please, can I at least hear your name? You owe me that much."
At first she thought he would wrest his arm free and run into the woods, but he surprised her by turning against her. In his face she glimpsed a small smile and she could feel her heart begin to beat harder in her chest by the mere sight of it.
Slowly and very tenderly he put his hand over hers and removed it from his arm. He turned her hand so he could see her palm and gave it such a light kiss that she thought she imagined it, until she felt shivers of pleasure spread along her spine.
He definitely was smiling now, and she was about to open her mouth again to ask him once more, when he put his finger over her lips. "Sch, say nothing", he said, shaking his head. His voice was dark and sensual, while it had an undertone of something that suggested that this was a man who liked to joke.
"I suppose you are aware that what we are doing now is wrong. If anyone finds out about this we both really are screwed. I do not know why I saved you, except that something told me that I should. The thought of seeing you torn to pieces by that beast filled me with such fear and disgust that I simply could not stand the thought.
I beg you not to tell this to anyone, both for your own sake and for mine. We will probably never see each other again so I beg you: forget that any of this ever happened! It is best for both of us." He paused for a moment and looked down at the ground, as if he needed to gather courage to continue.
When he looked up at her again the smile had vanished from his face. "I do not know why we met, if it was just a mere coincidence or if it was fate, but for whatever reason I just say this to protect you. FORGET ME! Nothing good will happen if you and I meet any more. I really wish things had been different, but since you and I come from completely different circumstances, it would not work, believe me.
Please, go back to your sick father and pray that he makes it through the disease. I'm glad I got the chance to help a beautiful young woman like you and I would probably do it again if the opportunity arose. I have to leave now, and you should too, before someone comes looking and see us together."
He released her hand and removed his finger from her lips as he gave her a sad smile. "Remember what I told you here today. Forget that you ever met me!"
He started to turn around, but changed his mind and quickly put his hands around her cheeks and pressed his lips against hers. He kissed her again before he looked her in the eyes and said "My name is Kurosaki Ichigo" before he turned and ran into the woods.
Before she lost sight of him among all the trees leaves she cried: "And my name is Rukia Kuchiki!"
When he had disappeared she slowly stroke her finger over her lips where his lips had touched her only a few seconds ago. She had thought that she would have tried to shoo him away when she realized what he intended to do, but instead she had relaxed and let him kiss her... Why she could not say, other than that something with the young man had gotten her to feel safe.
She smiled, turned and picked up the basket she had dropped when she ran after the man. She gave the dead wolf a quick glance before she continued going in the opposite direction, towards her village. She felt as if she had just run several miles, her whole demeanor was very tired and she longed to get to bed and rest a bit.
The meeting with the young man had made her quite dull. She wondered when and if she would meet him again. She ignored altogether what he had told her, she wanted to see him again! There was something about the man who had captured her interest, and not just because she was beholden to him.
For several nights now she had dreamed of a man who was very similar to Ichigo in appearance. Even he had had orange hair and brown eyes. Could it be this young man she had dreamed of and which heralded a change in her life?
Her rescuer, Kurosaki Ichigo.