HOUR 1446
TOKYO, 12.52 PM
Kurosaki Ichigo sighed, scratching the back of his neck as he stared at the ridiculously hard question in front of him. The lecturer had decided to give them a pop quiz with three questions.
And what do you know? The students didn't have a clue as to how to answer them.
He glanced over at his neighbor, a boy he had become friends with since he'd moved to Tokyo for further education. Yamada Hiro was answering the questions without pause, his hand moving fast as he wrote down sentences that could win him a 'Longest Essay In The World' contest.
Damn you, Yamada.
Ichigo glanced around the lecture hall, noticing other students' confused and frustrated faces. He could see one or two others who were writing away on the sheets, but most of the others weren't doing anything.
He looked at his watch. Eighteen more minutes till the class was over.
The lecturer was sitting at his desk, reading. Ichigo shook his head, looking back at the paper on his desk. He reread the question but no answer came to mind.
Giving up, he wrote down some random sentences that he thought was related to the questions. Putting down his pen, he folded his arms and buried his head in them, thinking a nap would be good.
1.20 PM
Ichigo walked with Yamada to their next class. One of the reasons he liked Yamada was that he was a quiet person. Sure, he could be loud and boisterous and times but the boy usually had nothing to say to Ichigo, which suited him just fine.
"Oh, Kurosaki, before I forget. Hinamoto-sensei wanted to see you."
Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Oh, God. What about now?"
Yamada shrugged. "Dunno. She was insistent, and gave you by the end of the day."
The orange-haired boy sighed. "Fine, fine. I'll see her after classes are over."
He then spotted a familiar black-haired girl walking across the hallway.
"Rukia!"
Kuchiki Rukia spun when she heard her name called. Seeing him, her face turned to a frown. "What?"
"Ceh! And I thought we were friends!" The two boys stood before the petite girl, who was holding several books in front of her chest. She rolled her eyes and put on a high-pitched voice, "Oh, Kurosaki-kun! What a pleasure it is to see you again! How may I help you today?"
Yamada snickered and Ichigo scowled at him. "Shut up," he told both of them.
"Na, Kurosaki. I'll go on first. See you in class." Yamada nodded his head slightly in Rukia's direction and went off.
"What is it?" Rukia asked.
"My classes finish after the next one and I thought of having lunch out. Wanna come with?"
Rukia shrugged. "As long as you're paying."
"No."
Rukia scoffed. "Idiot. Yeah, I'll come. I need to go out anyway. Oh, when are you going back to Karakura?"
"Maybe this evening. I'm not sure though."
"Tell me when you're going back, okay? I want to go back too."
"Yeah, yeah." Ichigo then remembered that he had to meet up with Hinamoto-sensei. "Oh, great."
"What?"
"I've got to go see Hinamoto-sensei later, so I might go back tomorrow... Don't ask about Hinamoto-san, 'cause I don't know why."
"Troublemaker," Rukia teased.
"She likes to find fault in everybody," Ichigo growled.
"Whatever, strawberry. Oh, would you look at the time? I'll meet you at the usual later, okay? See ya!" Rukia went off and Ichigo walked to his next class.
2.29 PM
"Could you be any later? I'm starving!" Rukia complained when Ichigo jogged up to her.
"Sorry. Ogawa-san held me back."
"What for?"
"Again, don't ask."
"Fine. Come on." She led the way through the crowded corridors from their meeting spot. Ichigo followed close behind.
"Ichigo, let's have sushi!" Rukia suggested cheerfully, looking up at him from where he walked beside her.
"I want a burger," Ichigo said.
"Sushi!"
"Hey, I invited you along!"
Rukia made a face. "Please?"
"No."
"Grouch," she muttered. Ichigo punched her arm, but not too hard.
They walked down the stairs among the noisy throng of students making their way to the canteen for lunch. They walked past the canteen doors and walked with several other students to the entrance of the building.
"KUROSAKI!"
(2.37 PM)
Ichigo groaned when he heard the voice. Rukia sighed as well. "My stomach will forever wait.." she said wistfully.
They turned to see Hinamoto-sensei hurrying to them, carrying her handbag over one shoulder. "I asked Yamada to send you to me!"
"You said by the end of the day. I was planning later," Ichigo said.
"No! I want answers now!"
Ichigo looked at her dubiously. "What about?"
"Your paper, of course! Where is it?"
"I sent it in already!"
"Well, I did not receive it!"
"I passed it to Oda. You asked him to collect them all didn't you?"
"Yes, I did, but yours wasn't in it!"
Before Ichigo could argue, Rukia stepped up. "Hinamoto-sensei, you have to check again. I know Ichigo sent it in, he told me about it the other day."
(2.41 PM)
"Kuchiki, you should not butt into matters that are not your own!" Hinamoto-sensei bristled.
Ichigo pushed Rukia behind him. "Hinamoto-san, leave her out of this."
The lecturer glared at him. "Call me 'Hinamoto-sensei'! I do not permit students to call me 'Hinamoto-san!'"
"Ugh. Ichigo, come on. You sent in the stupid essay already, what more does she want?" Rukia tugged on his shirt, trying to pull him along.
"Kuchiki! You had better watch that mouth of yours!" Hinamoto-sensei hissed.
"Hinamoto-sensei. I sent in the paper, you can ask Oda or anyone. I have nothing more to say." He backed up two steps before turning, pulling Rukia along.
"KUROSAKI AND KUCHIKI! I WILL HAVE THE HEAD KNOW OF THIS.. PREPOSTEROUS BEHAVIOR!
Rukia growled but Ichigo touched her head. "Don't worry. We'll run whenever they come."
The girl giggled.
(2.45 PM)
They were nearing the entrance when Ichigo felt a sudden uneasiness in the pit of his stomach. He paused for a moment, making Rukia turn to him in puzzlement. "Ichigo? What's wrong?"
"I-I don't know... I have this feeling..."
2.46 PM
GGURRRRRR!
"What?"
The shaking floor of the building caused them both to lose their balanced, and they fell to their knees. Screams filled the air as other students noticed the situation. The violent tremor made decorations on the walls, paintings, plaques and so on, come crashing to the ground. Potted plants fell, the lights flickered before dying out, windows smashed to pieces.
"Ichigo!" Rukia's face was filled with horror.
The boy pulled the girl into his arms, protecting her from anything falling. He looked up to see others rooted to their spots, unable to move on the rocking ground.
Part of the ceiling suddenly fell nearby, some of it hitting Ichigo on the back. "Shit.." Ichigo hissed as a dull pain throbbed through his back.
"Ichigo! Are you okay?" Rukia frantically touched him.
"Yeah, I'm okay." Ichigo looked around. "Rukia, move to the wall." She wordlessly began to crawl backwards. Ichigo moved after her and pressed her against the wall, shielding her from flying debris. The girl buried herself in the curve of his arms and chest.
Some minutes later, the quake shuddered to a halt. Rukia was breathing hard, a shocked look on her face. She looked up at Ichigo. "What was that?"
"Earthquake, probably." He gritted his teeth, pushing his head against Rukia's.
"Ichigo, are you hurt?" Rukia touched his upper arm, her breath on his face.
"I'm fine, Rukia." He pulled back and looked her up and down. "Are you okay?"
"I-I think so..."
"Kurosaki! Kuchiki-san!"
They turned to see Yamada running towards them. "Are you guys alright?"
"Yeah," Ichigo said. Rukia nodded, obviously in distress.
"Everyone is gathering together to move out. But since we're close to the entrance, why don't we go first?"
"Y-yeah." Ichigo kept an arm around Rukia as they stood to move out of the building.
Some students were already outside, all shocked from the unexpected earthquake. Ichigo kept Rukia close as they went to a nearby tree, Yamada following close.
"Kuchiki-san, do you need anything?"
"Yamada, do you have sushi?"
Yamada looked at Ichigo, confused. "Sushi?"
Rukia frowned at Ichigo. "Stop fooling around, idiot."
"You're hungry. With your distress and all, you need something to swallow. Besides, you said you wanted sushi just now." He turned back to Yamada. "Could you scavenge some from the canteen?"
"It's okay, fool!" Rukia scolded him. She turned to Yamada. "Don't listen to him –"
Yamada smiled at her. "No worries! I'll get some for us." He dashed away.
"Idiot. I don't need any." Rukia leaned against the tree trunk, closing her eyes.
Ichigo pushed back the stubborn bang that fell between her eyes. "You okay?"
"I'll be fine." She cracked an eye open and said, "Everyone's calm."
Ichigo looked behind him and saw orderly lines of people walking. Most of them looked frightened and shocked, but they were calm as they moved out of the building.
"Yeah."
Yamada returned with some sushi and water bottles. "Here." He kneeled and passed them the food. "Sorry, I have to go. Nakata-sensei was calling for me. I'll see you guys later." Yamada rushed off again.
Just as Yamada disappeared from sight, they felt a tremor beneath them. Some screams were heard, but only a little. Rukia whimpered as the earth shook, though it was not as powerful as before. Ichigo held her.
"This is scary..." Rukia said as the tremor stopped. Ichigo nuzzled her hair. "We'll be fine," he reassured her.
The pair sat there as constant quakes shook the ground, holding each other, waiting and hoping for the disaster to pass.
~~~ xxx ~~~
A/N: Part fiction, part actual events. Of course, the fiction would be Ichigo and Rukia but Japan did have this earthquake and later, a tsunami, just two days ago actually, the 11th of March.
I got really freaked out when I heard the news, cause when did Japan ever have a tsunami? And the shock of the earthquake caused countries in the pacific to be on tsunami alert. Thank God M'sia was fine, though the eastern side of it did have alerts to get away from beaches and such.
Yeah. The earthquake inspired this fic. I don't whether that's good or bad...
I didn't really know how to do the ending. So I think it's not so good.
My sympathy and condolences to all the people in Japan who have suffered losses of loved ones and things. I pray for Japan's swift recovery.
-L