Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its affiliates.
Pairings: Some Ichigo/Rukia and Kaien/Rukia
Summary: A revelations of Rukia's feelings as she and Urahara observed Ichigo's attempt at learning kido.
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Revelations
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Rukia couldn't help but sighed wearily as she looked at the scene in front of her. It was already the tenth attempt that afternoon, but Ichigo was no closer to attaining the art of spiritual control anymore than when she had first met him, despite the one currently teaching him was the white-haired captain prodigy himself.
And both their temperament were not helping the situations either; the heat rolling of them was more than enough to turn Hyourinmaru into pure steam.
In a simpler concept, the prospect of Ichigo achieving the use of kido before the Winter War seemed like a far-off miracle.
Rukia glanced surreptitiously at the blonde-haired shopkeeper beside her, who was also observing the scene with surprisingly rapt attention. He was the one who had suggested that Ichigo equipped himself with some kido, since the subtleties of kido could really come in handy in his battles with the arrancar. Rukia had asked him curiously about how he managed to convince Hitsugaya-taichou to teach Ichigo kido, since Urahara obviously didn't want to do it himself ( and for good reason!), but the cunning genius merely said that he had bribed him with some high-class candy...
While Rukia agreed that the use of kido could be deadly, especially from one with such strong spiritual pressure like Ichigo, another glance at her orange-haired friend convinced her that it was a lost cause.
"Really, Urahara I don't think this is going to work at all. I mean, look at him, he's trying so hard that it looks like he's constipated or some-"
"You love him", Urahara interrupted her uncaringly, in a tone that carried as much surety as when he proclaimed the success of one of his experiments, though his eyes never leave his supposed-apprentice.
"Wha-What?" Rukia stammered. The statement that came from Urahara was so unexpected, so sudden and totally uncalled for; it took Rukia a moment to get her bearings and remembered what the conversation was originally about. Looking up at the greedy shopkeeper in surprise, Rukia could almost sense, rather than see, the amused smile hiding behind his ever present fan.
She sighed again. "It's not like that. Ichigo's important to me, a…cherished nakama. Bu-, what I'm trying to say is, our relationship is not like that," Rukia struggled for the right words with some degree of difficulty. She knew she should just brush off the comment, since Urahara was probably just teasing her for the fun of it. But still, it was like there was an incomprehensible force that compelled her to justify herself. To vindicate the point.
Urahara merely raised an eyebrow at her. Whether or not he was about to say anything, she never knew, since Ichigo chose that moment to blow up a sphere of spiritual energy he had produced right in Hitsugaya's face, hence, a string of colorful words could be heard emitted from within the smoke.
Rukia turned her attention back to the boy in question, and a sense of familiarity flashed through her soul. It was the same feeling that she felt when she first met him. The strong sense of familiar intimacy. The sudden flash of the exact same face with black hair.
And the rush of pain and affection that strike her soul so deeply.
"And he looks so much…like him", she mumbled in a silent whisper.
Those words were never meant to be heard, but Urahara's sharp ears caught them anyway. He turned away from the scene of Hitsugaya throwing a level thirty kido at Ichigo in anger, to regard the petite figure beside him. The light in his grey orbs soften slightly.
"You love him too"
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The ideas within this fic are pretty random, as they came to me in a random and insane moment. So forgive me for the bad writing.
This is also written for bleach contest with the prompt 'vindicate'
And lastly, please read and review! Any reviews (good or bad) are very much welcomed!