He was walking through town, heading for the school on a normal Monday morning. When, suddenly, he heard the screaming again.
He peered behind him, cautiously, to make sure it was only a nightmare.
It wasn't. There they were, nearly the whole of the girls student body.
"KISSHU-SAMA! OVER HERE! HEY! WAIT UP!" all the girls were after him, all because his dad owned the school.
"Go away!" he shouted, turning and walking away from the crowd of girls, only to bump into another.
"Oh, I'm sorry! Are you hurt?! I didn't mean to run into you. Honest. Here, I'll help you up." he stared up, his golden eyes, burning with annoyance from being plowed into, came into line with a hand. He took this as a sign that the person wanted to help him up, so he took it.
Upon making contact with the stranger's palm, Kish froze. The skin was so soft, the tone was so pale. The persons entire hand felt fragile in his touch.
Soon, and very abruptly, he was pulled back to reality.
"Can you stand? I'm sorry! Does your leg feel like it's broken?" that voice! He'd never heard it, but it sounded so sweet, so gentle, that he just had to sigh.
"No, I'm fine. Thanks for caring so much though." he stood quickly, finding that the person who'd been apologizing was nearly a head shorter than himself.
"Alright, and I really am sorry though." the owner of the voice let their hand fall from his as they stepped back.
The owner of the voice just happened to have bloodred pigtails, pale soft skin, and deep brown eyes. These traits, being those of Kish's ideal girlfriend (he's still single.).
"It's alright, please stop apologizing." he stated sympathetically as he waved good-bye. He'd just caught the time, he had to run or else he'd be late.
So, turning to walk away, the girl froze and turned back around. "Oh, and by the way, I'm Ichigo. It's really nice meeting you." with that, she turned and walked away, trying her hardest not to hobble and or limp. During the fall she had sprained her ankle, it now hurt tremendously as she walked.
Kish, unfortunately for her, had noticed the scrapes on her hands and knees, as well as her torn knee socks, and her limping. So, wanting to impress her, he walked over and placed his hand upon her shoulder.
"Ichigo, you really should get someone to, at least, help you to school. I doubt you can walk very easily on that bad ankle as it is." he suggested, steadying her when she almost fell down.
"N-no, I think I can make it alright. Thanks though." she waved her arms frantically in front of her face, signaling that she didn't want the help. So, determined to make it to school on time, without falling, she turned and began to hobble to school. In her rush, however, she HAD fallen, and her school supplies, a mountain high, scattered onto the pavement. "Oh dear," she muttered as she scrambled to collect her items, wincing in pain as she moved her ankle in order to try and stand.
Kish, intent on stopping her from hurting herself, placed his hand on her shoulder to keep her sitting as he walked over to retrieve any lost papers of hers.
When he'd come back from walking down the street to retrieve a notebook, Kish groaned.
There she was, limping down the sidewalk towards him to retrieve her notebook.
"DIDN'T I JUST TELL YOU NOT TO GET UP?!" he fumed as he scooped up her books out of her hands.
"Um, c-can I please have my books back? I really need to get to school soon. I'm already late as it is." she pleaded, nearly about to cry as she reached up to take her books.
Unfortunately, Kish had been holding them out of her reach, and was intent on walking with them. Seeing the name of the school on her bag, he began to walk in that direction. Suddenly though, he swiveled back around when he heard a thud and crying.
There Ichigo sat, hand on her ankle, tears flowing freely down her cheeks, causing them to become red. He'd totally forgotten about the fact that Ichigo couldn't walk. So, needless to say, he felt quite ashamed.
"P-please, just give me my books back!" she pleaded, staring up at him helplessly.
The answer he gave her though, only made her tears fall harder. "No." it sounded so cold, so blunt.
"S-stop bullying me!" she jumped up, despite her ankle, and began to run in the opposite direction from her school.
"H-hey! Wait up! That's not the way to your school! Stop, you can't run on that ankle!" he ran after her, desperate to make her sit down so that she wasn't running on her ankle.
She hadn't stopped running until she found herself on the steps of an apartment building, Kish right behind her.
"Please, stop following me!" she pleaded, backing up as he approached.
"You say you're late to school, your ankles gone bad, you try RUNNING on it, you run home and not to school. I'm surprised you haven't gotten kicked out yet." he stated bluntly, walking over and setting her books down on the steps. "Is this really where you live?" he asked, looking up in disgust at the ratty old building.
"W-well, if you don't like it, th-then go away." she stated weakly, going to reach down and pick up her books.
Suddenly, her ankle gave way and she fell down the steps. Luckily, Kish was expecting she'd do something like that. So, right before she hit the concrete, he caught her bridal style.
"Fine, I'll ride you to school." he stated, setting her gently onto the step as he pulled out his cell phone. "Yeah, in front of this ratty old apartment on Main… ok, I'll be waiting here with a guest."
Ichigo, taking this time to get up, picked up her books to go inside.
"Oh, and where exactly are you going?" he asked, catching her off her guard.
"Inside to get something to eat. Do you want something?" she asked, leaning on the outside wall for support.
"Do you even have anything to eat?" he raised his eyebrows questioningly, thinking that she was too poor to afford anything good.
"Um, well, let's see…do you like grilled cheese? Oh, that's right! You have to get going to school. I'm sorry I held you up for so long." she bowed as best she could and went to go inside.
She was almost in when, as she tried to close the door, Kish stepped one foot into the apartment and stopped the door from closing.
"C'mon. I'll treat you to a snack in my dad's office. He keeps the mini fridge packed for when I get hungry." he offered, reaching out for her to take his hand. "Besides, that school of yours must be wondering where you are." suddenly, the phone at the desk of the apartment rang.
So, going off for only a moment to answer it, Kish took the time to come in and leaf through her schoolwork.
"Hmm, for a public school highschooler, she has some pretty in-depth, quality work. I'm an As honor student, and I can't even achieve this level of work." he set her homework down and looked up as Ichigo came back to him.
"That was the school, they say they can't afford my being late, so they threw me out. That and…they found out." she stated, lowering her head so that her fiery red locks covered her pale face.
"Found out what?-Hey, stop crying!" he commanded as she tried desperately to wipe away all the tears. When she looked up again, she looked pretty scared. Like he'd just cursed her out or something.
"A-I'm going out for a while, I'll be back though. Please go home, if the landlord finds out I have a guy here, she'll throw me out." she looked frantic, like her life depended on it.
"Can't your parents straighten things out? I mean, it's not uncommon for kids to have guys over at their apartments to study. Also, your parents could supervise." with this, he watched her bow her head, and walk passed him out the door.
That's when the time hit him. He was going to be late and the driver had just shown up.
"Sir," the driver opened Kish's door for him as he climbed inside, laying his bag on the floor.
"Jonson, follow the girl in the red pigtails." he commanded as he pointed to her out the window.
As he sat there, watching her make her way through the crowds of people, he noticed the pain in her face grow every step.
"Pull over here." he stated as the limo came to a complete stop. Once Ichigo realized he was following her, she stopped dead in her tracks.
Rolling down his window, he motioned for Ichigo to come over. As she did so, with a pained limp, Kish swung open the door, pulled her in by the wrist, and closed the door.
"DRIVE!" he commanded as the car took off.
"Um, c-can you please let go of me? I really have to be somewhere soon. Now that I don't have school, I can work extra hours on the job." she explained as he let go of her waist. Silently he prayed that she wouldn't notice that she was sitting nearly ON him. Infact, it really did feel comfortable; Ichigo, with her small frame, sitting ontop of him as they rode in a limo.
"Well, where do you work?" he asked, planning to follow her around all day, despite school, so that he could make sure her daily life wasn't as bad as he'd thought it to be. Little did he know, it was much worse.
"I-I just got a job at the bakery down the street." she stuttered, gazing away from her captor.
"Ok, Jonson, to the bakery, please!" he ordered as they sped off again.
"Here we are, sir. Miss, please watch your step." the old man acknowledged as she stepped out of the limo.
"T-thank you, Mr. Jonson." she bowed again as she closed the door and walked in.
"So, you intend to stay here and keep an eye on her, not going to school?" Jonson asked, looking back at his boss, who nodded his head in response as he gazed after her, out the window. "Sir, I hope you know this but…that isn't just ANY little girl. I know her parents personally. Her father and I went to college together."
"I thought you said that your best friend from college was now a big time mob boss." he inquired, leaning forward.
"Oh, he is. Also, I've known Ichigo since she was a baby, too." he smirked back to his boss, who's eyes were wide open by now.
"S-SO YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT, THAT SWEET LITTLE GIRL HAS A MOB BOSS AS A DAD, AND YET SHE STILL LIVES LIKE THAT?!" he was fuming by now. From what Jonson'd told him, his best friend was a billionaire. He couldn't believe that ANY father would let his daughter suffer like that, poor and having to take a crappy job in delivery at a bakery, because he was too cheap to give her something to live on. He'd seen the inside of that rundown old apartment. Nothing at all good about it.
Seeing his thoughts playing across his face, Jonson added, "She wanted nothing to do with her father's 'business. So, taking all the money that she'd scraped up doing odd jobs, she left. Her grades are wonderful, she's even passed college completely. Yet, that call this morning was from her school. They kicked her out because they found out about her dad. The same thing happened with her job at a restaurant, they found out and fired her. She might loose her apartment, due to lack of parents at only age 15." he bowed his head, obviously moved by her past.
"I-I never knew." he muttered, jolting out of the car.
"Kish, what are you doing?! If they find out about Ichigo's father, they'll fire her! She's barely living on anything as it is, don't ruin that for her."
"Don't worry, when I'm through here, Ichigo'll never have to work this hard, ever again. I'll explain the whole thing to dad, once we get to the school. He might be able to contact her dad and tell him what's going on. Then, she and I will get married, and I can comfort her I my arms!" by this time Kish had already entered the doors to the bakery.
"Hello, sir, may I help y-" she was pulled from her position behind the counter and nearly out the door, when her boss stepped in.
"SIR, PUT HER DOWN!" the man yelled, coming across the room towards Kish. "What is the meaning of all of this?"
"Ichigo here comes from a rich family, I intend to bring her back."
"You know, don't you?" she asked, glaring up at Kish.
"Know what?" the boss asked, crossing his arms.
"Ichigo's father, Mr. Momomiya, would like to see his daughter. So, I'm taking her back." he stated proudly, as if he'd done something heroic.
"You mean that mob guy's got a daughter?… sorry, but you're fired." he stated, walking away.
"Hey, what'd I do?" she called out to the now empty room. She then turned to Kish. "And you." she stated darkly. "YOU just cost me the only job that could pay enough money for my rent!"
DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUN! Review peeps!