Summary: A typical day at school for Ichigo and Rukia. Lunch is the best time for gossip, and both of them finally realize something they knew all along. IchiRuki
Rating: PG for language because Ichigo can't keep a clean mouth to save his life.
Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: As much as I wish, I don't own Bleach. If I did, it wouldn't be as awesome.
Quick explanation: The title "Kimi ga Iru" literally translates into English as "You exist", but can be thought of as "You are here". Okay, on with the story...
Kimi ga Iru
The sun shone through a window onto a mat of strawberry blond hair. It continued down and passed over the peacefully sleeping face of Kurosaki Ichigo, which then turned into his trademark scowl. He rolled over and pulled the covers over his head to block out the sun. Several minutes passed and soft footsteps in the hall were followed by a knock on his door.
"Onii-chan, wake up! Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes, so come downstairs." Yuzu walked back down the hallway and down the stairs.
Ichigo sat up in his bed, rubbed the sleep from his eyes, crossed the room, and gave two forceful knocks to his closet door. "Oi, Rukia. Get up, it's time to get ready for school." The door slid open an inch and he heard the word "Fine" before it slid shut. "Good morning to you too, geez," he said as he made his way to the door.
After breakfast, Ichigo brought up the usual leftovers to his room and knocked on the closet door again. "Rukia, are you ready yet? I have your breakfast." He set the tray of food on the desk. The closet opened and Rukia jumped down to the floor. She sat at the desk and quickly ate her breakfast. When she finished, she grabbed her bag and shoes and went to the window. "Thanks for breakfast. I'm going, so I'll see you at school," and she jumped down.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Ichigo walked into the classroom and sat down at his desk. The sound of an all-too-annoying classmate came closer and closer as if a tornado were approaching.
"Iiiiiiiiichigooooooo!!!!!" Keigo reached out to hug his friend and instead received a full-blown punch in the face. Keigo hunched in a corner. "Ichigo, what kind of friend are you?! How could you do this to me?!" he continued sobbing.
"You're the one that starts this crap every morning!" Ichigo yelled. "What the hell are you thinking?!" Mizuiro strolled over to the scene. "Good morning everybody. You guys seem lively today."
Keigo scrambled to get behind Mizuiro. "Save me from that monster Mizuiro! He's a killer, a killer!" Keigo screamed as he pointed his finger at Ichigo. "Don't be silly Keigo, you know that's how Ichigo greets you every morning. Right Ichigo?" Ichigo rested his chin in his hand and responded, "Yea, whatever."
Across the classroom, Orihime had just walked in with her best friend Tatsuki. They went over to Ichigo's desk. "Good morning Kurosaki-kun! I hope you're doing well today!" Orihime greeted merrily. Ichigo looked up. "Ah, morning Inoue-san, Tatsuki."
"Morning Ichigo," Tatsuki replied.
Keigo swiftly grabbed Orihime's hand. "Good morning Inoue-san. You're looking lovely as usual today." As he bent down to kiss her hand, a foot belonging to Chizuru came in contact with his stomach. Keigo slumped into unconsciousness on the floor. "Hiiiiiiimeeeee!!!!! Good morning!!!!!"
"Oh, good morning Chizuru, how are you?" Orihime cheerfully responded.
Chizuru came up and hugged Orihime from behind. "That's just like my Hime! Always concerned about everyone before herself! Don't worry, I'll—" A punch from Tatsuki sent Chizuru sailing across the classroom, crashing into several desks. "How many times do I have to tell you to stay away from Orihime?!" Tatsuki yelled.
Chizuru stood up and straightened her glasses. "That was more forceful than usual, but you can't keep me from my precious Hime!" She tried to hug Orihime again, but was met with another punch by Tatsuki. The two continued arguing on the side.
"Oh my, I must've missed something. Everyone seems to be in a good mood this morning." Rukia placed her bag on her desk and scanned the faces of her classmates. "Good morning everyone," she said in her fake cheery voice.
Keigo rushed once again to grab the hand of the newly entered female classmate. "Good morning Kuchiki-san! You're even more stunning than the lovely Inoue-san today!"
"Oh stop it Asano-kun, you're embarrassing me!" she giggled. His lips came closer to her skin and suddenly and uppercut from Ichigo forced him away from Rukia.
"Well, good morning to you too, Kurosaki-san," she merrily said to him. He only scowled at her.
The bell rang and the teacher entered the classroom. "Good morning students, please take your seats. Now, I hope everyone is present and accounted for! Let's see…..Takamoto-san and Yamada-san, but they're troublemakers anyway, so I'm sure they're fine!" The teacher started enthusiastically scribbling notes for the lesson on the chalkboard.
Rukia looked over at Ichigo and found him looking at her. He quickly turned away to look out the window. Rukia smiled softly to herself and went back to listening to the teacher's ramblings.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~The lunch bell rang and Orihime excitedly jumped up from her chair. "Yay, lunchtime!" she exclaimed. "Calm down Orihime, it's only lunch," said Tatsuki. "Yea, but lunch is my favorite subject in school!" Tatsuki sighed. "Orihime, lunch isn't a subject." "Oh," she said dejectedly but then she perked up. "But it should be!"
"Ichi, Ichi, Ichigo!!!!!" Keigo yelled while twirling in circles on his tippy toes. "Let's eat lunch together!" Ichigo smacked him over the head with a textbook. "Will you cut that shit out?! I'm coming!" he screamed.
While Mizuiro and Chad escorted a whining Keigo out of the classroom, Ichigo stopped at Rukia's desk. He set down a box tied in a cloth on it. "Here's your lunch," he gruffly said, "You forgot it." She grinned slyly. "Are you sure you want people seeing you give me a lunch, Kurosaki-san? Rumors will start to spread." "Stop with the fake voice crap. No one's looking, so hurry up and take it." She grabbed her bento and stood up. Rukia lightly put her hand over his, which was resting on the desk. She leaned to his ear. "That's very generous of you…Ichigo," she quietly said.
Just then, Orihime came bouncing over, interrupting the two. "Kuchiki-san, come eat lunch with us! I have a pickle and red bean paste dish I want you to try!" At the sight of Ichigo and Rukia she stopped. "What are Kuchiki-san and Kurosaki-kun doing?" she inquired.
Ichigo was trying to shrug off the blush that had crept up his cheeks, but Rukia suddenly smacked her hand against the back of his neck and exclaimed, "I thought I saw a mosquito on your neck Kurosaki-san, but I guess it got away!"
Her hand lifted away from his and she turned to face Orihime and Tatsuki. "I'm sorry, I was distracted for a second. What were you asking me Inoue-san?" Orihime tapped her chin in an attempt to remember. "Umm…oh yeah! Let's have lunch together Kuchiki-san!" She grabbed Rukia's arm and happily led her out of the classroom.
After recovering from the recent event, Ichigo furrowed his eyebrows into their usual position and said, "Whatever. You're welcome."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~The girls sat at their usual spot in the grass underneath the tree. They ate and talked endlessly about how boring the classes were. The conversation then changed to gossip about their classmates and in the middle Michiru started, " But what I wanna know is what is up with you and Kurosaki-san, Kuchiki-san?"
Rukia frantically spit out the juice she had been drinking. "W- Wh- What do you mean?" she stammered. "What I mean is," she continued, "you and Kurosaki-san have been together a lot more recently. I sometimes see you guys walking in the hallway together and laughing. And I've even heard you call him by his first name."
"You know what?" piped Manaha. "On some occasions I see him waiting for you outside the school and when you come, you two walk home together." Rukia's face was flushed pink. "Oh, that?" she said as she smiled and tried to regain her composure. "I've told you guys before, we're just really good friends. That's all."
Chizuru scooted to touch shoulders with Rukia. "Don't lie to us Kuchiki-san," she said and winked at Rukia. "I've seen you and Kurosaki-san trying to glance at each other during class. I totally support you 100!" and she squeezed the now beet red Rukia.
Tatsuki glared at Chizuru. "You're only supporting her so you can try to have Orihime all to yourself," she said. Chizuru pouted. "Tatsuki, you're so judgmental. I just think that Kuchiki-san and Kurosaki-san would make a cute couple."
Then Orihime cut in, "If Kuchiki-san likes Kurosaki-kun, then me and Kuchiki-san can both like Kurosaki-kun together and then maybe he wouldn't be so mad all the time." Tatsuki raised an eyebrow. "Orihime, both of you can't like him together; it's not a team activity."
Rukia finally spoke up. "But I don't like him, so none of this matters anyway." Orihime blinked a few times. "Oh well, I guess I'll have to like him by myself." Tatsuki slapped her hand against her forehead. Then they all continued to eat their lunch.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Up on the roof, Ichigo, Chad, Keigo, Mizuiro, and Ishida ate in silence. Ten minutes passed and Keigo couldn't take it anymore. "Why is it so quiet?! Ichigo, start a conversation." Ichigo angrily looked over at Keigo. "Why the hell do I have start a conversation?" Ichigo barked at him. "Can't we eat lunch in peace without you being so damn annoying?"
"Don't be so harsh Ichigo," Mizuiro said. "It is a bit too quiet."
Keigo pressed himself against the fence of the roof and dreamily looked down to the grass where the girls were sitting. "Ahh…I wish I could be down there with them talking and laughing and holding each other so close it makes me wanna – OW! Ichigo, what did you do that for?!" Keigo rubbed his backside where he had been kicked by Ichigo.
"Stop being so damn perverted; if you wanna have a conversation then talk about something decent." "But Ichigo," Keigo whined. "I can't help it if I'm mesmerized by the beauty of our classmates. The lovely Inoue-san, the less voluptuous but equally stunning Kuchiki-san…come on Ichigo, you can't say that you don't find any of the girls in our class attractive?"
"I don't think about that stuff," he said and shoved a chopstick full of rice in his mouth.
"I think Ichigo just doesn't want to tell us which girl he likes," Mizuiro said. "But if I had to guess, I think it would be Kuchiki-san." Ichigo choked on the food he had been swallowing. "What the hell?!" he yelled when he could finally breathe.
Mizuiro waved his hands in front of his face. "Don't be so offensive Ichigo, I have good reasoning." "Yeah? And what reasoning would that be?" he said. "Well…I definitely noticed you two looking at each other during class and it seems more than like you're just randomly looking somewhere in the classroom." "And what?" he scowled.
Keigo jumped in. "And Kuchiki-san is always the one that takes you to the nurse's office when you get sick in class," then he said evilly, "If you ask me, I think he just fakes it so they can go out to the storage house and DO IT." "Do what?" he growled as veins popped out of his head. In the background, Keigo was weeping several feet away from the group. "Why does Ichigo get to have all the fun?" he whined.
Mizuiro frowned a little. "I don't think it's like that Keigo," then he turned back towards Ichigo, "but there have been a lot of rumors about you and Kuchiki-san. Like, on some days after school you wait by the gate of the school entrance for Kuchiki-san. And while you're walking home, you guys stand really close to each other like a couple…but that's only what I heard anyway!" Mizuiro waved his hands in front of his face again.
The slight pink tint that appeared on Ichigo's cheeks yet again was quickly dissipated. "Heh. It's nice to know what our classmates are talking about. Whatever, I don't care."
"Well, after hearing all of this, I now have reason to believe that Kurosaki-san does have an interest in Kuchiki-san," Ishida stated as he pushed up his glasses.
"Who the hell asked you?!" Ichigo said.
"It's only my opinion Kurosaki-san," he replied.
"Well your opinion has been rejected." Ichigo went back to eating his food. Then he said, "This is why I don't like having conversations during lunch."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~The school day had finally ended. The teacher dusted the chalk off her hands and turned to her students. "Okay everyone, have a good afternoon! Please try to stay alive until tomorrow!"
Ichigo was walking down the sidewalk. Keigo had tried to follow him after school to see if the rumor about him and Rukia walking together was true. Ichigo had knocked him out on the way out of the classroom, but just in case, Ichigo decided to take the long way home to throw off anyone that may have been following him. As he rounded the corner of a street, he saw the shinigami with black mushroom-shaped hair perched on the wall.
"Rukia, what the hell are you doing up there?" he said.
She hopped off the wall and stood next to him. "How come you didn't wait for me after school today?" she asked. He looked down into a pair of violet-blue eyes that were looking back into his brown ones. After several seconds of silence, he brushed past her and continued walking. "Oi, Ichigo! Where are you going? I asked you a question!"
Rukia quickly jogged to catch up with him. She stepped in front of him and held her arms out to the side to prevent him from passing her. Her face flashed an expression of annoyance, but held a slight bit of concern. "What's the matter Ichigo? Did something happen?"
He looked sideways at the ground, avoiding her intense stare. "It's nothing," he replied.
"Well, it's gotta be something if you're ignoring me. What, are shinigami duties getting to you? I told you already, a shinigami must— "
"No," he cut in, "it's not that. It's just…nothing you should be worried about."
"And why's that?" Her face was now full of determination. Instead of answering her though, he gently pushed her to one side and kept on walking down the sidewalk. Realizing she would be unable to coax anything out of him, she followed behind his footsteps.
They had gone past several familiar streets, but at an intersection where Rukia would have expected him to turn left, he continued going straight along the street. Minutes went by and Rukia still had no idea where they were going, but refused to check the time on her hollow-tracker cell phone.
A few more minutes passed by and they had finally exited from the maze of narrow streets onto a main road that had a few cars passing by. Ichigo and Rukia crossed the street to a grassy hill that overlooked a river. Ichigo walked a little down the hill. He stopped, dropped his bag to the ground, and laid down in the soft grass. He folded his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. Rukia had just caught up with him and decided to sit in the grass too. She stretched her legs in front of her and leaned back on her palms. The sun was sinking lower into the sky, casting a late afternoon orange silhouette across the river.
A summer breeze blew by, moving their hair in the direction of the wind. Rukia looked back at Ichigo, but didn't dare say anything. His eyes were still shut and she could see his chest slowly moving up and down. After watching him for some time, she turned back to the river. The sun from the sky and its reflection in the water were so close it became difficult to tell where one ended and the other began.
Suddenly, Rukia felt something cold against her upper arm. She jumped up in surprise, turned around, and found Ichigo sitting up and holding out an open juice box toward her. He held one for himself in the other hand. She opened up her mouth to argue, but decided against it. She snatched the juice box and sat back down. Not long after, slurping sounds came from Ichigo's box and he disposed of it in a nearby recycle bin. Rukia sipped at hers a few minutes longer and disposed of it in the same way.
The air was still heavy with silence. Finally, Ichigo spoke. "You know there are rumors going around in school about us being together."
"Yeah, so?" she said.
Ichigo brought one knee up to rest his arm on. "So…the more they see us together, the more rumors they'll make."
"Well, as long as they don't see anything happening, they're still just rumors, right?"
Rukia was now looking at him with her all-knowing Kuchiki stare. Her face was glowing from the last of the sun's rays. They sat this way for a whole minute; Rukia's deep sea eyes piercing Ichigo's chocolate ones. Then, in one swift motion, Ichigo had tilted Rukia's chin up with one finger and gently kissed her. When he pulled back, Rukia was stunned but then smiled softly at him. Her blush was hidden by the sun.
Calmly, Ichigo stood up. He offered a hand to Rukia and pulled her up. They continued to stare into each other's eyes. Ichigo smirked and then said, "Yea, just rumors." He picked up their bags and handed Rukia her bag. "Let's go home. Yuzu will have dinner ready soon."
"Aa," Rukia managed to say and nodded her head.
They climbed back up the hill to make their way back to the Kurosaki household. Rukia stood next to Ichigo and took one last look at the setting sun. She gazed up at him and said, "I'm still mad that you didn't wait for me after school." Then she punched him in the shoulder and took off running down the street. Ichigo scowled and sprinted behind her. Nothing else in the world matters. You exist.
Owari
Author's Notes: So everyone, that was my first fic ever! I really hope you enjoyed it because I got frustrated editing it so many times! I'll never be satisfied...
Anyway, I would appreciate any comments because I'm considering doing more stories in the future. Thank you so much!