Disclaimer; I do not own bleach or any of the characters used... even that characters not mentioned or seen in the series… I own nothing.
1 Caught in a storm
Tatsuki sat in the classroom as her eyelids fought to stay open. The day's lessons were almost over and the week was already half done now but there were another two days of school before the weekend. Though she had no plans for those two days other then her karate practice but that only covered Saturday morning and there were no upcoming tests to study for nor was there any hint of an assignment to occupy her time.
There were no problems to concern her as everything was how it should be though it seemed a little bit too quiet lately. She shifted her gaze from the front of the room off to the side as she glanced at Orihime. A slight smile formed on her face as she considered making plans with her for the weekend but then a bit of shifting caught her eye in a desk a few rows past Orihime and she found Chizuru.
A slight anger filled her at the sight of her. The two of them didn't get along and everyone knew that. Not a lot of people really got along with Chizuru all that much though everyone put up with her most of the time. There were a couple of people that she got along with but Tatsuki wasn't one of them. The two of them got along the least out of anyone else in the school. Chizuru was always after her best friend in an almost perverted fit.
But today she had been a little different. Chizuru had been pretty quiet the whole day. It was strange and she was most likely planning another attempt at getting close to Orihime. There was no way Tatsuki would let it happen however. She would keep Orihime far away from Chizuru no matter what happened. The two of them could be friends but she would never let it be any more then that but at the same time she was hesitant for it to be any less then a friendship since Orihime was one of the only people that didn't judge her for how she was. Everyone else had judged her badly on the first day of school.
Tatsuki carefully eyed Chizuru from the corner of her eye though she was careful to make it seem like her attention was still at the front of the classroom. She was definitely planning something and it definitely had something, if not all, to do with Orihime. Tatsuki knew immediately that she would have to keep an eye on Chizuru to make sure she didn't try anything stupid even if her plan didn't involve Orihime it definitely would involve some girl that had caught her eye.
As the bell rang she started packing up as everyone else did the same. Orihime skipped over to her almost immediately with a bright smile and all her stuff ready to go. Her smile faded a little as she said, "Tatsuki, do you mind if I go on ahead without you today? There are things I need to do."
"Yeah, that's fine." Tatsuki said a little taken aback.
"I'll make it up to you alright?" Orihime said.
"It's fine, Orihime." Tatsuki said as she slowly began to recall that she had classroom duty today, which was why Orihime was going home before her.
"I'll still make it up to you." Orihime said with a slight pout. "See you tomorrow, Tatsuki."
Orihime left the room quickly as Tatsuki finished packing up her things. She made a quick glance up at the side of the board to see who else was on duty. She let out a sigh as she found Keigo's name there next to hers. Here was another person she wasn't to fond of being around too much. She didn't mind him but he got annoying fast. At least he wasn't as much of a pervert as Chizuru was all the time but he still got there sometimes but at least not towards Orihime. He was mostly just a goof then anything else.
Tatsuki finished packing up her stuff as the last of the students left the room. She left her book bag on her desk and went to the front of the class where Keigo was already wiping the board. He glanced over and threw a chalkboard eraser at her with a smirk as he clearly wanted to catch her off guard. His amusement died down as she caught it and began wiping one of the boards clean.
"Is there anything new and interesting in your life?" He asked casually trying to start a conversation.
"Nope," Tatsuki answered. "How about yours?"
"Nothing, this is the highlight of my day so far." He said with a bit of a laugh. "Today may have been a bit more fun if you picked a fight again."
"I don't start fights." Tatsuki said.
"Oh come on, you beat on Chizuru daily." He said.
"I don't start that." Tatsuki defended.
"You're the only one using violence." He said. "I mean sure the things Chizuru does aren't decent behavior but that doesn't mean you should hit her all the time for it."
"She brings it upon herself." Tatsuki justified. "Why are you defending her?"
"I'm not, I'm just saying if you don't want people to think that you have a thing for her you should lighten up a bit." Keigo said.
"I do not have a thing for Chizuru. I'm not even like that." Tatsuki said angrily.
"That's not what your actions towards her say." He laughed as he finished cleaning the board. "I know you're not into that sort of thing but even still it looks like it to someone that doesn't know you."
Keigo leaned back on the teacher's desk and watched Tatsuki as he glared at him in anger. She had stopped cleaning the board as soon as he suggested she had feelings for Chizuru but her anger flared the moment he had started to defend her. It was even worse now that there was some outrageous speculation about her and Chizuru. It was nothing but nonsense and she knew that but this was high school and everyone talked about rumors as if they were true no matter how unbelievable and wrong they were.
"The only reason I hit her is because she's always all over Orihime." Tatsuki said. "I don't see how people are getting the wrong idea about it."
"Well, they think you're jealous of how she only gives Orihime attention and since you're a tomboy and guys sometimes show affection by abuse when they're uncomfortable with their feelings." Keigo summarized. "If you think about it like that it's almost a given why so many people believe it. If I didn't see how abusive you were towards her well, no that just makes it worse. Scratch that."
"What do you mean it makes it worse?" Tatsuki snapped.
"Well the more abusive you are the more you like her." He said with a shrug. "Look these rumors aren't very new but if you want them to be less believable then slowly lighten up on her. If you just stop then people are going to approach you about it."
Tatsuki remained silent for awhile before asking, "How long have these rumors been going around?"
"Geez, when does anyone know when or where these things even start?" Keigo asked. "Look when it started doesn't matter. Just show that it's not true without announcing that you know about it and by this time next week there will be other rumors that people will focus on and the stuff going on around you will be forgotten a week after the new rumors spread around."
"Man, and here I thought you were just a goof." Tatsuki said with a slight laugh.
"Is that the thanks I get for trying to look out for you a bit?" Keigo asked as if completely offended.
"My bad," Tatsuki said with another laugh. "Thanks for pointing this out to me, though."
"No problem," He said as if he was completely praised for it.
Tatsuki silently went back to cleaning the board while Keigo remained by the desk as he watched her in silence. She glanced over at him now a little nervous about these rumors, "What's up?"
"I'm just a little curious about these rumors that's all." He replied. "I'm a little surprised about them to be honest. More that it's about you and Chizuru hooking up and not you and Orihime, to be honest there's more of a setup for you two and not Chizuru."
Tatsuki went completely pale at this new assumption, "Why would you think of me and Orihime getting together? Neither of us is even like that."
"Well you have the whole 'tsundere' thing going on with Orihime." Keigo said simply. "If you really think about it the two of you are always together and it's rare to see you two apart. You know how these things go though, it's only a matter of time before someone gets bored and makes the connections and talks about it to someone else."
"So this is going to be the next set of rumors then?" Tatsuki asked nervously. She didn't want to be put in this spot. If there were any other rumors of her liking another girl that will probably be it for her reputation and everyone will believe that she's like that. "Don't tell me you're going to spread that one."
"No, when these rumors die down I'll spread something about Uryu or something for you." He said with a smirk.
Tatsuki was taken aback a little that he would do that for her without being asked or bribed. She eyed him curiously about where this would eventually lead. As she waited for him to either inform her about anything else going around or what he might want from this she finished cleaning the board. Nothing was said even as she finished but Keigo continued to watch her and it gave her the creeps. There was a good chance that she knew what he was thinking about right now and decided to crush it.
"I'm not like that and I don't have a thing for Chizuru or Orihime so don't bother asking about it." She said glaring over at him once more.
"I figured as much." He said simply with a slight smirk. "I already told you I didn't believe any of the rumors going around, right?"
"Yeah," Tatsuki said a little distantly. "What were you thinking about then?"
"I was wondering about what I should start about Uryu or if I should say something about someone else. You know, considering…" He trailed off.
"Yeah," Tatsuki said. "He's not the type of person to do anything but what's there to say about him? Everyone kind of avoids him anyways. Maybe you shouldn't even start a rumor about anyone."
Keigo just shrugged, "Everyone knows that rumors without a base are fake but it would be enough to avert their attention enough away from you to avoid break up rumors."
Tatsuki let out a sigh at how much he had thought this through. She looked at him curiously for a moment as he looked at her blankly as if he was trying to figure out what she was thinking now. Now it was his turn to question her, "What?"
"How long have you been planning all this?" She asked him.
"I'm not planning anything." He said. "I have an older sister so I know how to go about these things with ease."
"She gave you advice?" Tatsuki asked. "Sounds nice."
"She didn't give me crap other then a dark smirk during the entrance ceremony." Keigo said. "I'm just not doing what she did. My sister was loud enough on the phone for me to learn from it."
Tatsuki laughed a little, "It must be nice to have a sibling sometimes. Even if you don't ever get along you still learn from each other. Sometimes I wish I had that. To be honest it's one of the reasons that I'm so close to Orihime. She's pretty much a sister to me and that's why we're so close. Being the same age has its advantages and its disadvantages though."
"Yeah, I can imagine. There are no real pep talks from experience or any form of education. Even just being in the same class makes some conversations pointless to have since you already know what's going on." Keigo said. "I'm kind of glad that I'm not the oldest. I don't have to be completely focused or reliable and I can slack off a little and take things easy while learning from my sister's mistakes. I've got it pretty good sometimes."
"Only sometimes?" Tatsuki asked curiously.
"My sister is a psycho." He said as his face paled dramatically. "Sometimes I swear she really wants to kill me."
Tatsuki gave him an odd and doubtful look before shrugging and going back to her desk to retrieve her things so she could go home. But as she got there she glanced out the window and found a few really dark storm clouds hovering over the town. She got a slight chill and glanced over at Keigo and said, "It looks like we're going to get one hell of a storm. We should probably hurry home so we're not caught in it."
"Good thinking." He said as he got off the desk while looking past her. "You might want to run home."
She didn't even bother questioning him as the slight gleam in his eyes said it all. If it rained and her uniform shirt got wet it would become see though and with the darkness of the clouds it wouldn't take long for that to happen. They both hurried out of the classroom and down the halls to get to their shoe lockers before the long but hopefully quick and dry trip home. When they got there Tatsuki glanced out the front doors and found a few drops of rain here and there.
She let out a long sigh, "I am so screwed right now."
Keigo glanced over as well and laughed a little, "Looks like it."
Tatsuki began changing her shoes as Keigo finished putting his indoor shoes away. He walked to the door and glanced out, "So how far do you live anyways?"
"I live near Ichigo's place." Tatsuki said.
"Ouch, you're going to be drenched when you get home." Keigo said.
"That's obvious." Tatsuki said with a hint of aggravation.
"I'll tell you what, my place is just a little out of the way." Keigo said getting an automatic annoyed look. "I'll walk with you until there and you go the rest of the way on your own."
"How about you bite me, Keigo?" Tatsuki asked angrily.
"That's a shame." He said as he pulled an umbrella out of his book bag. "And I was going to lend you my umbrella to save you from getting wet."
"Sorry," She said automatically.
"Now I don't know if I should be a gentlemen when you clearly don't deserve niceties." He said with crossed arms.
"Oh, come on don't be like that, Keigo." Tatsuki pleaded. "Don't just come on like a creep then flaunt niceties like that."
Keigo smiled mischievously, "Who said I was being 'nice'?"
"You did a minute ago." Tatsuki said bluntly.
"Just hurry up or I'll leave without you." He said as his smile grew even more. "But you could always just stay here and wait out the storm. But it doesn't look like the storm will pass anytime soon so you'll be stuck here for a few hours."
She wanted to yell at him but she had a long walk home and no umbrella at all so she quickly put her indoor shoes away and joined him at the door. They lingered for a bit as they tried to calculate when the storm would hit by the raindrops. Though it could start at any minute the rain was just scattered drops and nothing more but the middle of the storm was over the middle of town and halfway through her walk. There were already flashes of lightning and rumbles of thunder in the distance.
Keigo let out a bit of a sigh before he opened the door and let Tatsuki step out before leaving as well. They both hesitated at the front doors as they dreaded the coming storm. It was already pretty clear that it was going to be huge. There was a slight sense of fear that ran through Tatsuki as she recalled that Orihime had errands to do and might be outside right now. If it wasn't too much out of the way Tatsuki would try and meet her after she and Keigo parted ways.
She wasted no time in pulling out her cell phone to try and call her to make sure she was alright at least. As she dialed the number she glanced over at Keigo to quickly say, "I just want to make sure Orihime's alright since she had some errands to do."
"Going to go play the hero if she get's caught in the rain?" He asked with a smirk.
She ignored him as the phone rang and with the storm coming in it would be best to hit him later on. But yes, if need be she would go play the hero for Orihime if she got caught in this. The phone continued to ring but there was no answer at all. She hung up as her fear heightened a little while the two began their walk home. The rain hadn't even really started but the umbrella was already open and hovering above them in case of a sudden downpour.
It wasn't long before Tatsuki tried again but as she did Keigo slowed to a stop making her stop as well and give him a questioning look but he was looking past her as he spoke, "Are the rumors proving to be true?"
She gave him an even more questioning look before following his gaze and finding Chizuru sitting on a bench a good distance away and looking almost defeated. She was hunched over as if just hearing the worst of news after everything else had fallen apart around her. Even from their distance they could sense her bad mood. It was as if her posture was correct. She didn't really even seem to notice the rain that had started to fall.
"Do you think something happened to her?" Keigo asked.
"That's a given, she was acting weird all day." Tatsuki said. "I didn't even have to hit her today."
"I thought you only did that when she was acting weird." He replied.
"I do," Tatsuki said with a nod.
"Then you should have hit her today because she was acting weird." Keigo said. "But if it was only today that she was acting weird but not other days then you only hit her when she's being normal and not when she's being weird. So in the end you're contradicting yourself."
Tatsuki looked over at him with a mixed look of anger and confusion, "What the hell are you talking about?"
He just shrugged, "Not to change the subject but I don't want to be standing here when it starts pouring and it's already starting to rain."
Tatsuki looked back at Chizuru and began to feel a little guilty for just leaving her like that even if she didn't like the girl. If it weren't for the storm she wouldn't even care about it. She let out a sigh as her mind was in debate of what to do but before she could even come to a conclusion of any kind Keigo spoke up from beside her, "I'm going to get going and you can do what you want. I'll let you know tomorrow if I made it home without stopping."
She glanced over to find he was stepping out from under the umbrella and handing it to her, "I want this back tomorrow morning alright?"
"Yeah, sure." Tatsuki said baffled by this as he started to walk away. "Are you sure about this?"
"What kind of guy would I be to leave two girls stranded in this storm?" He asked as he looked back with a slight smile. "Consider it a step towards proving the rumors wrong."
He left it at that as he took off leaving her a little stunned that he could be such a gentlemen at times. She smirked slightly as she walked over to Chizuru before his last comment really clicked for her. When people saw her returning an umbrella to him it would look good for her but for him as well as he would be the nice guy to lend a helping hand. Now she couldn't hit him for his earlier comment either since it wouldn't look too good either.
She approached Chizuru silently and didn't say a thing to startle her as she was clearly out of it but that was obvious when they first noticed her sitting there. But even in class she was like this and before that as well. This was starting to become a little concerning for Tatsuki despite how little she actually liked the girl. Her mind wandered more on her reasoning for doing this then anything else.
Tatsuki stood in front of Chizuru while doing her best to cover both of them with the umbrella. Even now Chizuru hadn't noticed her at all so she decided to say something but at the same time avoided expressing any concern for her, "Do you know what color our uniform shirt is?"
Chizuru looked up at her almost shocked as there was a clear flash of fear in her eyes though it faded a little as she tried to keep her cool, "Yeah, why?"
"Do you know what happens when it gets wet?" Tatsuki asked as she raised her eyebrows a bit to keep a cold attitude towards her.
"Is there a point to this or are you just going to stand here and ask stupid questions?" Chizuru asked angrily.
"Here's another stupid question for you, are you aware that it's raining?" Tatsuki asked making Chizuru look around a little shocked. "There's one hell of a storm coming and I'm guessing that you don't have an umbrella with you."
Chizuru was taken aback a little as she avoided looking at Tatsuki, "I didn't think it would rain today."
"Whatever, come on." Tatsuki said. "I'll walk you home."
"I'll be fine." Chizuru said as thunder rumbled in the distance.
"Keigo's getting soaked right now so you don't have to." Tatsuki said. "This is his umbrella. He's running home right now and I'm pretty sure he'd be pissed if he found out I walked home alone."
"Are you guilt tripping me into going?" Chizuru asked.
"No, I'm just stating that I don't want to listen to him whine tomorrow." Tatsuki said as she turned to leave. "Let's go."
Chizuru was hesitant but got up and followed Tatsuki. They left the school grounds in silence but came to a stop at the gate and Tatsuki glanced over at Chizuru, "Where do you live?"
"Just in the Mitsumiya district, it's not too far from here." Chizuru said. "I can probably make it on my own and not get too wet."
There was a flash of lightning followed almost immediately by a loud rumble above them. Tatsuki glanced up at the sky and said, "It's going to start coming down any second now. Do you really want to risk it?"
She let out a slight groan in angered defeat as she led Tatsuki to her home. Tatsuki didn't want to be there just as much as Chizuru didn't want her there. They didn't speak as they let their minds wander on other things but kept enough concentration to pay attention to the other as well as their surroundings. It wasn't long before the rain came crashing down on them and once more Tatsuki got a surge of immense fear for Orihime as she realized she still didn't even know where she was.
Tatsuki wasted no time in pulling out her cell phone once more to try and call Orihime and dialed the number without offering an explanation out of consideration for Chizuru as she still didn't really care about her. This time the call didn't even go through making her stop dead in her tracks in fear. She closed her eyes and did her best to try and find her presence in town and found it was faint but she was at home.
She sighed in relief and turned to continue walking but found Chizuru giving her a strange look, "Are you alright? You just went really pale."
"I'm fine." Tatsuki replied loudly over the thunder. "I just had a really bad feeling."
Chizuru just nodded and they continued on to try and rid themselves of the other as soon as possible though Tatsuki still had a long walk home and this was a major detour for her. She was a little grateful that Keigo had spotted Chizuru though considering the state she was in she would have been caught in the middle of this but in return he had been caught in this. She felt a little bad about it and realized that she should have taken shelter in the school with Chizuru while he went home with his umbrella but she just wanted to go home or maybe to Orihime's since it was closer.
Soon Tatsuki was longing to be in the warmth of Orihime's house and having a fun time discussing a random topic or watching a movie or one of the various things they liked to do. As her thoughts continued she almost forgot about being with another person until a car came down the street pretty quickly. With her mind filled with thoughts of Orihime her mind was telling her that was who she was with so she instinctively placed herself so as the car passed them and splashed water towards them she took it.
But after it happened she realized that she wasn't with Orihime and her face began to pale as she looked over at Chizuru who was in a complete shock at the immediate action. All Tatsuki could say about it was, "If you ever bring that up to anyone I will kill you. I don't even care what the situation is, got it?"
Chizuru offered a faint nod and nothing else as she was still amazed at the action. She wasn't the only one though, Tatsuki was just as amazed that she had done that for Chizuru even though she had been thinking of Orihime to the point that she thought that was who she was with. Now it just left an awkward air around them as they walked in silence while Tatsuki used her free arm to cover her breasts since her shirt was undoubtedly soaked enough to be see through.
After ten minutes Chizuru stopped Tatsuki and motioned her to a house, "This is where I live."
"I'll walk you to the door so you don't get soaked." Tatsuki said since the rain had only gotten worse. She didn't even want to be in this district anymore though. Not after taking the splash of water for Chizuru. She knew that by doing that she had protected someone that she didn't like.
They walked to the door in a continued silence and they stood in complete awkwardness as Chizuru looked for her keys. Tatsuki let out a sigh and looked down the street. She wasn't familiar with this area and would likely have to backtrack to school to get home without getting lost.
As she heard the door unlock she brought her gaze back to Chizuru to say a half-assed farewell so she could leave. Chizuru remained standing on the porch looking a little uncomfortable as she watched Tatsuki, "My place is a bit of a mess but you can come in and wait out the storm if you want."
"No," Tatsuki denied immediately. "I just want to go home."
She turned to leave but Chizuru grabbed her hand to stop her, "Tatsuki the storm's only getting worse and you're soaked."
"It doesn't matter, Chizuru." Tatsuki said. "Even if my clothes were dry right now I'd be soaked by the time I got home anyways. There are plenty of cars and puddles to ensure that."
"Then wait out the storm and I'll lend you some clothes." Chizuru said. "It's the least I can do after you walked me home and the other thing."
She was a little nervous with her last few words as Tatsuki almost glared at her, "It's still a no, Chizuru."
"Then I'll tell everyone at school about it." Chizuru said almost too confidently.
Tatsuki turned to face her properly as her eyes became cold, "If you so much as even hint it you will regret it. Even if you're hinting it towards me you will regret it."
As she spoke her last couple of words there was a flash of lightning followed immediately by thunder to heighten the effect it had on Chizuru. Her face drained of color but she still tried to keep her cool regardless of the threats, "You don't scare me, Tatsuki."
"Well, we're going to have to work on that." She said angrily.
They fell into silence as their eyes argued with the other. After a moment Tatsuki turned to leave without any arguments on either side. Just as she was about to step off the porch a bolt of lightning hit the ground not too far away from them. There was no pause before thunder almost exploded above them. Tatsuki was frozen on the spot with wide eyes. If she had turned to leave just a single moment earlier she would have been struck by lightning.
The was a weak and frightened voice from behind her that was barely even audible but clear all the same, "No more arguing about this, Tatsuki. Come inside."
Tatsuki faintly nodded and was pulled inside the house with ease. Her eyes were wide as she took off her shoes and they were wide still when she was led to the bathroom where she was handed a towel. She absentmindedly dried her hair as Chizuru went to get her some clothing. If her heart wasn't racing so fast she would be curious as to what sort of clothing she would be forced into. She held no trust in Chizuru at all but all that went through her head was what almost happened to her.
When Chizuru came back into the bathroom Tatsuki was still in a slight state of shock so the dry clothes were put aside. She slowly went to Tatsuki's side and hesitantly placed a hand on her shoulder in comfort. Tatsuki only faintly snapped out of it to find a deep concern in Chizuru's eyes. Her regret for entering this house was still high but regardless she would leave when the storm passed completely. After literally almost being struck by lightning she did not want to go outside in a storm anytime soon.
