Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. If I do, I would make Ichigo and Rukia get together as soon as possible. Anyway i'm still waiting for her to appear soon in the manga. It's been about 30 chapters since they last met.
A/N: I have no comment.
"Kuchiki-san," Inoue called out. She slung her purse over her shoulder and tucked an orange strand behind her ear as she walked over to a short raven haired girl – having some difficulty to reach out a certain book, inches away from the tips of her wriggling fingers. She grunted and huffed in annoyance as she brushed away her irritating raven tresses away from her face. Inoue watched in amusement – her friend was still oblivious of her presence and struggled to get a hold of that book. Little did she know that a small ladder on the corner of the room was waiting to be noticed. Inoue smiled and cleared her throat, gaining the attention of her friend.
"Oh, Inoue..."
"Do you need help with that, Kuchiki-san?" She asked politely but Rukia shook her head, "No. I got it."
"There's a ladder over there to help you out with your dilemma," Inoue replied, pointing her long index finger on the stepladder. Rukia turned her head towards to where she was pointing at and chuckled awkwardly.
"Thanks," Rukia answered back and made her way to the ladder. Inoue reached inside her bag for her beeping cell phone – She flipped it open and paused before looking back at Rukia, again, having a complicated situation with the stepladder.
"Kuchiki-san, I need to go now. Ishida-kun's waiting," She said. Rukia nodded, finally setting the ladder down on the floor while wiping her sweat-covered forehead with the back of her hand. She heaved out a breath and smiled at Inoue.
"Yeah, sure. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Wish me luck with the date!" She exclaimed, a wide smile painted on her face as she jogged out the door. Inoue waved and Rukia waved back – She crossed the street and soon disappeared as she rounded a corner. Rukia planted her hands on her slim waist, sighing as she looked around the room. Various wooden shelves were lined up, some books were scattered messily on the floor and the other untouched books propped up on the shelves were covered with a thick layer of dust. She looked out the wide glass window as misty blue fog clung to it – Making a blurry view of the streets, surrounded with patches of snow and frozen puddles of water. It was a cold gloomy winter night and being alone in an untidy dim room filled with countless dirty books that gave out an uncomfortable spooky feeling wasn't helping her – It made her regret about watching that horror movie the other night with her co-workers and her friends.
Rukia looked up and down at the ladder in front of her and shrugged her shoulders as she walked over to the counter, grabbing her stuff before walking out the double doors and switching off the lights at the same time. The cleaning and organizing can wait until tomorrow. After all, she still had some important plans to do like lying on the couch all night watching her favorite soap opera and TV shows, which by the way, starts in under thirty minutes. She clutched the sets of keys, books and folders on her one free hand as she gripped her leather handbag, peeking inside it as she searched for her missing phone. Rukia kept on walking, not realizing she was already in the middle of the street. Suddenly, without warning, a speeding car was approaching her fast and she didn't have enough time to get out of the way or even react as her violet eyes widened in terror – She could feel her heart slam against her chest violently and the beads of sweat rapidly build up on her temples. The last thing she remembered was a blinding white light and the screeching of tires as everything went black and her mind slipped into the world of unconsciousness.
Looks like she's not going to be able to watch that soap opera after all.
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Ichigo abruptly looked up from the manga he was currently reading and glanced out his closed window. He swung his long legs on the side of his bed and took long strides to the window and opened it. He swore he heard a loud unpleasant screeching and crashing noise not far from his apartment. He rested his hands on the window frame and stuck out his head – looking left and right. His eyes widened as he spotted a petrifying sight to behold - A yellow smashed up sports car ended up crashing on a building – the book store he rarely visits – And he felt his breath hitch on his throat as he gazed at the person lying on the ground with a small pool of blood starting to form around her. No one seems to be around the area to help her out so Ichigo quickly turned away from the window, opened his door and slammed it shut.
It took him three full seconds to reach her – Ichigo kneeled down at the unconscious body before him and rapidly dialed the number to the hospital. As he speedily talked on his phone, curiosity got the best of the people and they started to form a circle around them, muttering and asking questions. Isn't it obvious? She was run on by a car! Speaking of the car, someone should check if the driver's okay.
Ichigo's furrowed eyebrows deepened as he inspected the deep wounds, gashes and bruises on her petite body. He shouldn't move her, that's what he said – Kurosaki Isshin, his idiotic father - because it'll increase the rate of worsening the continuous gushing out of blood on her head. But if those damn ambulances didn't hurry up, this girl will die and he's going to have to kick their asses if they arrived here late. He's scowl was getting deeper and deeper with every passing seconds without hearing any sounds of sirens nearby. Finally, they were here. It wasn't long before he stood out of the way as the guys in the blue uniforms – or whatever they're called – cautiously picked her up from the ground, gently laying her down on the white bed – or whatever they're called again. He's father's a doctor and yet, he doesn't know anything about hospitals and stuffs like that. After hesitating a bit, Ichigo climbed in the back of the ambulance and decided to go with her to the hospital.
He hated hospitals. The annoying smell, the freaky doctors who you find hard to trust and a certain memory etched on his brain. As he looked at the girl in front of him, lying there out cold, bathed with her own blood, a painful… reminiscence that he tried hard to forget and hoped to lock it away somewhere on the back of his mind a long time ago, was flashing before his eyes as he recalled all the horrible events that happened on a one unforgettable rainy night.
"Ichigo, don't!" She yelled, her hands reaching out for him to try and stop him to run across the street. The rain poured harder and harder as she ran to him – She was screaming her lungs out and yet, he didn't listen to her. He didn't turn back to her and running away from her mother was the biggest and most foolish mistake he had ever done. Why? Why didn't he just stop and let her mother catch up to him, let her scold him a little and soon let her enclose him with a warm embrace?
Masaki dropped the umbrella she was clutching and dashed forward to Ichigo. Her glossy lips parted and her auburn eyes widened as she spotted a truck losing control, headed over to where he was. Ichigo stopped from his tracks and turned his head towards the truck – He didn't move and he didn't do anything. He closed his eyes and waited for the pain but nothing came. Working up his courage, he opened an eye – His eyes instantly dilated, his breath quickened and his heart beat faster. He got the picture alright. A strong pang of guilt, sadness and shock hit him hard as he stared disbelievingly at her mother. Tears poured out from his eyes as he shook her, desperately wanting her to wake up. He didn't get any response from her. She only lied down there on the concrete ground face down, not moving.
It was his fault – Because of him she was dead.
Ichigo growled as he rested his forehead on his palms – He didn't want to remember it right now, he has a lot of problems to deal with later and thinking of that memory gave a dull painful headache in his head. The person sitting beside him curiously looked at Ichigo and patted his back. Ichigo glanced at him and he gave an annoying pity smile, "It's okay, buddy. We'll make sure your girlfriend will live."
He sighed, "She's not my girlfriend," Ichigo replied plainly, running his hands through his spiky orange hair.
The smile disappeared from that guy's face and looked away, "Oh, I see," He said. "Sorry about that."
Ichigo didn't reply but instead continued to stare at her. Many questions filled his mind – Who was she, how did she end up like this and what was she doing to get herself on a critical condition? Well, whoever she was, it wasn't important right now. He needs to make sure she was safe and sound at the hospital before leaving. He had no reason to stay with her anyway; he doesn't even know the girl. But somehow… weirdly… Why does he get a feeling that he needs to stay and look over for her safety? Heck, he wasn't imagining it. Kurosaki Ichigo did not imagine things such as mushy love and corny feelings for a girl. No, he wasn't that type of guy to do such silly acts.
He sighed and rubbed his forehead. Ichigo dialed a number on his phone and waited for his annoying friend to pick up. No one was there and the machine answered instead. Ichigo rolled his eyes at the stupidity of the message, "Sorry, but Asano Keigo, the great, is not here right now. But if you're a thief, I'm inside the closet, polishing my shotgun."
"Oi, Keigo. Turns out I'm not going to make it so you better go with Mizuiro and Chad to the shop without me. Yeah, seems like I have someone to look over for."
A/N: I'm waiting for your flames. Just to remind you guys, this fanfiction is more of a light fic, not a dark one. This is just the first chapter and there are still more to come.