Title: Behind the Screen
Fandom: Bleach
Genre: Romance, general
Pairing: Ichigo/Rukia
Disclaimer: I don't own BLEACH... Kubo Tite does… Don't own RO either, Lee Myoung Jin does…
Summary: Ichigo and Rukia was a couple. A couple who never knew they were one. AU
A/N: One of my old fics.
-+ we never +-
Kuchiki Rukia.
Kurosaki Ichigo.
Two exact opposites.
That had proven that opposites DON'T attract, nevertheless, he ignored her existence, and she never knew his.
Never.
To the society, they were one of a kind, an outsider, they would call them, outcasts they left behind to stroll the corridors alone.
They were branded by them before they branded themselves, and it washed them away, to the desolate corner, reaching out for acceptance.
Their cold eyes never showed it, their eyes were eyes of ones in search, in search of someone just like them.
But they were different, even if the whole world would have thought they were soul mates.
She was raised with wealth drenching her, and he was normal, in everyone's eyes, he was normally raised.
Her limo contrasted to his transportation. His feet carried him proudly to school.
She smiled a fake smile, but he would always scowl, as if the whole world was always against him and his bright orange hair.
But they were both lonely.
Two individuals in search for someone else, but never really found that someone's hand to hold.
Ichigo Kurosaki never noticed Kuchiki Rukia's form gracing the hallways; neither did she ever realize that he existed, once in a faraway land.
-+ we exist +-
Once, just once in the silence between the bright screens and softly buzzing machines, they existed.
Never, in their right minds, would they ever thought of meeting someone else in their bleak space, labeled as an exile by them. But they did.
But they never knew.
She would recognize the orange haired boy sitting on the chair on the other side of the room, eyes glued to the screen, constantly clicking on his keyboard, as busy as she was with her own business.
He, in every chance he got, would glance at the short girl who sat there, not even a slight whisper coming out of her lips as he would always see her there every time he came.
It was serene, a small cyber café on the corner of the alley, a nerd's hangout, that's what people called it.
But for them it was sanctuary.
He may not notice the same face he's been eager to inquire in the darkness of the room, the sheer light of monitors, walking beside him, head bending down, as another outcast.
Neither did Kuchiki Rukia ever realize that the orange haired boy that was always there, as connected as she was to the life inside his computer screen, had actually existed somewhere else.
But he did, and so did she.
Ichigo Kurosaki.
Kuchiki Rukia.
They existed in each and another's world, but either way, their silence was their form of acknowledgement. She knew he was there, and he would know she'd be there just like him.
They never knew why, nor their names. They didn't exchange a glance even once, but they existed otherwise.
In a solemn sanctuary of silence where you could not see their faces, no, they never knew those fingers constantly clicking on the keyboard was always near.
As faceless figures to each other's eyes. They existed.
-+ we saw +-
As much as all they have conceded of each other were their backs, protruding and distracting.
They kept their word of curiosity and eagerness to themselves; trying to get to know the stranger they've seen many times.
The stranger that always sat backs facing each other, both dedicated to their screen, and silence seem to hover still.
March came, April ended, and yet the same two figures would still be as faceless as before, unknowing, but their desire to know rapidly increased. Nothing changed.
Silence was still their only way of knowing, and yet, not a glance of an eye was caught.
She kept her silent pride to be an outcast, and accept it with dignity, so did he, and they would still walk down the hallways unseen by one another.
Rukia would walk beside him, as if he was invisible, and it was same the other way.
Ichigo was nothing but a mess, branded by outsiders as an arrogant bastard and an outcast in the community he wished for. But he never spoke; he was there, standing tall.
He won't fall, yet.
Kurosaki Ichigo would be the orange haired boy that spent most of his time at the cyber café, staring intently at the screen, just like the undersized girl he would steal glances at, just to risk knowing if she was also there.
And Kuchiki Rukia was there. She always was.
Sometimes now, in May, they would steal more glances as their curiosity entwined with their longings for someone like them, someone they never knew, and someone that would respect them the way they are.
Someone who wouldn't label them.
Once in May, somehow, their eyes met, and an instant red filled their features.
They would always ask why, and remember what they saw.
They were not satisfied nor settled, their eyes have seen what they have longed to see, yet the despair still hung.
Inside Kuchiki Rukia's brains, his face painted in her mind was like a portrait hanging everlastingly on the wall, and in Ichigo's mind, she was always there.
Their quick glance left a mark of a lifetime, a portrait that burns their mind just to think about it.
But in the crowded hallways of Karakura High, they would still walk alone, looking at their feet as if in shame.
Kuchiki Rukia.
Kurosaki Ichigo.
They never recognized each other. Neither did they even bother to try to find each other, their eyes refused to set on the faces of people around them.
But they have seen, and one day, they'll see again.
-+ we heard +-
Summer Holidays.
They would still frequently be found in their little secret place.
They looked at their screens, trying to erase the memory of their eye contact, trying to pry the urge to look one more time, a longer look.
But for their memory a flash was enough to blind them and stress them.
They would still sit there.
The buzzing of the computers would be heard, the occasional twinkle from the speaker, strange noises from the speaker, and the ticks of the buttons.
One of them would be found sitting there as one would enter the darkness of the place, plopping to their seats.
Soon, the sounds, similarly strange sounds, extremely familiar to both their ears would ring out in harmony frequently.
They would ask themselves whose speakers spouted those sounds, and they had to guess hard.
They were as lonely as one another, taking refuge in the souls of people that never knew them. People that never branded them as anything.
Strangers, faceless stranger they would constantly play with, work together with, and for once have fun and forget everything.
Game was an addiction to them.
He would hear the ticks of the keyboard, and then the city bells.
Those ticks faded away as the screens turned dark, along with the ending chimes of night.
Then he'd see her shadow making her way across to the door, tumbling and shuffling through with the others, as quiet and careless as they were from the corner of his eyes.
They were all strangers to each other, even if they were there constantly, realizing each other existed.
His screen would soon go dark, and his feet would once again carry him home.
Next days would come, and he would soon see the same figure, her face hidden, enter, and recognize the tints of her presence.
Kuchiki Rukia would plainly try to ignore her yearning to see him again, to speak, to know this figure that she had considered alike to her better.
She would hear his speakers voicing the same sound; they were an extremity of one another, the same attitude, the silence, the same games, and the same sanctuary.
One day like today, Kuchiki Rukia or once wished to let go of her hidden craving.
She wanted a life, she wanted to love.
Kuchiki Rukia.
Kurosaki Ichigo.
Two lonely doppelganger of one another's yearns longed to be loved.
-+ we felt +-
One hot July day, when the sun hung high on the sky, shining its intensely dazzling rays to blind us.
They both sat in darkness.
Trying to ignore each other.
But their screen showed no less than a meeting, of faces unreal and undeniable strangers.
Kurosaki Ichigo watched his screen as it flashed opened the object of his obsession.
He would see himself, with a face and body not his own, nor the words he typed.
He was the orange haired boy that loved the sense of breaking his limit, no more the nerd that was branded before he spoke a word from his lips. His silent stiff lips attached to his face, looking down as if in infamy.
He saw the small iconic version of his cyber self sat down at the edge of the city, waiting for something to come and suddenly hit him. He was not in for a hunt today; he wanted to sit there and waited for something to happen.
There he was a high-leveled role-playing nerd.
This was a place where he was looked up to.
The petite figure on the other edge of the room decided to rest and recover from her hunting injuries.
Finding her character dying, she sat down next to a knight. A knight character with aura emitting off it, she had hoped to gain protection with this other figure beside her character incase a high-leveled monster she was in no-state in to fight suddenly appeared.
She saw the emoticon the knight had used. The stranger had said hello.
He was a knight, and there was another sitting beside him.
He wanted to say hello, so he did, as he felt that the 'thing' he waited for arrived, in the form of another player, another character, another who he must put up his self to.
She replied to his greeting with another term that him, as a professional game player was familiar with.
Age, sex, location, or as they knew it, asl.
He replied, as he asked her the same question.
They were of the same age and same location.
They delved deeper as they found out they were of opposite gender, their conversation soon grew from greetings to interests.
He discovered that they had the same interests, yet he wondered if they ever had the same reasons.
He felt like a refugee, seeking sanctuary in a place where he can not be judged.
While darkness and drift parted their thoughts from each other, Kuchiki Rukia fidgeted nervously with her mouse.
It spilled. The feeling that she was sick of being something people didn't want.
Her words flowed as if he really was the asylum she's been in search for. She felt the same with this virtual person, a person she never met.
But even though, he had been like her, their thoughts, their interests, she felt connected, and wanted to know if he did too.
She wanted to tell him the reason for being such an introverted like her, and like he did, she unknowingly wanted to know his reasons.
Kuchiki Rukia wished they had the same reasons, just to feel that sheer acceptance she never found.
Ichigo saw the sage beside him spoke, no, typed that she was a nerd.
A nerd? He would think, but he replied with the most simplest of reply in the account of acceptance.
Me too.
That's what the knight beside her said, and his words didn't seem a trifling prank.
Kurosaki Ichigo.
Kuchiki Rukia.
Two similar souls, unknowingly near, had known who to accept. They felt accepted, and they felt as if they had found their sanctuary, inside someone they never knew.
-+ we decided +-
Once again, Kuchiki Rukia walked into the dark room, impatiently waiting for the game to load on her screen.
She did not notice anymore, the orange haired boy that entered the place as usual.
Neither did he.
Ichigo silently led the character into their usual meeting spot, down the grassy plains south of Prontera.
SnoWBuNnies has logged in
He typed her name as he sent her words, words of greeting, and sweet words of greetings.
She replied.
Hey RO MANIAS! ADOPTION system is on from today forth!
He could see her asking if he saw that.
He said yes.
On sudden impulse, he asked.
Will we ever meet?
No, she said. And no more was the topic brought up. He was hopeful, but now he was broken. They were just like that.
Black Orange. 7 pm.
That was all she said before she logged out.
Kurosaki Ichigo.
Kuchiki Rukia.
Both were too happy, too excited to notice each other anymore.
As he walked out of the internet café, he looked up at the sign. Black Orange. And mumbled an " I'll be back".
-+ we met +-
Kuchiki Rukia entered the internet café, her heart beating wildly and her cheeks flushed bright pink. She was about to meet him.
Him.
They were connected in a way, and now they were nearer. Although she isn't sure whether he would come.
She looked around. Rukia spotted the usual orange haired boy sitting on the corner desk and she wondered what he was doing here this late.
Ichigo as nervous, it was 7.15 and no one's approached him yet. He heard the soft clanging of the door chimes as he turned around.
Oh. He wondered if it was her.
He saw her sat down, and they returned into their own world inside the computer. She logged in.
"Where are you?"
Their answers; as much as their questions were simultaneous, were just as concurrent. Then so was the next sentence.
Me too.
Then it hit them.
Kurosaki Ichigo.
Kuchiki Rukia.
They looked around, eyes wide and surprised. Then it was silent, no more the clicking of fingers on the keyboard or anything.
He stood, she stood. They smiled.
"Kurosaki Ichigo" he held out his hand.
"Kuchiki Rukia", she shook it.
And they both lived happily ever after, in a world where they don't have to hide behind the screen anymore. In a world where they realized that society does not matter anymore.
In a world that blossomed between the two of them; lovers, who never knew they were one. And their story, is just one in a billion of love stories; one with a happy ending.
And they accepted it.
-+ the end +-
A/N: my old fic. Hee hee. I found this in my files and decided to post it for fun. I hope you liked it, R&R!!!
erasedrainbow