This story is based sometime after the war with Aizen, That's all there is to know really, enjoy.
Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo
Worst Day Ever
"And I feel like I'm living the worst day
over and over again.
And I feel like the summer is leaving again.
I feel like I'm living the worst day.
I feel like you're gone.
And every day is the worst day ever."
It was only a chair.
There were thirty of them in the room alone and probably five hundred more in the whole building. There was nothing special about this one. It was the same as all the others, just a mixture of metal, wood, and plastic. But he felt like it was mocking him some how.
Ichigo stared intensely at the chair next to him and became completely lost in his own thoughts. He was in his classroom at school and it was relatively quite, except of course for Ms Ochi who was busy telling all of her students what to except for the new year. It was the end of the first day of school and Ichigo and all his friends were starting their junior year at Karakura High. Everyone was present and accounted for except one particular person.
Rukia Kuchiki.
That was why Ichigo felt like staring at the empty chair next to him, although he was trying desperately to make himself believe that it was because the chair was much more interesting then anything his teacher had to say.
She had left a week ago. She simply told him out of the blue that she had to go to the Soul Society for an undetermined amount of time and that she couldn't tell him why she was going.
He didn't know why she had to leave considering that both the world of the living and the Soul Society was now in a relative state of peace. Aizen had been defeated months ago and he was starting to feel like things were returning to normal. Or at least as normal as a Substitutes Soul Reaper's life could get.
It made him even madder knowing that the Soul Society apparently still didn't trust him enough to let him know what was going on. He felt like he deserved their trust after playing such a big part in saving both of their worlds.
Ichigo grabbed the side of his desk in anger. His was sick of looking at the seat next to him and decided to see what his classmates were up to.
Uryu was writing in a notebook and Ichigo assumed he was taking notes. The orange haired Soul Reaper couldn't help but roll his eyes.
Orihime was busy starring off into the distance as she lost herself to another one of her daydreams. Ichigo looked behind himself and saw that Chizuru was busy watching Orihime.
Chad seemed to have found an interesting spot on the wall. Or at least it was more interesting then listening to Mrs. Ochi.
Tatsuki had her chin in one of her palms as she looked at the clock's hands as it moved slowly across its face.
Mizuiro was holding his phone under his desk because he busy texting someone. He looked up every now and then to see if he had been caught.
Keigo was by fare the most entertaining one to watch. He was taping his pencil on his desk and he was taping his foot on the ground. He was watching the clock as well and it seemed like every time the hands moved he eyes widened a little bit more.
Everyone was doing something different to pass the time but they all felt the same thing. It was the unshakeable feeling that their freedom had been completely drained away and that the summer was truly over.
"All right class I want you to remember to have good attendance this year. Especially you Asano" Ms. Ochi announced.
Keigo's jaw dropped and his voice became high pitched. "But Ichigo misses twice as much school as-"
He was cut off by a sound that everyone in the room was glad to hear, the bell ringing.
The classroom was immediately filled with the noise of people taking, chairs moving, and bags being zipped up.
"Alright people remember we have a test this Friday so study up!" Ms. Ochi proclaimed and all of her students responded with a grown of discuss.
The students were walking out of the room at a fairly fast pace and Ichigo was happy that he was one of the first out of the door. He tired of being in that room, as were most of his class mates. He threw his bag on his shoulder and started to walk a little faster as he went out the door.
"Kurosaki-kun!"
Ichigo heard a familiar voice call from behind him. He turned his head slightly around to see Orihime trying to catch up to him.
"Oh, hey Inoue what's up?" He tried to sound interested in what she had to say but for the life of him he couldn't.
"I just wanted to make sure that you're ok. You seemed a little down today." She said softly.
"Well I kind of got that feeling from everybody." Ichigo said bluntly.
Orhime watched as some of their classmates walked past them and she had to agree with Ichigo. Everyone seemed to be in a depressed mood, but she could tell there was something different about the way he was feeling.
"I guess your right…" she almost whispered as a response.
"Well see ya later Inoue" Ichigo said quickly and waved. He wasn't sure of any other way to continue there conversation so he decided to end it.
"Uhhh right see you tomorrow Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime yelled back and tried to seem as happy as possible. In reality she wasn't in the greatest of moods herself. She sighed as she watched him walk through the doors that lead to the stairs.
"There wasn't anything you could have said to make him feel better" she heard a voice say from next to her.
"Ishida-kun" she said softly acknowledging her glasses wearing friend. "I know your probably right but I had to at least try"
Uryu nodded and took a few steps closer to her. It was no secret to those who knew Ichigo what was wrong with him. But for the most part they all knew that the only thing they could do was give him space and wait.
"You know that he'll be back to normal the second she gets back" Uryu said trying to cheer her up a little.
She nodded but never took her eyes off the door Ichigo had walked out of a few seconds ago.
Ichigo took his normal route when he walked home. He had hoped that the small feeling of freedom that being out of school gave him would help him feel better but it wasn't helping much.
He had never been an overly happy person but even he was starting to get sick of feeling down.
"This is so stupid. I don't know why I feel like this" he said to himself as walked down an almost completely deserted side walk. "I know that she is just gonna pop up out of no where any minute. Then she'll probably give me a whole presentation of her trip by using her stupid bunny drawings."
Ichigo laughed thinking about Rukia's not so amazing art skills and he notices how good it felt to laugh.
That was something Rukia did to him that he couldn't explain. Even if he was in the middle of a battle to the death or was in great pain, whenever she was there or if he was thinking of her, he seemed to be in a good mood.
"I miss you ya little midget"
Ichigo made it home around the usual time and by then his mood truly had changed for the better. Not only had thinking of Rukia made him feel better but today his father and sisters were out of town and that meant that he didn't have to put up with his father's stupidity.
Ichigo opened the front door, took of his shoes, and then announced for nobody to hear "Yo, I'm home!"
He smiled when he heard no response and went straight to the kitchen. Yuzu had already made him breakfast, lunch, and dinner for everyday that she would be gone and he was truly grateful. Although his father told him it was so he didn't end up burning the house down in attempt at cooking.
After doing his homework and several chorus around the house he was disappointed to find out that only an hour had passed.
He found himself in his room staring at his Soul Badge hoping that it would light up and give him something to do. He was just about to call it a night when he realized he wasn't truly alone.
"I miss her!" Kon's cry seemed to echo through the whole house.
"Shut up!" Ichigo screamed back. "Crying about it won't make her come back any quicker."
"I can't help it! My Nee-san needs me!"
"Yeah right, this is a vacation for her so she doesn't have to put up with you." Ichigo proclaimed and stopped paying attention to the stuffed lion that had hide him self in the corner of the room.
Ichigo tried to start reading a book that he had meant to read months ago but never got around to it. But Kon's constant sobs were getting on his nerves. He tried to ignore it but after a few minute he slammed the back down in frustration.
"That's enough! Its not like you're the only one that misses her!"
"Is that so?" said a calm confident voice. Ichigo and Kon both turned in the direction that the voice came from
Standing outside the window was none other then Byakuya Kuchiki.
"Byakuya, what are you doing here?" Ichigo asked franticly and blindly hoping that he didn't the last sentence he said.
Byakuya sighed and considered asking Ichigo to not call him by his first name but decided against it. Now was not the time and it was unlikely he would follow his request anyway.
"I am here on official business for the Head-Captain. He has requested your presence at a Captain's meeting that will be taking place soon." Byakuya explained in his usual calm and collected manner.
It took Ichigo's mind a second or two to process what he just heard and when he did he instantly got angry. The feeling that the Soul Society didn't trust or care about his well being had been in the front of his mind for a week. The fact that they now seemed to want something from him was enough to push him over the edge.
"Hell no! You guys have been keeping me in the dark for a week. Why should I go with you now?" Ichigo proclaimed and stood up.
Byakuya raised an eyebrow but didn't seem at all fazed by Ichigo's out burst. "You have my word that you're not in any kind of trouble. The Head-Captain simply wishes to make a request of you."
"Forget it" Ichigo said simply and sat back down in his desk chair. Then he looked down at the papers on his desk as if he was working on something. "You should get going."
Byakuya was a little annoyed but not enough to let it show. He expected this reaction anyway and had already made a plan for a situation like this.
"If you accompany me to the Soul Society you will know why Rukia wasn't allowed to tell you why she left and perhaps more importantly you will get to see her."
Ichigo's eyes widened silently and his mouth seemed to answer before he had time to think about it. "Alright, let's go."
He was a little surprised at how easily his mind was changed but he knew that he truly wanted to go.
"Very well" Byakuya said with the slightest hint of smile on his lips.
The two of them made the journey to the Soul Society in almost complete silence. Not that Ichigo knew what to talk to Byakuya about anyway.
Both of them were now walking through the streets of the Seritai with Byakuya walking in front because Ichigo didn't know much about the geography of the city.
Ichigo couldn't help but notice that people seemed to watch him as he passed them. The first few times Rukia had brought him to the Seritai people did that because he was sort of a celebrity, but after a while it stopped. Now it was happening again.
A person or group of people would give him a greeting and then whisper to themselves about something. Ichigo thought it was strange but he had more things on his mind at the moment.
Byakuya remind silent as they walked along and Ichigo assumed he liked it that way so he chose not to speak. So it surprised him greatly when the captain of squad six was the first to speak.
"Rukia wanted to tell you why she was coming here so that you would have peace of mind, but as I'm sure you're aware she was under orders not to. Please don't think less of her because of it."
"I would never think less of her" Ichigo said quickly.
Byakuya's still had his back to him but Ichigo could swear he heard a small laugh come from the noble men.
"No I didn't think you would." Byakuya added and kept moving.
By now Ichigo's mind was racing with to many thoughts for him to handle right now. Why was Byakuya acting this way? Why did they want him at this meeting? And one question that he wasn't expecting to think about, where is Rukia?
The two men continued in silence until Ichigo recognized that they were now in the first squad's part of the Seritai. He concluded that they were getting close to their destination and Ichigo decided now was as good a time as any to ask a question or two.
"So where is Rukia"?
"In the thirtieth squad's barracks I'd imagine" Byakuya answered softly.
Ichigo was tempted to ask when he could see her but he decided against it. He would just have to deal with things one at a time and then he would reunite with her. He just had to be patient, which was easy said then done.
"Do you wish to pursue a relationship with Rukia?"
Byakuya's words hit Ichigo like a punch to the gut. It took him a second or to fully realize what he was just asked and even then it didn't seem real.
"Uhhh…I…." Ichigo started to mutter, but then he really started to think. It wasn't like the thought had never crossed his mind. The simple fact that they were opposite genders was enough to do that, but he did notice that recently he began to think of Rukia in a different way. Not that they're relationship had change much over the time they had known each other, but now the idea of being in a romantic relationship her wasn't as hard to imagine as it would have been earlier.
He remembered always feeling a slight spike of happiness every time he saw her or heard her voice, is that what it was? Was he in love with Rukia Kuchiki?
The second that four letter word went through his mind he knew.
"Yes, I do" he finally answered the question.
A few moments passed before Byakuya spoke again.
"Very well then"
Ichigo's jaw almost hit the floor. He couldn't believe that Byakuya Kuchiki basically told him it was ok to date his sister. 'This has to be a dream or something!' Ichigo thought to himself.
"But…aren't you mad or something?" Ichigo asked franticly.
"No, far from it actually. It became apparent to me when you saved her life that it was possible that you saw her as more then a friend. Since then I've tried to keep the two of you at a distance, but over time I reanalyzed the situation and realized that the possibility of the two of you joining in a union wasn't such a bad thought. Besides, if you really wanted to be with her do you think I could don anything to stop you to?"
After he was done Byakuya stopped walking and turned around. He had a serious look on his face but not the hateful face Ichigo had gotten use to seeing.
"Yeah I guess your right." Ichigo said happily. Byakuya nodded and continued walking and Ichigo followed. "So it's as easy as that? No 'if you hurt my sister I'll kill you' speech?"
Byakuya didn't answer but stooped walking because they now stood outside a large red door that Ichigo assumed was the captain's meeting room. Byakuya looked at the younger man and started to speak.
"When you go inside kneel on one knee in the middle of the room and don't speak unless spoken to."
"Uhh…alright." Ichigo didn't seem happy about doing that but he had been reassured that he wasn't in trouble so he was willing to go along with it.
Byakuya placed his hand on the massive door's handle but stopped before he opened it.
"Oh and one more thing."
"Yes."
"If you hurt my sister I'll kill you"
Rukia sat on a large rock in the middle of one the thirteenth squad's gardens. The sun was starting to set and the whole area was filled with a soothing golden light. She stared at the small pond that was to her right and threw a rock in it.
She had felt her brother's and Ichigo's Spiritual Pressures enter the Soul Society over an hour ago. She knew that this would be the day that she would get to see him again and time seemed to go painfully slow. Needless to say, it had been a very long day.
She didn't want to leave the way she did but she had no choice. When she had received her orders she didn't understand them at all, but she was reassured by her Captain and her brother that it was only temporary so she agreed to do it.
What she didn't expect was what would follow in the week to come. She was interrogated many times by high ranking officer and what surprised her most was what the subject of questions always were.
Ichigo Kurosaki
What would he do in this situation? How far do you think he would be willing to go? Would he be able to be away from his home for long periods of time? All those questions and more were asked many times and she got sick of it after the first day.
Not to mention that with all the questions about him Ichigo had been on her mind for longer then she expected. She missed him, there was no shame in admitting that, but just how much she missed him was what was bothering her.
"What am I going to say when I finally see you?" She whispered to herself.
Did she feel something more then friendship for him? She wasn't sure, but she did know that she missed him more than she thought she could miss someone who was just a friend.
Rukia sighed and decided that all she could do at the moment was be patience and wait, which was something she knew she was never good at. She was about to leave and go back to her barracks when something smacked in the back of the head.
"What the hell?" She shouted and turned around sharply.
What she saw when she did made her both relieved and a little nervous, but she was also happy.
"Yo!" Ichigo said happily with a smirk.
"Ichigo!" Rukia responded cheerfully. She thought running over and embracing him but she thought that would be a little awkward so she decided against it. Instead she walked quickly to him and put her hands at her sides.
"Hey I think you actually got a little taller." Ichigo said sarcastically and held his hand over her head.
Rukia resisted the urge to slug him but after a second or to she laughed. "You haven't changed at all."
"Well it was only a week".
"It felt longer though…" she whispered to herself. "Ichigo, about when I left I'm sorry I couldn't tell you why I was-"
She was cut off by Ichigo putting his hand up to stop her. '"Its fine I know why you had to. Things worked out for the best I suppose."
"That reminds me! What the heck did the Captains want with you? They asked me a lot of questions about you but they wouldn't tell me anything." Rukia said
Ichigo smirked and walked past her without saying a word. He walked to the stone she had been sitting on bent over as if he was looking for something.
Rukia put her hand on the back of her head and said "That's right what the heck did you hit me with?"
Ichigo seemed to find what he had been looking for and held it up for her to see. If it was possible her jaw would have literally hit the ground.
It was the Lieutenant's Badge for squad one.
"Uhhh…how…I don't" Rukia blurted out. Ichigo laughed at her reaction.
"Well when I got here the Head-Captain told me that he really appreciated all the things I've done to help the Soul Society and that he wanted to repay me." Ichigo explained calmly.
"So he made you his lieutenant?" Rukia asked still in shock, but she was happy that she could form sentences again.
"Actually they wanted me to be the new captain of squad five." Ichigo told her and walked back to her. "But I told them that it would be too much reasonability for me, at least right now anyway. Then The Head-Captain told me that his Lieutenant was planning on retiring in a year or two and that I could replace him. And I agreed to it."
"So you're going to be an official Soul Reaper now…that's great." Rukia said softly.
"Yeah it is."
Then came an awaked silence that both of them were expecting. Ichigo's mind went back to his previous thoughts about Rukia earlier that day and he had no doubts about what his next words should be, but he was still nervous as hell about it.
"They also told me that you would be stationed in Karakura Town until then. Which means your going to come back with me…so when we get back do you want to do something?" Ichigo told her praying he wasn't blushing.
Rukia reanalyzed his words in her mind and a small smirked worked its way onto her lips. "Ichigo Kurosaki…are you asking me out on a date?"
"Uhhh…well…yeah I guess if you want to call it that."
Rukia put her hand on her chin and pretended to be thinking hard. "I don't know…going on a date with an idiot like you might make me look bad."
"You little-" Ichigo stared to say and clinched his fist. When he did he remembered that he still had the badge in his hand. He held it in her face triumphantly. "I could always order you to do it!"
"You're not an official Soul Reaper yet!" Rukia got and her toes so that she could yell into his face. Ichigo glared down at her until her realized how close they're faces were. He blushed and Rukia noticed. Then her face became red as well.
He looked into hers and she stared back into his. He instantly knew what he wanted to do, but he wasn't sure if he would let him. 'Only one way to find out I guess' he thought.
Slowly he started to move in closer to her until her could feel her warm breath on his lips. He closed his eyes and he leaned in even closer. He was about to make the final move when suddenly Rukia grabbed the back on his head and forced is lips to collide with hers.
He was surprised but he didn't resist as they kissed deeper and harder. In truth the kiss was a little awkward because neither of them had much or any experience, but they both seemed to be enjoying themselves.
After what seemed like forever they had no choice but to break apart because they needed to breathe. Ichigo's hands had drifted to her waist and Rukia's hands were around his neck as they stood there gasping for breath.
"I…was going to do that." Ichigo told her.
"You were taking to long." She explained. They both laughed and neither of them felt like moving from the position they were in.
"I thought a kiss was just a form of greeting" the orange haired Soul Reaper said happily.
"Well we haven't seen each other in a while. I just wanted to say 'hello' that's all" Rukia told him.
The sun finally set and it robbed the garden of its light. Almost instantly it got colder and they embraced each other a little tighter. It was then that Ichigo remembered that the summer was leaving once more and the familiar feeling of unhappiness crept into his mind.
"Ichigo…" Rukia whispered and he looked down at her.
She had a look on her face that he couldn't quite read. It was a mixture of concern and little bit of uncertainty, but not completely unhappy. "Let's get going. I wouldn't want anyone to see us and tell Nii-sama."
Ichigo smirked "I already got him on our side"
"How did you manage to do that?" she asked as if she didn't believe him.
Ichigo released her and took a few steps back. "I'll tell you if you say 'hello' again"
Rukia smirked evilly and grabbed Ichigo's shhaksho and pulled his head down to her for another kiss.
The summer might be over, but Ichigo knew that this fall would be warmer then usual.
The End.
Well what did you think? Review and let me know. I originally wrote this for a contest at DeviantArt so if it sounds familar please don't think I stole it or anything. Oh and the song is "Worst Day Ever" By Simple Plan. Thanks for reading. :)
