Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Bleach.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A Bleached Cinderella Story
"Ichigo. I need to talk to you." Rukia seemed a bit off that day. Of course, she had been able to fool everyone at school with her fake laughs and smiles of teeth clenched together. She even fooled Inoue, Ishida, and Chad, who could usually tell if something was wrong. She could lie to everyone. Except one person.
"I'm the one who should be saying that, midget." Ichigo continued quickly jumping across rooftops with Rukia on his back. There was a pause where a retort from Rukia should have been. "Oi, midget!! What the hell is wrong with you?" Silence. Ichigo stopped on the roof of his home. "OI, MIDGET!! I ASKED WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!!" Another pause, but shorter this time.
Rukia looked down, trying to avoid his eyes that she knew could see through her every act she put on for the world. She had been thinking about how she was going to tell Ichigo the entire day, and she made up her mind to just spit it out. "I—I'm gnagtmreid," she mumbled. She stood there hoping that she wouldn't have to repeat herself. But luck was simply not on her side.
"What? It's calling inunciating, midget! I didn't hear any of that!" Ichigo was getting irritated and his frown got deeper. (Not that it really lightens up or anything, but still.)
Rukia huffed and looked up at him. She should have been angry, but instead, she just looked stressed out. The always calm and collected Kuchiki Rukia looked completely frustrated, and this time, it wasn't because of Ichigo. (Well, not entirely, anyway.)
"What the hell, Rukia? I called you a midget like 5 times already!! Are you gonna take that?!"
"Yes, Ichigo I am because I might not be able to take much more of it. I mean…I will be prevented from doing so." Ichigo looked totally confused. "I said before…that…I'm going to get married, Ichigo."
If Ichigo were drinking something he would have spit his drink all over someone, most likely Rukia. "WHAT?"
"Idiot, you didn't even stop to think that I might not even be serious."
"I know you're being serious, pipsqueak. All day you were acting weird…Weirder than normal, anyway." Rukia even let him get away with pipsqueak. Wow, this was bad. He snapped back to the conversation. He took a deep breath, and Rukia thought that maybe he'd be totally okay with it and say something like "Have a nice life. See ya!" and go back inside his house. But he didn't. "WHEN ARE YOU GETTING MARRIED??!! NO-WAIT!! WHO ARE YOU MARRYING?? IS HE A JERK THAT'S MAKING YOU DO THIS? 'CAUSE IF HE IS—"
"YOU IDIOT, SHUT UP!!" Now there was the regular Rukia. "I'm getting married in one week and 2 days. And I don't know who I'm getting married to." Before Ichigo could ask questions, she continued. "To decide who I'm going to marry, the Kuchiki elders and Nii-sama are holding a social event where I can meet possible suitors tomorrow night. Although they probably don't like it, every male shinigami from Seireitei is required to attend. It also means I have to weed through a bunch of shinigami who can't fight to save their lives." She laughed bitterly. "Besides, I know they're hoping that I pick another noble or at the very least someone powerful."
Fortunately for Rukia, Ichigo found some way to stop yelling. "And you wanna do this thing?" Ichigo looked at the ground. If someone were to see them, there would be a tall orange haired shinigami looking at his toes facing a short, black haired shinigami looking at her toes also.
"I don't have a choice—the Kuchiki elders and Nii-sama have decided—"
"That's not what I asked." Ichigo and Rukia looked up at each other, pained expressions on their faces. "I want to know if you wanna do this." Ichigo looked away at the sunset, trying to find a way not to look at her sad face.
"It doesn't matter."
Ichigo snapped his head back to look at her, now angry. "Well FINE!!" Rukia was taken aback. "IF IT DOESN'T MATTER TO YOU THAT YOU'RE THROWING THIS ALL AWAY, FINE!!" Ichigo shunpo-ed away from her, leaving Rukia alone on the rooftop.
"Idiot, I didn't even get to tell you that I'm leaving tonight."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why the hell does she wanna leave all this behind?! I've known her for four years and she decides NOW to go get married?! What the hell is she think—
Ichigo somehow ended up at Urahara Kisuke's shop. Maybe he put some kind of weird science stuff on the shop to make people go there.
"Aahhh it's Ichigo-san!" Urahara's creepy voice never ceased to…well, creep him out. Ichigo walked in, ignoring him.
"I'm gonna use that underground training room." As oblivious as Urahara could seem, he could tell that something was wrong with Ichigo. (He didn't punch Urahara in the face today.)
Urahara could hear (and feel) loud crashes from his training room. When he went down, he saw that Ichigo went bankai and proceeded to attack anything and everything he saw. "My, my someone has had a rough day, hmm Kurosaki?"
"Shut up!" Ichigo threw another attack at the wall.
"I'm guessing this has something to do with Ms. Kuchiki's marriage?"
Ichigo stopped abruptly and turned around. "How do you know about that?"
"Oooohhhhh Ichigo-kun! Everyone in and out of Seireitei knows about it!" Urahara laughed lightly, further irritating Ichigo. "In the Kuchiki family, whenever the elders decide that one of them should be married off, usually to make alliances, although not always, they hold a formal gathering to find a suitable husband or wife!" During his explanation, Urahara found the time to take out a giant lollipop and was now licking it.
"What…kind of formal gathering, exactly?"
"Aaahhh Ichigo-kun!! It's a ball, of course!" Ichigo inwardly cringed at the word "ball". There'd probably be too many stuck-up nobles there. *cough cough Byakuya*
Ichigo's hand clenched Zangetsu tightly.
"You should go, Ichigo-kun!"
"What?"
"It's perfect for you to go get her to fall in LOOOOOOOOVE with you!" Urahara made dramatic, fairy-like motions and pranced around Ichigo. He received punch in the face for his efforts, but stood right back up as if nothing had happened. "I believe that the identities of everyone there is kept a secret. It's not a rule, really, but more of a tradition. It's perfect for you!" Urahara gave a wide smile.
Ichigo eyed the old sandals-and-hat suspiciously. "And what the hell is that supposed to mean? Even you know I'm not good at hiding my reiatsu."
"I can help you with that." A black cat jumped to the ground next to Urahara.
"Aaaahhh Yoruichi-san! You're back!" Urahara scooped her up into a hug. She just rolled her eyes.
"Put me down, Kisuke."
"Ooohhh you're so cold, Yoruichi-san! Oh you know what, maybe you'd be less cold if you go back to your regular form and—" Urahara was once again rewarded with a punch to the face. The pervert.
"So, Yoruichi, you wanna help me or what?"
"Here." Yoruichi tossed a cape to Ichigo. "It'll hide your reiatsu while you wear it."
"Um, thanks Yoruichi-san, but how did you know I'd need this?" Ichigo looked up at her after inspecting the cape, making sure it wasn't, well, hideous.
When he looked up, there was a naked Yoruichi standing on top of Urahara, who had his face in the dirt. "Intuition," she said.
"AHHHHHHHHHH PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!!!" Ichigo dramatically fell over, covering his eyes.
Yoruichi laughed. "It never gets old, no matter how many times I do it. You wanna hand me my clothes?"
"WHA—NO OF COURSE NO—"
"I was kidding Ichigo, I'm already getting dressed….Ahh so innocent."
"Shut up."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rukia sat down in her room, back home in the Kuchiki Manor….away from that self-centered bastard Ichigo. She balled her hands into fists as she thought of him. "Stupid jerk. Doesn't even care what the—Nii-sama!"
"Rukia." She got up and bowed to him. "I trust you are prepared for tonight?"
"Yes, Nii-sama."
"I'll have the maids come and help you get ready."
"Thank you, Nii-sama."
Despite his expressions—or lack of them, really—Kuchiki Byakuya was capable not only of emotions, but also of understanding the emotions of others. And his sister's lack of expression right now was telling him that she was disappointed, specifically because of a certain arrogant orange-haired shinigami substitute. Oh, how he wished he were strong enough to pound that human's head into the dirt.
Not that he wasn't strong enough, but still—never mind.
After all, he did have good reason to resent that brat. He was the one that made his sister fall in love with him (*spasm spasm*) and was now causing Rukia unhappiness.
This was just…ugh.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Are you sure about this?"
"Of course, of course, Ichigo-san!"
Ichigo was wearing mask, had dyed his hair black, and was wearing "formal attire". (Never thought we'd see the day, huh?)
He had put up with Urahara and Yoruichi's preparations. *cringe*
All for Rukia. "That bitch," he thought. "She'd better appreciate this." He threw on Yoruichi's cape.
"And don't forget, Ichigo." Yoruichi looked seriously at Ichigo. "You have to get back to the senkai gate by midnight. I can't keep a kidou spell on the guards for too long, and the next shifts start around that time. We can't have anyone noticing."
"Yeah, yeah, I got it Yoruichi-san. I have quick shunpo, remember?"
"But still, Ichigo. Don't cut it close."
"Yeah, yeah sure." Yoruichi and Ichigo (although no one would be able to tell it was him) leapt into the gate.
And so it began.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yeah, so I'm having a huuuuuuuuuuuge writers block with my other story and i came up with this idea. It was actually going to be a oneshot, but then it came out to be like 6000 words and i'm' not even done yet, so i'm just gonna post this first part since i have updated the other story in a looooong time. Anyway I hope you enjoy it!
