THIS FIC IS DEDICATED TO CUTIE EMO PANDA!
She inspired this story, and she's an amazing writer, one can only dream of reaching her level someday!
SHE HAS AWESOME BLEACH FICS! CHECK EM OUT!
Arc: set to happen after the return from soul society, hueco mundo arc and everything after they return from soul society doesn't happen.
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach; all characters belong to Tite Kubo. I own only own my plot and other characters if any. But if I did own bleach, there would be less tragedy, like really Kubo did Gin seriously HAVE to die?
Note: '' means thought, "" means speech and bold means flash backs or Zanpaktou/Inner hollow speech.
It was a cool summer day, Ichigo walked, scowling as usual, down the river bank, karakura river flowing, as it always did, beside him. Ichigo was lost in thought, passing by this river always evoked memories…sometimes good, sometimes bad, and they could be happy or sad as well. It had been a 5months since the teens; Ichigo and his friends had returned from soul society and rescued Rukia from being executed at Sokyouku hill. The orange haired teen smiled at the memory of the raven haired shinigami. "For someone so small that midget sure has a big mouth on her", Ichigo smiled as he remembered one of the many times he and Rukia fought.
…
"You reckless dumbass, you can't keep charging into battle and leave your damn body for me to look after! You have Kon for a reason you know!"
"But it's faster for me to use my badge, and don't call me a dumbass, you're the dumbass, midget!"
"Don't call me a midget, Baka!"
"Temeh!"
"Boki!"
"Konoyaro!"
"Bakayaro!"
…
He smiled as he remembered the names that were shot back and forth between them. He sighed, 'that was over a month ago when Rukia came to the living world for that assignment'. He continued walking down the dirt path, kicking a little stone as he ambled along slowly. He pondered over the shinigami currently occupying his thoughts. Actually, if he was honest with himself, Ichigo knew that the strange relationship he shared with Rukia had no specific label on it. The line between friendship and something more blurred when it came to the two of them.
He sighed, feeling the familiar pang and twinge in his chest, he had yet to come to terms with his feelings, being stubborn was his specialty after all. He didn't want to acknowledge what his felt, or rather what the midget made him feel. He wasn't sure what he felt for her, to him she was an important person, and she had changed his world after all. Ichigo was so lost in thought that he did not notice the three figures approaching him further up the river bank. One of them broke into a sprint after noticing him.
"Kurosaki-kuuuuun!"
Ichigo snapped out of his inner turmoil when he heard the unmistakable voice of Inoue Orihime interrupt his thoughts. The smile disappeared off his face and was immediately replaced by his trademark scowl, which seemed to be permanently etched on his face now. He turned around to see Inoue running towards him, waving her hand at him wildly, with Ishida and Chad walking casually behind her.
"Kurosaki-kun", she gasped when she reached him. "We have been looking for you all day"
"Inoue, Ishida, Chado, what are you guys doing here?" he asked.
"I see you are still in the annoying habit of calling everyone's name when you see them, huh Kurosaki?" remarked Ishida, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. (A/N: has anyone else noticed that he does that a lot )
"You are one to talk Ishida, considering you are always pushing up your glasses, even when you don't need to!"
"That doesn't even make any sense!". The quincy shot back.
"Moyi, Uryuu-kun," Orihime chastised trying to stop it from escalating into a full blown argument.
Ishida immediately softened at her voice. "Gomenesai, Hime-chan, Kurosaki is annoying but that does not excuse my inappropriate behavior still." He said, pushing his glasses up his nose again with a slight shadow of pink ghosting his cheeks.
Ichigo looked at the two blushing teens with a look of bewilderment. "What's with them?" he wondered to himself, noting the familiarity with their names. 'Uryuu-kun? Hime-chan?' he thought dumbly.
"They are dating now", a deep voice calmly replied beside him.
Ichigo jumped at the nearness of Chad's voice. "Chado! I forgot you were here." Then what Sado said sunk in. "Wait, Inoue is dating Ishida? What the hell - ?"
"Now, now, Kurosaki, relax there is no need to overreact! You would think you would have figured it out after Hime- I mean Orihime-chan and I started using each other's first names, then again I would not expect someone who always disrespectfully uses other peoples first names without their permission even when they are unfamiliar with them, to notice that."Ishida smugly said knowing that his comment would irritate Ichigo. He was not disappointed when a tick mark appeared on the strawberry's head.
"Why you damned Quinc-"
Ichigo was cut off by a whine from Inoue.
"Aahhh!, it was supposed to be a surprise for everyone at Kuchiki-sans party next Saturday!"
"Wait, Rukia is having a party? How come I didn't know about it?
"Because, you idiot, it's a surprise party for her when she comes to visit this weekend."
"Uryuuuuuu.. Do not call Kurosaki-kun an idiot, it is not polite!" reprimanded Orihime with a pout.
"I'm sorry, Hime-chan, Kurosaki just gets on my nerves."
Inoue blushed at Ishida's affectionate use of her nickname.
The two love-struck teens were interrupted by Ichigo.
"Why is Rukia having a surprise party thrown for her?"
Ishida answered him. "Because Hime-chan thought it would be nice to do this for her after the ordeal she suffered in soul society, an experience like that can be quite traumatizing for anyone, plus we can all celebrate everything working out, she is so nice…." Ishida trailed off as he gazed adoringly at the still blushing Inoue.
Ichigo shook his head. 'I'll never get this love thing.' He thought to himself.
"Of course not, you are far too simple-minded." Uryuu said with a smirk. Ichigo cringed. 'Damn, I said that out loud.'
"Ne, kurosaki-kun, we were looking for you because I thought it would be a good idea to have the party at your house, since Kuchiki-san is usually happiest there." Inoue said, hoping to distract the already irritated teen from another argument with her boyfriend.
"Yes, Kurosaki, this will give you a chance to finally ask Kuchiki-san out on a real proper date." Ishida commented with a smirk.
Before he could say anything, Inoue had started rambling excitedly, with a love struck face.
"Ah! If Kuchiki-san and Kurosaki-kun started dating we could go out on double dates", she clasped her hands together at her chest and continued as Ichigo and Ishida sweat-dropped, "…and then if Sado-kun and Tatsuki-chan agreed to, we could go out on triple-dates and then we could have a picnic, and I would make snacks for everyone, and my famous red bean paste sandwiches and ice crea-..." she was interrupted by an exclamation from Ichigo
"CHAD AND TATSUKI ARE DATING?!"
Ishida started laughing, while Inoue chuckled nervously and scratched the back of her head, and Chad gave him a thumb up sign.
'I need to get more normal friends'. He thought to himself.
"Wait! What makes you think I want to ask out the midget?!"
Ishida started snickering again. Inoue got a serious look on her face and said calmly. "Kurosaki-kun, Kuchiki-san is not a midget; do not call her one, it is impolite."
Ishida started laughing again while Ichigo and Sado sweat dropped.
This was definitely going to be a long weekend, but Ichigo could not help but look forward to seeing the raven haired shinigami again.
Earlier that morning: Soul Society, Kuchiki Manor.
As the servants rushed around preparing breakfast, it was just another ordinary morning at the Kuchiki manor. As the servants continued to bustle around, a raven haired girl walked regally down the halls, slowly making her way to the dining room where she always had breakfast with her older brother.
While her relationship with her brother had always been somewhat shaky and awkward, after the Aizen incident and the truth had been revealed to her about her older sister and what had transpired between her and Byakuya, their relationship had vastly improved. She had become more relaxed around him, and he had become a little less cold and stiff towards her. Sometimes she could even see his overprotective big brother side shine through.
When she arrived at the door to the dining room, she could already sense her brother's reiatsu on the other side, as he was already at the table. She slid back the door and entered the room. She slowly walked over to the chair that faced him across the table.
"Good morning, Nii-sama." She said as she sat down. He looked up and regarded her with calculating eyes for a minute before turning his attention back to his cup of tea.
"Good morning." He replied regally. He sipped his tea as the servants finished setting the table. They ate breakfast silently, as they always did. But Rukia noted that a certain stiffness hung in the air. She hoped, futilely, that it wasn't for the reason she thought it was. Once they were finished and the table had been cleared, she stood up to leave when her brother's cool voice stopped her.
"There is something I wish to discuss with you before you leave for your squad duties." He started. After she sat, he folded his hands together and rested his chin on them before continuing.
"I have been…observing you for the past three months…are you alright, Rukia?", he asked, then looked straight at her, as if saying she better not lie.
She swallowed then lowered her eyes before answering, "I'm fine." She said softly, head still low. It was as just as she feared.
"Do not lie, Rukia, as I said I have been observing you, your reiatsu has been acting strange and I have noticed that you haven't been eating as much as you usually do, and you seem tired and restless; have you not been sleeping well?"
There was that faint over protectiveness shining through again, had it been any other time she would have been ecstatic, but due to the current circumstances, his concern only made her heart sink lower than it already was. With a start she realized she hadn't responded to his question and he was waiting.
"U-Um…well…", she started, then stopped when she realized she didn't have the words.
Byakuya sighed and dropped his hands. He stood up and walked over to the window to look out to the fully bloomed cherry blossom trees.
"I have arranged for you to meet with Kurotsutchi-taichou", he started, "he will examine you and determine what the problem is, everything has been prepared, you will meet him at the 12th squad barracks in the afternoon." He said in a tone that said his decision was final and the topic wasn't up for discussion.
"Hai, understood." She said.
"That is all", he said, his back still to her.
She stood and bowed, before leaving the room, already dreading her 'meeting' with the creepy captain.
Well, after editing it, I definitely like this chapter more now, hope you all do too! Please review!
Chelty-chan.