A/N- a new story...yayyyy! *gets hit in the face by a boot* oww.
- AU story
- Toushirou's POV
- Characters will be out of character, you have been warned. XP
Cookies and Other good tasting stuff to those who read and review!!!
Disclaimer- I don't own bleach.
Chapter One- Serendipity is Stupid
My name is Toushirou Hitsugaya. I'm nineteen and have been living on my own for the past two years in a small, flat one-bedroom apartment. I've got weird white hair, strange green eyes and I'm five foot three. Make any short jokes and I'll slit your throat. I'm a waiter at my uncle Juushirou's restaurant, they serve Japanese food there and the takoyaki's pretty good. I work on weekends at the local soup kitchen washing the dishes. All and all, I'm a pretty boring person.
And that's how I like my life, boring. It's predictable and I know what's going to happen next, there are no accidents or leaps of faith. There's no need.
Everything's calm and peaceful.
At least it was. Until she showed up and made things all confusing and...argh! It gives me a headache just thinking about it...
Well...it wasn't like it was all bad.
Anyways.
For the better or worse, I'll let you decide.
---
Timeskip- Back Six Months
July 3rd, 2009- 9:10 AM
I'm on my bike, weaving through traffic on the way to work. Don't get me wrong, it's not because I'm "eco-friendly" or anything. It's simply because I can't afford to buy a car. I'm saving up to, though.
So, anyway, I'm on my bike, going to work. The sign says "walk", so I stop along with a bunch of other people in cars and wait for the businessmen and women to get across the street. The sign changes to "stop" for the them and I start to pedal forward again.
Then I'm hit by a girl running across the street.
While I'm falling, I think I sprain my wrist, judging from the searing pain in it. I look up at my assailant and she's gone. People start to honk their horns, so I get up and brush myself off. However, something small catches my eye.
It's a cellphone. And a pretty expensive one at that. I figure it belongs to that girl and flew out of her hand or something when she was running.
This is a problem. Should I pick it up or just leave it there. It'll probably get hit by a car if I just leave it there, so I might as well pick it up. I'll turn it into somewhere when I get the chance later.
The people are starting to get aggravated and are honking their horns like crazy now. I flip them off then get back on my bike and go on my merry way.
---
Same Day- 10:27 PM
Ugh, work was killer today. Not in the good way either. There was a big graduation party at the restaurant today and we were short on hands. I opted to work another shift to save my uncle from having to work instead. It's the least I can do, he gave me the job and he's been really sick lately. I'm a bit worried.
I grab a coke and chug it down in four seconds flat and let out a big burp. Ahh, refreshing. After that, I take a warm shower to soothe my tired limbs. Right as I get out of the shower, the doorbell rings.
Who the hell could that be at this time? My bets are on the landlady, coming to nag me about my rent. I'll pay it when I'm ready, leave me alone.
I decide to answer it while I'm only wearing a towel. It'll make her uncomfortable and leave quicker. I chuckle to myself at the thought of her wrinkled red face.
"Hi! My name is Rukia. You have my cellphone, could I please have it back?" It's the girl from earlier. The one who ran me over. Ironic, since I was the one on wheels.
"Uhh, right. I forgot about that. Sure, sure. It's in my other, uh, pants. I'll go get it..." I mumble, tripping over myself at the embarrassment and awkwardness. She smiles, unfazed.
"Take your time,"
I hurry and go get her phone out my jean pocket in the clothes hamper. Shit, I completely forgot about her phone with the extra shift and all. Would've saved me a whole lot of weirdness to have just let the people in their big SUV's run over her phone.
The shiny phone in hand, I walk back over to the door and hand it back to her.
"Thank you." she says. I wait for her to leave so I can shut the door, but she doesn't. Instead she flips open the phone and checks the messages. Satisfied, she x's out of the messages and snaps the phone in half. I almost drop my jaw. I don't even own a cellphone. "Uhm, do you think I could come inside? Just to throw this away?" she asks sheepishly. I'm still a bit shocked so I just nod and step aside.
She looks around, taking everything in in one glance. I point over at the trash bin near the small kitchen and she nods in thanks and throws the two broken pieces of her phone away.
"Uhm...not to be rude, but are you gonna lea-"
"Are you hungry?" she interrupts. Her question catches me off guard.
"Huh?" I ask, even more confused now.
"I asked if you were hungry." she repeats.
"Uh...sure?" I offer, not really sure what to say.
"Okay. I can cook something for you, if it's alright." I stare at her strangely. Is there something wrong with this girl? She's already rummaging through the refrigerator, so I don't answer. Her voice pops up from inside the freezer. "Hey, you might wanna put on some clothes if you don't wanna catch a cold."
My face turns red and I remember I'm only wearing a towel. I hurry over to my room and quickly pull a band T-shirt, some boxers, and a pair of pants on, then walk back into the kitchen. She's still there, only she's cooking rice in my beat up rice cooker and has the makings of curry set out on the counter.
"Uhm..." I mutter, still at a loss for words. It's not everyday a strange girl comes up to your house, snaps her cellphone in half, then offers to cook you dinner. She looks up and give me a grin.
"Oh, you're here. I'm cooking curry and rice. I couldn't find anything else that I knew how to make. Sorry."
"It's okay.." I make myself return the grin. I decide to try and ask her some questions, to clear up my rather one-sided confusion. "Hey, can I ask you-"
She interrupts again. "Sorry, I'm kinda busy cooking and all. I'll answer your questions during dinner, um, what's your name?"
"Toushirou.."
"Toushirou." Another grin. I walk unevenly over to the table and sit down. I start fiddling with my fingers, waiting for something to happen. The silence, technically there's the sound of curry being cooked, not sure how to describe it though, is unbearable. So to preoccupy myself, I think up questions to ask her after she's done cooking.
Some of the questions I come up of are- "Who are you and want to do want with me?", "Why would you break your cellphone like that?, "Why did you run over me earlier?", and "HOW THE HELL DID YOU FIND ME?!".
The last one I think is pretty important, because I don't think it's good security-wise that a girl can just run over you in the morning then somehow find out where you live and start cooking you food. I live in New York, by the way. It's a pretty big place, too. At least, I think so.
"Food's ready!" she chirps, walking over holding two plates of rice and curry. She sets the plates down then goes back to get some silverware and two cups of iced water. When the food's all set and done, she takes a seat across from me. The food looks and smells pretty good actually, but I don't take a bite out of it yet. Neither does she.
"Uh...look, I'm kinda confused on why exactly you're here and how you found me...so..." Geez. I am not good at interrogating people. I'm not an outspoken person like that.
"Oh, I have a GPS tracking device implanted in my phone. I just took one of the trackers and followed the directions...and it led me here. Cool, huh?" C-c-cool...? I'm more creeped out than impressed. Then, I remember it's not my phone so...
"Why do you have a tracking device on your phone?" I ask.
"My brother put it there. So I don't get lost or anything." I figure she's not telling me the whole story, but I leave it at that.
"Why did you run into me earlier today?" A new question. I ask this one with more confidence this time because I'm still a bit miffed at being almost killed.
"I'm really sorry about that. I wasn't watching where I was going 'cause there were these guys chasing me..."
"Wait, what?"
"Nothing..nevermind. Any other questions?"
"Uh, Yeah, who are you again and why are you at my house eating dinner with me?" I sound rather blunt. But, she answers anyway.
"My name's Rukia, and I needed to thank you."
"Thank me? Why?"
"You had my phone, that's what they were tracking me through, so when you took it, they couldn't find me." What on earth?
"But, I didn't see anyone following me." I honestly didn't. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary once I got to work, well, except for the extra shift, but I've done those before.
"They're really good at being sneaky. Like ninjas, y'know." ....
"...."
"Hey, can I ask a question?" Rukia asks.
"Sure.."
"Why's your wrist swollen?" Huh? That's right, I think I sprained it earlier. She's also right about it being swollen too. My wrist is all red and puffy, around where I hurt it, my skin's blue. I hadn't noticed 'til now, the pain and all. But, oww.
"Oh..uh, when you ran into me I fell off my bike and sprained my wrist-huh?" In a flash she's next to me and has got my aching arm in her hands and is looking at it carefully. Up close I notice she's got weird hair and eyes, too. Her hair is short and there's one strand strewn across her face. Her eyes are a blue-ish purple color. Strange. But, I've got no room to talk.
"Where's the first aid kit?"
"In the bathroom, down the hall." Rukia gets up and starts walking toward the bathroom. After a while, she comes back carrying a first aid kit. She takes out some gauze a straight piece of wood and wraps it around my wrist to make a splint. Content with her work, Rukia gets back up and looks at the clock.
11:37 PM
"Hm, time sure flies when you're having fun." she says.
"Huh?" I reply.
"One of my many mottos. Well, I've got to go, it's getting late and all. Goodnight, Toushirou. Thanks for the meal." She starts moving towards the door.
"Huh? What are you talking about? You're the one who cooked the-" The door shut behind her, stopping me mid-sentence. I sigh. A part of me is relieved to have her gone, but another is still curious about the strange girl. I look back at the table, all set and ready for the meal that never began. 'Not a good idea to let food go to waste,' I think as I take a bite of the rice and curry.
It tastes incredible, but as the same time, keeps that 'homemade' feel. It reminds me of my mother's cooking.
And with that my mood sours.
I dump the remaining food into the trash and put the dishes in the sink, making a mental note to do them later.
---
July 4, 2009- 3:30 PM
It's the Fourth of July. Obviously.
Uncle Juushirou gave me the day off. "Go and have fun with your friends, Toushirou!" he said while handing me mounds upon mounds of candy.
Hmph. I'd much rather be off at work. At least then I'd have something to do. I'm not exactly the most social guy around on account of me working 24/7, saving up money and such.
(PS- I dropped the candy off at the soup kitchen, I have no need for it, so...)
I turn off the TV and take a look out the window. The sun's out and shining like there's no tomorrow.
It makes me feel warm and uncomfortable.
There are little kids running around with kites and sparklers.
I don't know how to handle kids, they make me feel anxious and agitated. I also happen to be an only child, and you get soo much experience handing little kids in that profession.
Today pretty much seems like a day for me to spend asleep in my bed.
But, before I can put my agenda into action, the doorbell rings again.
I'm thinking of putting up a sign saying "DO NOT DISTURB" on my door. What do you think?
I answer it anyway.
My bet from yesterday pays off. It's my landlady, Gretchen Kaufmann, although everyone just calls her 'Old Lady Kauf'.
Old Lady Kauf scowls at me, probably because I'm only wearing a tee shirt and my boxers. What? It's a holiday, leave me alone. She mutters something about "today's youth being a pool of quicksand" then coughs to get my attention.
"Guten Tag, brat."
"I'll pay the rent back in full, okay? I just-"
"Nein! That's not the reason I'm here, brat. I've been getting a lot of complaints about how messy your apartment is and how you never take two seconds of your time to take out the trash or clean up. So I've gotten you a maid to help you tidy things up-"
"Wait, what?" I interrupted again. A maid? Am a really that much of a slop?
Old Lady Kauf takes a rolled up newspaper, that seemed to appear out of nowhere, and smacks me upside the head with it. Oww!
"Sei doch mal still! As I was saying, before you rudely interrupted, I've taken it upon myself to get you a maid to help you tidy up around here. Mind you me, I paid in full the expenses for her, so be on your best behavior." she says, pushing up her spectacles back up the bridge of her nose.
"You've got that kind of money? Wow. Then how come you're always hounding me for my rent?" she smirks.
"I'm trying to run a business here, I case you haven't noticed. Anyways, she'll be living with you-and you don't interrupt me in protest or I'll beat dried up noggin out of you!" she threateningly shakes the rolled up newspaper at me. "Since I've gone through all this trouble, I expect you to have made a complete change in your lazy attitude. If not, rest assured. I'm going to evict you." she finishes.
My eyes widen a tiny bit. Evict me? Isn't that going a tad overboard? Well, then again, Old Lady Kauf keeps a rifle handy in her home just to shot at flys...
"Well, where is she then?" I ask. She scowls at me again.
"How should I know? She's probably off attending to her own business. I do know that she'll be arriving at 7:30 sharp. So roll out the welcome mat for her."
"..."
"I mean it."
"...fine." Happy with how the conversation went, Old Lady Kauf turns and starts to leave.
"Auf wiedersehen, brat." I close the door behind her. Ugh, life really doesn't seem to like me right now.
A/N- Yay! I finished this chapter in exactly two days! I'm so proud of myself! Bet y'all can't guess who Toushirou's new household maid will be! Hehe. *gets hit in the face by another boot* Oww!
Rukia was really...strange and different from how she'd normally act, but it's a fanfic so...*shrugs*
Well, anyways, hope ya liked it.
German Translations- (yeah, I decided to use German instead of Japanese, worked out pretty nice in my opinion)
Guten Tag- Hello
Nein- No
Sei doch mal still- Be quiet will you!
Auf Wiedersehen- Goodbye
LEAVE A REVIEW OR OLD LADY KAUF WILL WHACK YOU UPSIDE THE HEAD!!!