UPSIDE DOWN
Chapter I - The Ocean's Gift to Ichigo Kurosaki
"Looks like another hot day. Great." A man, averagely tall, stood with his feet planted in pure white sand, toes digging themselves into the sinking mesh. The first thing that popped was his abnormal hair color, a deep and bright orange, with no strands of different shades. His hair sprouted up rebelliously, and cast a thin shadow over his forehead when he looked down. He had definite facial features, very hard and narrow, but handsome no less. He was young, still obviously in his teens. He wore casual, khaki shorts which hung to his knees and a simple white-collared shirt marked on the front with a green-and-red logo.
"Ohh!" a whine erupted from a nearby girl. "Don't frown so much, Ichigo! We're at the beach for once, so don't waste it by sulking!"
Ichigo's face blanched, and he forced a smile for his younger sister's benefit. "Alright."
"Wanna help build a sandcastle with me?"
"No!" a deep, baritone voice called out, and both Yuzu and Ichigo snapped their heads to the side. "Daddy's sandcastle is destroyed!" A tan-skinned man with jet-black hair was struggling around on his knees, trying to salvage the remnants of the muddied, washed away castle.
"You built it two feet away from the water. What'd you expect?" He sighed as he watched Yuzu run to his father's aid and begin scooping up the now-wet sand in attempt to save the lump. Turning around, he squinted his eyes to see down the shoreline. Letting out one, short chortle he turned in the opposite direction and began walking. 'Seems Karin's found a few people to play soccer with.' His eyes stared off to the left as he walked, gazing even past the horizon itself.
Living in Karakura Town, they were always far from the beach -- there were a few lakes, but it wasn't the same; there was no salty scent in the air, no waves threatening to push you over. Rarely did they ever travel or take vacations. But this year, their father had decided otherwise. Ichigo didn't mind the idea, just so long as his family was happy. The beach didn't really appeal to him -- what was so great about it? You got sand in your shorts, in your hair, and you ended up smelling like salt. Not to mention all the seawater Yuzu probably had swallowed by now. Didn't little kids pee in there? He cringed just thinking of it.
But he had once come here with his mother when he was younger. The beach was one of her favorite places, thus it was his as well. She told him that the sweet and strong scent of salt and the moisture in the air made her feel happy inside. And if something made his mother happy, Ichigo was pro-it. But coming here again only dug up old memories, old wounds and plunged a thumb into every one of them. But he was grown and mature enough--16--now to not let it affect him. If his sisters would enjoy themselves, so be it. He might frown a lot while he was there, but didn't he always do that anyway? As far as the orange-headed boy was concerned, they wouldn't even know the hurt he kept inside; surely they had that same hurt too, but fortunately (or not so fortunately) it was still locked away, safe inside.
Ichigo didn't realize how lost in thought he was until he stopped, taking in the sight on the ground before him. Only a few feet away was a lump of…flesh? The body lay motionless, trying in vain to blend in with the sand, but the colors were just too different, even if they were both white. A blob of black and a few lines of red were mixed in with the sprawled person, and Ichigo immediately found out it was a girl -- she was bare-skinned and as he ran and crouched down to her, his blush relayed the sight of her small but well-formed breasts. He shook her shoulder. "H-Hey! Are you alright?" He rolled her, reluctantly, onto her back, exposing her entire body to the world. The unconscious girl's face was porcelain-like, angelic even. Her front side was marred with cuts and scrapes, and a mild gash on the right side of her abdomen. She was still slightly wet and covered in sand, her hair messy and tangled.
When he didn't see the rise and fall of her chest, he slipped into a slight panic and pressed his lips to hers, blowing in skillfully. He then did a few compressions and blew into her lips--soft and salty, he mused--once more. He pressed both of his hands over her ribs, and as he went to give her air again, she cocked her head to the side and a little water gushed out of her mouth. She gasped for air and coughed a lot, and when she calmed herself, she whipped her head in Ichigo's direction. Confusion was evident on her face, and she looked like she was about so speak, her eyebrows rutted. She propped herself up to a sit, or at least attempted to, but the gash in her stomach made her cringe and fall onto her back again, wincing through her teeth.
Ichigo knew how to handle this, having helped at the Kurosaki Clinic before, but he had nothing on him that would help her. Perhaps his father would know what to do with a bandage-less situation like this. He looked down abashedly at her writhing figure--apparently the sting of her wounds was getting the best of her--and quickly stripped his shirt off and threw it on top of her. It managed to cover from her chest down to her mid-thighs. He scooped her up, feeling awkward with her bare skin against his arms, and rushed in the direction he came from. He could feel the sand caked in the crevices of her skin, a feeling he himself hated.
Yuzu was playing in the ocean with some water toys, while Karin was out of sight, probably still playing sports. Isshin was rubbing tanning lotion over his already-tanned skin and stretching himself onto a cheap beach chair with cloth strips for the seat. He could see his son running toward him in the distance. "Ichigo! Hey, Ichigo! Finally come to--," he stopped short, catching a glimpse of what was in his son's arms. He immediately stood up, and the fun and playfulness on his face washed away instantly.
Ichigo stopped abruptly in front of his father, sand skidding up slightly below his feet. "I just found her. She was just laying there on the beach without any clothes," the orange-headed boy told his father urgently.
Isshin was quick to respond with calmness that his son was having trouble reaching himself. "She's breathing. Was she when you found her?" When Ichigo explained the resuscitation he performed, he then quickly informed him of the wounds over her body, one in particular that was already starting to seep through his shirt with its blood. "The sea water has probably done a mediocre job at disinfecting them. Take her to our hotel -- I'm not quite sure where the hospital is. When you get there, lay her down on the bed and clean her wounds. There's a First Aid Kit I brought in my suitcase. Use the gauze pads in there to wrap the more serious one, and then cover her up with a blanket to get her temperature regulated," he said in only a few breaths, all the while pressing his hand to the raven-haired female's forehead. "I'll go get your sisters and meet you there. When I get there I'll check on her, and if she needs better medical attention, I'll call the front desk to ask for the nearest hospital." He spoke calmly and clearly, but with a strong and thick tone, making sure Ichigo listened well. "Now hurry, go."
Ichigo nodded and watched for a moment as his father turned around to get Yuzu out of the water. Ichigo then started heading toward his hotel, not too far away. He wondered how strange it would look to the hotel clerks as he passed by with a naked girl in his arms going in and out of consciousness. He could tell by the sound of his dad's voice that Isshin had already summed up her damages and thought that a hospital would do nothing different than what they, the Kurosakis, would.
As the sixteen-year-old pushed through the glass hotel doors, he tried to slip by the hotel desk unnoticed.
"Young man."
Ichigo mentally groaned in annoyance and turned around to face a middle-aged woman with graying black hair and crow's feet.
"Did you read the sign?" She pointed to a yellow poster on the wall next to him. 'No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service,' it read. She stared at his naked chest and then gestured toward his bare feet.
"Oh, uhm, sorry. I'm going to put some clothes on right now." Without waiting for her answer, he walked hurriedly toward the elevator. Once in, he sighed in relief. He wondered when he'd gotten such good luck. Honestly, how could she not have seen the girl in his arms? He wondered, leaning against the metal wall. When the elevator beeped, he shrugged the thought off as he headed toward the room, pulling his key card out of his pocket and sliding it in the slot.
Once inside, he set her on one of the three beds carefully and switched on the lights. The room was quickly illuminated, revealing a small yet cozy hotel room. There were three beds side-by-side, each having two white sheets and a royal crimson cover on top. The beds were nicely made, two pillows on top with complimentary toothbrushes and shampoo next to them. The walls were bland and white, the ceiling dotted with stuccoes. In the middle of the ceiling, them being on the top floor, there was a sky window that showed the bright afternoon clouds.
Next, Ichigo went to his father's suitcase and unzipped it. He instantly found the First Aid Kit and unlatched it. It was more advanced than normal ones, probably because Isshin had put in extra supplies from his clinic. Walking over to the bed, he could see the girl's eyes faintly opened, as if she was half-awake. She moaned tiredly, probably in pain. Ichigo pulled off the white shirt from her and tossed the bloodied clothing aside. He untucked the comforter from one side and covered her from the waist down. He then used rubbing alcohol and a baby blue cloth to cleanse her gash, and the hiss from her mouth made him avert his gaze to her face. Her eyes were closed again. They were purple weren't they? He couldn't remember.
When the wound looked clean enough, he wrapped her stomach in a white bandage and then quickly swiped her smaller cuts with a cotton ball soaked in alcohol. Once satisfied that she was cleaned up well enough, he pulled the cover up to her collar bone and then went to use the restroom.
As he stood in the cramped bathroom, waiting for his stream to come, he wondered about the girl in the next room. How did she end up there? Why was she so cut up, and stark naked no less? It all seemed very strange, and he was looking forward to when she awoke. After all, the beach they were at was private and owned by the hotel they stayed at, which currently didn't have many guests. In fact, he hadn't seen any guests as of recently, so he was fairly sure she wasn't staying in the lodge.
Flushing the toilet, he ran his hands under the water and then dried them. As he was walking out, he saw his dad enter the hotel room with his two sisters behind him.
Isshin pulled the cover back from the girl and took a cursory glance. "Wow, Ichigo. Who knew you would actually pull through! I'm proud, m'boy!"
"Give it a rest!" Ichigo yelled, agitated. After Yuzu ran to use the restroom and Karin went into the connected room that held the television, Ichigo's scowl hardened. "What do you think happened to her? How'd she end up like that?"
"Well, I didn't get to see her wound very well, so when I change the bandage later, I can probably tell you what caused it. But other than that, I have no idea where she came from or why she was like that. You'll have to ask her when she wakes up." Not being able to be serious for more than a few moments, Isshin grinned. "So was that your first time seeing a girl naked? And she's pretty good-lookin', too! Did ya cop a feel? C'mon, Ichigo, I won't tell," he asked mischievously.
"No, you perverted old man!" he exclaimed as he drove a foot into his father's stomach.
"K-Karin…! Did you see this? Daddy was just assaulted!" he yelled and went to pester Karin.
Ichigo scoffed, remembering the countless wake up calls he received from his playfully abusive dad. Running a hand through his hair, he sighed tiredly and took one last glance at the sleeping girl. His eyes widened slightly and he let out a short "eh?" as he looked closer. The furrowing of her eyebrows had stopped, and the lines on her forehead were relaxed and smooth. She seemed peaceful, and he concluded that it was probably due to the fact her wounds weren't hanging open anymore. Not thinking anything more of it, Ichigo turned toward the connected room and shouted, "I'm goin' for a walk. I'll be back later." He dug through his suitcase and pulled out a blue-and-white striped polo. He slipped on his sandals and the shirt, not wanting to get an earful of the desk lady's admonishments. With that, he left and decided to head toward the street vendors a few blocks away.
By the time Ichigo returned, it was almost sundown, and the night had gotten slightly cooler. He swiped his keycard and entered the room, which was full of noise and laughter.
"And when Ichigo was five, he still carried around his blanky that had -- Oh! Ichigo, you're back!" his father greeted shamelessly, not at all remorseful of being caught telling his son's embarrassing stories.
Ichigo felt his eye twitch, but it soon went away when he saw the raven-haired girl sitting up in the bed with Yuzu's orange and yellow plaid pajamas.
"Ichigo, this is Rukia. She woke up only about half an hour after you left," Yuzu explained with a smile. "I made some dinner, and it's in the little refrigerator for you to heat up."
"Oh yeah, we're going out, Ichigo," Karin added in.
"What? To where?" Ichigo had been immediately distracted from the other girl.
"Phantom of the Opera! There's a musical center a few blocks away from here, but we've gotta leave now to be there on time." Karin frowned slightly at the thought of being late.
"Uhh--," Ichigo started.
"But of course you can't come, Ichigo!" his father laughed.
"Why the hell not?!" he yelled, but immediately regretted it. He didn't want to see that, so why was he upset?
"Because someone has to stay here and take care of Miss Rukia," Isshin explained.
"Oh no, I'm fine, thank you. You all have a good time, really, you're too kind," Rukia chirped in.
It was his first time hearing her voice. It was stronger than most women's, but also…slightly forced. It sounded like the was faking her politeness, as if masking something… Ichigo shrugged to himself. She seemed nice enough, though. She'd fit right in with all the girls at his school, he thought with a mental roll of his eyes. She probably was the type afraid to break a nail, he thought with a smirk.
"Nonsense!" Isshin replied. "Ichigo will be here for all of your needs. Alright, come on girls! We'd better get goin'!"
Ichigo stood, dumbfounded, as his father and little sisters left. He turned casually to Rukia. "How're you feeling?" he asked offhandedly.
"Fine," she replied in a reserved voice, but not as happy-go-lucky as before.
He noticed that her hair wasn't tangled or matted anymore, a lone lock hanging across her face, and she also didn't look quite as pale. She probably had had the opportunity to take a shower and rid herself of all the sand. She looked elegant sitting there, perfect posture matched by a composed face. He went into the other room and took out the small boxed meal Yuzu had made from the fridge. "Did you eat already?" he yelled as he popped his food into the microwave that hung above the sink. He pressed a few buttons and stood impatiently as the machine whirred to life.
"Yes," she told him loudly.
When the microwave stopped, he pulled out the steaming dish of noodles and vegetables, and began eating as he sat down on the couch and flipped on the television, almost forgetting the girl in the other room until she appeared at the doorway, walking in slowly as if not to open her wounds again. "H-Hey, you shouldn't be up, your wounds'll open up." Which triggered his earlier queries. 'What happened?'
"I'm fine, thanks," she replied harshly, slightly shocking Ichigo. She walked over to the couch and sat at the opposite end. "Well?"
"Well what?"
"Aren't you going to ask me about what's been bugging you since this afternoon?" She stared at the T.V., but wasn't truly watching it.
"Uhh, would you tell me even if I did ask?"
"No, probably not."
Ichigo's eyebrows drew together. "Then why the hell'd you--!"
Rukia shrugged and smirked over at him. "Just wanted to confirm my belief that you were curious."
Ichigo stared at her incredulously for a moment, and then turned his annoyed glare to the T.V., stuffing another bite into his mouth. After a moment of no sound except for the television's news report, Ichigo decided to ask at least one of the questions on his mind. "So do you even remember what happened to you?" He had a feeling that maybe the reason she wouldn't answer him before was because she herself didn't know.
Rukia didn't answer for a few seconds, but decided to after thinking it over. "Perfectly."
"Well I won't pressure you to answer," he told her indifferently. "But where do you plan to go after my family goes back to Karakura Town? Apartments don't come free, and in any case, you're still just a high school student, right?"
"I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself, if that's what you're asking," she spit back. "I'm leaving tonight, so please tell your family that I'm in their debt."
Ichigo's eyes shifted to her. "There's no way you can leave on your own like that right now. You're in no shape to be moving around, you idiot!" he exclaimed in disbelief. Did she really plan to leave after her fresh injuries barely had time to heal?
"Excuse me? Who died and made you king?" she asked, and suddenly the sweet and innocent girl he had seen earlier was long gone.
"Who died and made you the village idiot? Where would you even go, anyway?" he asked through a growl.
"None of your damn business, that's where!"
"Is this how you treat all your rescuers, or is it just me?" he barked.
"Who the hell asked you to save me in the first place?!" They were now both standing, she looking up ferociously into his eyes and he looking down angrily into hers.
"What, would you rather I had just left you there to die?"
"Maybe then I wouldn't have to put up with your stereotypical thoughts and ramblings!" She poked his chest harshly.
"Stereotypical? What the hell? I'm not stereotyping anyone!" If anything, he never did. People had stereotyped him so much due to his orange hair that he was sick of all the labels.
"You think I'm some frilly little girl who can't hold her own, and needs the protection of a strong, manly man. Isn't that right?" she asked through a small smirk.
"You claim not to be the damsel-in-distress, but you coulda fooled me lying there half-alive on a beach," Ichigo snapped acerbically. He put his hand on top of her head and shook it back and forth, mocking her height. "I bet you just couldn't swim and went into the beach and drowned, huh? Only someone like you would be that stupid, am I right?"
Rukia punched a hard fist into his rib, and as he rubbed it in pain and looked at her through one eyelid, she looked down at him haughtily. "Listen well, Ichigo," she emphasized, "I'm on a mission to find something very important to my clan--the Kuchiki Clan--and I won't let a few minor wounds stop me."
Something in the tone of her voice told Ichigo that she'd had worse in comparison. He stood to his full height once he was sure his stomach wouldn't start bleeding internally from her power punch, and looked down at her. There was so much more to her. She had depth. She wasn't… He couldn't explain it, but she wasn't the same. She reminded him of his friend Tatsuki, who was tough on the exterior, but this girl, Rukia, she carried herself differently. Nobly, somewhat arrogantly, but almost with a certain level of grace and maturity. He wondered what made her character. How did she end up being so confident and strong? 'She said she belongs to the Kuchiki Clan…they must be a noble house wherever she came from,' he mused. "Tell me, what exactly are you looking for?" His voice remained nonchalant as always, no sign of curiosity. But both of them could feel his undying need to know her answers. No one likes a mystery that can't be solved, no matter how cleverly written it may be.
For some reason, the hard stare he gave her, the inquiry he asked, backed up with the strength in his voice, made her trust him, even if it went against everything she'd been taught. "I'm looking for our family amulet."
Ichigo's eyes dulled slightly, though still held interest. "And they sent you to get it?"
Rukia closed her eyes briefly and stifled a laugh. "I wouldn't expect someone like you to understand." She stared up at him again. "The amulet is a Kuchiki amulet, given to us by someone of high importance long ago. And now it has been stolen, and I have been sent out to find it." She averted her eyes to the side, recalling a memory Ichigo wished he could see. "I have very limited time, so I must leave at once," Rukia spoke and headed for the door. She felt a faint hand on her shoulder and narrowed her eyes before turning around to face Ichigo again.
"There's a lot of things you're not telling me, and that's fine. We just met, I get that." He paused and removed his hand from her shoulder. "But what I don't get is why you came in here." When he saw the quizzical look rise to her face, he elaborated. "Why did you come in here and sit on the couch? Why not just slip out if you're under this 'time limit'? Unless…you wanted my help." He wasn't offering, of course. Going on a wild hunt for something he didn't care about did not particularly appeal to him.
Rukia smiled cynically, her deep violet irises holding a hint of humor in them. "I came in here to thank you properly, but you only seemed to start arguments."
"I started arguments?! You were the one who instigated them!"
"You raised your voice first," she stated matter-of-factly. She turned around again and headed to the bedroom, and after a moment Ichigo followed her.
"I don't have any money on me, so please give your sister my apologies for taking her pajamas." She placed her hand on the door handle and turned it confidently. When she pulled it, she had to muffle a wince with her lips clenched together, having stretched one of her abdominal muscles. "Thank you, Ichigo." There, she said it.
"W-Wait, you can't go like that. You've got no money and you're wounded."
She raised her eyebrows. "Do you plan to stop me? To force me to stay here against my will?"
Ichigo let in a small, nearly inaudible shocked noise at her inquiry. He couldn't force her to stay, but… She at least needed to be cleared by his dad before she left. He walked over to her, equipped with a scowl on his face and all, and shut the door casually. He walked over to the middle bed and looked under it, pulling out a spare folding chair.
Rukia watched in curiosity as he set the chair in front of the door and sat in it. "You can leave after my dad says you can. Until then, you're stuck here." He didn't quite like the idea of babysitting some annoying girl who did nothing but insult him, but his conscience wouldn't allow him to let her leave knowing there was a possibility she could injure herself further.
Rukia, knowing she didn't have the strength right now to fight back physically, smiled softly. "I see. Well, then I guess I'll have to wait until the morning," she said, mainly to herself. On second thought, she pondered that it might be better to get a decent night's rest before setting off again. She'd cover a lot more ground if she was well-rested and partially healed. She crawled onto the bed, carefully trying to not stretch her stomach unnecessarily. Slipping under the covers, she sighed silently. "You don't have to sit there all night. I'm not going to run away or anything." Even if that had been the exact thing she had done the day before, she wouldn't do it tonight. Despite Ichigo's obvious attitude and disgruntlement about--what, life in general?--things, she could tell he was a decent man on the inside, and she trusted he wasn't like the people she had a habit of running into.
"Yeah," Ichigo replied and went into the other room to turn off the T.V. He then came back and folded the chair up, sliding it under the bed again, and laid on the furthest bed from the entrance door, two beds down from Rukia. He wondered if she was telling the truth, especially with her being closest to the exit. However, he wasn't her father, he told himself, and if she was a noblewoman like she said, she would keep her word. So, closing his eyes, he soon fell asleep, wondering if when he woke up, Rukia Kuchiki would still be there.
Author's Note: Well, I decided to mix up my writing style for this story. I hope you like it.
TBC.