Not-so-long-author-note: This is another one of my reviewers' long-awaited prize, a freestyle oneshot by me, for winning my author note contest. Congratulations xombi316, and sorry about the delay!
This is rated T for mild language.
Warning: Possible spoilers.
Carnival Proposal Pt. 1
"Ichigo! I want that Chappy! That Chappy!" Rukia squealed, hopping up and down and jabbing her fingers toward the aforementioned object in her excitement. The same couldn't be said for Ichigo, who was glaring down at her from behind, hands jammed in his purple windbreaker, and breathing somewhat heavily.
"It couldn't have hurt to slow down you know," he complained. "It's not like anybody wants those things."
"Don't call them 'things'!" she cried indignantly. "They're Chappy! Number one most popular type of Soul Candy!"
"Speaking of which," Ichigo scowled, ignoring her previous comment, "Did you bring yours?"
Rukia adopted a more serious tone, before unceremoniously stomping on his sneaker-clad feet.
"Ow, what the he-!"
"Of course I did, you fool!"
The petite Shinigami huffed and spun away from him, momentarily forgetting about Chappy. Hopping on the spot, cursing all the while, Ichigo gave his Shinigami partner an evil eye and a quick glance over.
In accordance with tonight's chilly weather, she had dressed herself in leggings with beige boots, a plain purple dress that reached her knees, and a peach fur coat foisted upon her by one overly enthusiastic Kurosaki Isshin, who had claimed before seeing them off, "It's cold out there, and you never know what punks will try to touch my third daught-" and had been cut off by well-placed kick on his face, courtesy of one annoyed Kurosaki Ichigo.
After seeing her hair lightly dusted with snow, he quickly brushed his orange locks, only to come away with a damp hand. Scowling, he wiped it on his windbreaker, which concealed a thick white sweater and hung slightly past his comfortable jeans.
When he looked up, Rukia had remembered her objective, and had darted away in front of the colorful booths.
They were at a carnival, taking advantage of a week off from school, due to construction issues. As Rukia had never been to one, whether in Soul Society or the Human World, he had suggested they go visit it today. He was willing to make a bet there weren't carnivals in Soul Society though. Well, it beat going on a "family-reconnection" trip to the old folk village two cities away, where his idiotic father and his two sisters, Yuzu and Karin, were.
"Hurry!" called Rukia, interrupting his train of thought. He griped about Chappy for a few moments, before walking briskly to where she was.
As he maneuvered the bustling crowd, full of couples and families, different parts of the carnival grounds flashed by his eyes.
Currently, he and Rukia were in the booths sections, where they sold snacks, drinks, and tickets, and hosted various games where one could win prizes. To the left of this section stood a reasonably tall Ferris wheel, with box cars of red, blue, green, yellow, and orange, and decked in hundreds of small but brilliant lights. For the moment, it had stopped, but would soon start up and turn slowly again, offering a panoramic view at the highest point of the ride of the lake several miles away.
To the right, smaller rides and bigger rides occupied passerby's attention, including a spinning tea cup ride, two different roller coasters, and more. In front of him and past the crowd was a bigger crowd, entering and exiting a group of small stores with carnival merchandise. Behind him was the entrance through which they had entered that morning, which had a furnished arch announcing a welcome to all customers.
He allowed himself a brief rub of tonight's "good luck charm" in his pocket, before hurrying to where one short Kuchiki stood, stomping in impatience.
"Do you know what you're going to do about school?" queried an inquisitive Asano Keigo. His face was currently mildly serious, but could be prone to change into an expression that people preferred to call "his idiot face". His feet dangled over the desk he was perched on, swinging and occasionally nudging Ichigo's leg, which earned him some nasty bruises.
"He's probably just going to go work in his dad's clinic, right?" supplied Kojima Mizuiro, who spoke between bites of a sandwich. "It's not like you have any ambition to do anything else."
"True," Ichigo agreed, who stood leaning against one of the walls of his classroom, "But I've got time."
"Ichigo!" wailed Keigo, "Do you know how quickly time flies by? It's not even funny. All the chances to go bowling, dig some hot chicks, TP the teachers' homes are slipping through our fingers!" He ended his short rant with an ear-grating, annoying shriek, which was quickly silenced by a swift punch.
Ichigo rubbed the back of his head, scowling, and muttered about Keigo's idiocy, when the door slammed open with a deep cry of "Ichigo!"
Said person's two friends stared at the person in the doorway in shock, who hastily composed herself.
"Oh my, I'm sorry for the interruption, but I must speak with Kurosaki-san," she giggled in a sweet voice. Ichigo immediately became alert, and hurried over to her, calling over his shoulder to his friends: "Be right back."
As the door slid shut, the two friends looked at the doorway in silence, before Mizuiro broke the silence, remarking, "She's still pretending, isn't she? Even though we already know everything… About her being a Shinigami and all."
Keigo, for once, did not offer his own two cents, but merely grunted.
Ichigo had reached Rukia's side and peered into the booth, having to bend slightly to see her object of desire at the very back. Her eyes feasted upon a pale white rabbit, with droopy ears and red eyes, quivering in fear in its metal cage. Next to it was a wooden decorative basket, with purple velvet blankets lining the bottom, a handle to hold it from, and several carrots and a guide on how to take care of pet rabbits.
The rabbit had not escaped the notice of other passerby, and currently, the booth Ichigo and Rukia were at had the most spectators around it due to its unique prize. Rukia had snagged third place in the waiting line, and motioned him to come over with her hand, before turning to stare at the booth.
Booths were something she was familiar with, as she had seen a couple in Soul Society festivals. However, the bright colorful wallpaper lining the inside, the game itself, and the absolutely adorable Chappy (for she refused to call it otherwise) were certainly new to her. She leaned back a bit to read the sign: "Are You Compatible?"
She turned red at the implications, and suddenly wished she had not so urgently called for the Substitute Shinigami. But she really wanted that rabbit…
"What is it? A Hollow?"
Rukia and Ichigo ran down the hallway, with Rukia poring over her otherworldly "cell phone", or order receiver.
"Yeah, two hollows down the street with the bakery. One of them is abnormally big. It doesn't have abnormal reiatsu though," she rattled off, experienced with the short and sometimes confusing orders she was sent.
She and Ichigo made a sharp turn and hurried down the stairs.
"Of all the days not to bring Kon," he grumbled, keeping up with her and reaching into his back pocket for his Shinigami Substitute badge.
"It's better that way," she assured him, popping her soul candy into her mouth, before stopping briefly to instruct Chappy to act normally and to watch over the students, before she continued to run. "Even if some people at school know the situation between you and me, it's better not to cause any more excitement."
Ichigo stumbled slightly at her choice of her words, before giving her a glance.
Between you… and me…
Though she had probably meant about how the secret that they were both Shinigami had gotten out after the war to his friends, he was thinking of it in a different context, but didn't have much time to do so after they rushed out of the school building. He quickly slammed the badge against his chest, and let his body drop against some bushes, which concealed it moderately well.
He loved the feeling of being a Shinigami again, after the whole Fullbringer fiasco, no matter how much he claimed he wanted to have a normal life. Being a Shinigami gave him powers to protect his loved ones. He also loved how light and powerful he felt, and the wind rushing past him as he easily leapt high and far distances. But most of all, being a Shinigami was the only one way he could see the person running by his side.
By now, Ichigo had caught up to Rukia, puzzled as to why her face had suddenly flushed and her eyes darted everywhere but him and the booth. He glanced up at the booth name, and understood.
Oh.
"I-Ichigo, let's go back…" she mumbled, still not looking at him. He stared at her for a moment, before craning his neck past the two couples in front of him to see the game.
Basically, a red ribbon was tied around a couple's hands, the right of the girl's and the left of the guy's. Then they were forced to participate in various hand-eye coordination games that would have been easy were it not for the tied hands. The games included knocking down bottles, fishing for the right colored duck in a fast moving current, and tossing rings around three poles. At the end, the owner of the booth, a kindly looking old man asked the couple their relationship status: dating, engaged, or married.
He frowned. It wasn't too bad. The game suited his plans tonight perfectly and his competitive spirit was up to outdo the other men. He only hoped that nobody in front of them would manage to win the rabbit.
"You're going to ask her out, right? I knew this would happen sooner or later, give me the details!" demanded an eager Arisawa Tatsuki.
Ichigo turned slightly red and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment, sitting on the bedroom floor of his childhood friend along with Mizuiro and Keigo. Inoue was with her distant extended relatives, Chad was at a concert with some of his other friends, and Ishida was currently at a cram school. The poor nerd.
He tousled his hair some more, before he mumbled something unintelligible. Tatsuki raised a threatening foot, forcing him to speak up louder.
"I said, I was going to take her to the amusement park or the carnival to-"
"What gave you the inspiration to?" asked Mizuiro.
Somewhat annoyed, he answered, "Her birthday's coming up. I just felt like it would be appropriate then."
"January 13th?"
"No, the 14th. And anyways, how did you guys find out? I don't recall telling anybody about this," he accused, the tips of his ears turning noticeably red again.
Tatsuki shrugged, and Mizuiro simply studied the posters of athletes on the walls. It was Keigo who declared, "You've been so sly lately, Ichigo! Giving such lovey-dovey looks to Kuch-" and was promptly silenced again with a kick, this time from Tatsuki.
"That aside, Ichigo, how exactly do you plan to do this?"
"We're having next week off, right? I just figured doing it then."
"This is serious, you know, you have to think about what you're doing here."
"I'm sure."
She studied his eyes, which were narrowed in as serious of an expression as he could get and his confident upright body. His eyes burned with that will that she knew from past experiences would let him accomplish and lend him the bravery and motivation to succeed in his goals. So he was determined to see this through.
I'm sorry, Orihime, thought Tatsuki sadly. I want to root for you, but I also can't force Ichigo away from the one person I've ever seen him like this much.
"So," she said in a business tone, dispelling her sadder thoughts, "let's get to it.
"How are you going to ask her out?"
"About that…"
Before she knew it, it was their turn, as the couples before them had only met with failure. She cocked an eyebrow at him, giving him one last chance to back out. A man's pride was important after all.
And his life, she added as a somber afterthought, thinking of Kaien and Ichigo's one of many close brushes with death when he faced off against the Grand Fisher in the cemetery, on his mother's death anniversary.
She did want the rabbit, but she supposed she could always visit a pet store. But this rabbit was so cute, and it would be her first prize from her first carnival, if she did win it. She braced herself for disappointment.
To her shock, Ichigo shrugged, and shouldered his way through the crowd to stand next to her. She felt suddenly warm, despite the frigid temperature and the visible vapor leaving her mouth with every breath into the cool air.
Thank you, Ichigo.
By now, a sizable crowd had gathered in front of their booth, some for the rabbit, and the outer spectators out of curiosity to see what had drawn such a large crowd at one booth.
Ichigo and Rukia felt self-conscious, but steeled themselves to go ahead with their plans anyway.
I will win, for what he's doing! she vowed to herself, though the scale of what Ichigo was doing now wasn't much compared to what he was really planning to do.
I'd better not screw this up, he thought nervously, rubbing the charm in his pocket with more insistence.
Let's get on with it! they both thought, and extended their hands.
The man gently wrapped the red ribbon of fate around their wrists, his wrinkly fingers brushing both their hands as he did so.
"Oho," he chuckled, "such a young pair, I feel a winner is here in my bones."
The audience behind them cooed, commenting on how her short height contrasted so cutely with his tall frame, as well as their hair colors. Others gushed about how softly his hand held hers, and how close of a proximity she was comfortable with to her partner, and what that meant about their trust.
Rukia's eyes grew wide, her limbs shook, and her mouth opened and closed repeatedly and silently, suddenly too hot and panicked to focus on the one comment about her height, while Ichigo averted his eyes and rubbed the back of his hair with his free hand, before they both turned their attention to the game.
"First," the booth owner declared, "the ring toss game."
He handed the joined hands seven rings, and informed them that at least five of them had to make it for a prize, and that all of them had to make it for the rabbit.
Rukia licked her lips nervously, all too aware of the spectators' stares and compliments, the knowing twinkle in the man's eyes, and the warm weight of Ichigo's hand against hers, clutching the small and heavy plastic rings.
"This shouldn't be too hard," Ichigo remarked, trying to relieve the tension, and focus on the game, and not how her small delicate hand did not fit with his, but rather was enclosed securely in his large one and how cold they were. He resolved to stop by the shops and buy some gloves later.
Rukia nodded, aware of the fact that he was referring to their development of hand-eye coordinated moves in battles and their work as Shinigami.
"Ready, set, go!" cried the man, and the pair, without consulting or practicing a few test swings, snapped their wrists forward. The ring landed perfectly on the left pole, and elicited a few claps from the crowd. The rest of the rings went just as quickly, and when the last ring finished swinging its way down the center pole, the audience clapped as one.
Next, the owner had them come deeper into the booth for the fishing game, and the audience moved with them, staying outside but now closer than before, the better to peek in at the proceedings.
This too also went easily. The rules were to pick the six red-tagged ducks which would only loop once in the current. The tags were incredibly small, and hard to spot, and the ducks were spaced randomly, some close to another, others with larger gaps in between. Four were needed for a prize, and like before, all ducks had to be picked for a chance to win the rabbit.
The two Shinigami knelt down in front of the water tray in front of them, and clutched one blue plastic fishing rod together with their fingers intertwined. With their developed sense of vision from analyzing countless battle moves, and their trust of each other, they were able to snag all six, to the growing delight of the crowd.
"Now," murmured the booth owner, "the bottle knock-down game. 10 are needed for any prize, but 13 are needed for the rabbit." Then he smiled, and stated, "And I have a feeling that will not be too hard for this couple."
By this point, the duo had calmed down enough to stop flushing or reacting embarrassedly every time the audience cheered and focused on the task.
It's not a matter of strength, analyzed Rukia.
It's more about knowing exactly where to aim, thought Ichigo, who had experience with such games. They were handed just one baseball. Both gripped it firmly, and hurled it in the same direction, again without communication, towards the weak point they had both silently agreed on.
With a tinkle and crash, all bottles clattered down from their pyramid structure, and the ball rolled away out of sight.
The audience roared its approval, and the beaming Rukia and pleased Ichigo were presented with the basket, on top of which lay the caged rabbit. Rukia held on to the basket handle with her free hand, squealing down at the albino rabbit.
"For the final question," smiled the elderly booth owner, "what is your current relationship status? Dating, engaged, or married?"
Rukia suddenly felt awkward. It was true that she and Ichigo were very good friends, and that her own feelings for him were straddling the fence between deep comradeship, and something more, but this matter also included Ichigo's feelings. What were his feelings? She wondered nervously.
She opened her mouth, resolved to say "just friends", when to her shock, Ichigo stated to the man and the now silent crowd, "Engaged."
The crowd roared and whistled and was whipped into a chaotic frenzy of congratulations and good wishes. Rukia tuned this all out in favor of staring up at the orange-haired high school student in disbelief.
"Engaged?" she choked out, "Engaged?"
"Not yet."
He stared at her, and she felt a blush claw its way up her cheeks, as memories of when he had rescued her from her execution leapt to the forefront of her mind. His cocky look, his happy look, his tender look, it all flashed through her with a new meaning, seeing the gentle smirk on his face in front of her right now.
He lifted his free hand to scratch the back of his head in embarrassment, and his eyes swiveled upwards to the left, trying to remember what he had prepared for this moment…
"Wait, you mean to tell me you're going to go ahead with this plan of yours without a speech of some sort?" Tatsuki demanded of him.
"Um," he began, but his friend cut him off, berating him the whole while.
"Really! You should at least come up with something to say, instead of doing this silently, like some illiterate caveman!" she huffed.
"Maybe you should listen to her. Boys can say some rather stupid things without planning," stated Mizuiro in a matter-of-fact tone, ignoring Keigo's new wails of Mizuiro's "betrayal to all of manly mankind" with his statement just now.
Ichigo agreed on this half-heartedly, still not sure what to say, and if he really had anything more to say than what he thought was necessary.
At the very least, he later thought, he should go through with this all the way.
"Ah, screw this," he muttered, mentally shredding his prepared "speech" to shreds before fixating his strong look into her purple eyes.
"Rukia," he simply stated. "Happy Birthday."
The audience tittered, adored with the fact that the boy had won her such a coveted prize on a special day for his girl, her birthday.
Rukia couldn't believe it when he first stated it, but she realized then that it was, in fact, her birthday, January 14th.
"And," he continued, "I actually had some kind of speech, but I figured I'd just wing it and be more me with you."
Her heart was pounding unnaturally fast, faster than any thrill of battle, faster than any of her close dances with death. Faster… Throbbing…
"So…"
He knelt down, dragging her slightly down with him, and fumbled with free hand in his left pocket for his charm. He brought it to her hands, and she felt a soft texture on a solid object.
He withdrew his hand to present to her a simple plain silver ring with a red ribbon tied around it.
The red ribbon of fate… and for the color of Shinigami spirit threads…
"Kuchiki Rukia, will you marry me?"
Rukia did not speak for some time, simply staring at the ring nestled in its little jewelry box, unaware and aware of the smiling booth owner, the audience that waited with bated breath, her nervous and expectant Shinigami partner, her friend, her…
Thud. The basket dropped from her slack grip, the cage burst open with the force, and the rabbit fled, dodging past the crowd's feet. She paid it no heed, however. She paid nothing heed, except for what was in front of her…
"Yes, you fool," she whispered, before she knelt down and hugged him, forgetting about his proffered ring in her emotion.
The crowd this time did not explode into a loud frenzy, but aw-ed at the romantic spectacle.
Ichigo smirked more and just let her cling to him, his heartbeat that had accelerated in anticipation and the fear of rejection slowing down to a more moderate tempo.
"Now, we're engaged."
"Fool, of all the things you could have said after that…"
The problems start, thought Ichigo as he embraced her, with my new soon-to-be brother-in-law, who's probably going to Bankai my ass off with Senbonzakura Kageyoshi. … Ah well, that'll have to wait.
He simply sat down on the floor, hugging her closer to him, who had begun crying, and was now trying to cover her tears up in his jacket.
All in a day's work, thought the booth owner happily, and exited his stall for some space for the lovers, and in search of the escaped rabbit.
Ichigo noticed him leave, and nodded his thanks. The owner simply waved his hand and disappeared. Ichigo then thought back to the planning stage.
"How are you going to ask her out?"
"About that… I'm not going to ask her out.
"I'm going to propose to her."
Super-long-author-note: Phew, this was the longest oneshot and chapter for me ever, and that's without my author notes. I'm so glad that people liked Rukia's Rain, and I still had an oneshot left to do for xombi316, and since I wasn't getting replies, I just took the liberty to do whatever I wanted with it. I have lung cancer, by the way, so this will probably be the last update for this month. You'll have to wait till next month, sorry.
People, thank you so much for your continued support of my works. It's a real pleasure to be able to write for you guys. I hope you check out my other fics, review, or just read for romance, for humor, or for fun.
This is kind of an AU where nothing really happens after the Fullbringer Arc, since I don't know enough about the next to mention it in the oneshot.
I think I got lazy with the actual proposal part, but I liked the beginning for this fic. Please give your thoughts about this chapter. Oh, by the way, Ishida is not a nerd for going to cram school. That's just what Ichigo would kinda think.
