OHMYGOSH?! Seventeen reviews for first chapter? Wow, I feel honored, I didn't know it would be that good, that chapter was kind of a letdown. :/ But here's chapter one technically, but yeah. It's not as funny, kind of a filler, but I have big plans for three. :D
Read or be Confused: Know that I have changed the yen Renji bets on Ichigo, to 50,000. (about 420 US dollars if my phone converter is right) So it makes more sense, yes? I'll change it on the prologue chapter when I find time.
Thanks so much for your reviews, it inspired me, really, thanks!
GAMES
Background Check
---Ichigo---
"So tell me about her." Ichigo says to Renji, dealing another hand of poker, the two currently in Ichigo's apartment.
It's Tuesday. Tuesday means poker night. So while Renji raids Ichigo's food, he set up the game. Renji than joins, after checking that his friend didn't cheat, to than offer Ichigo some of his own food. They sit; squabble over if they should gamble anything, than start.
Ichigo's in his classic pajamas, a tank top and dark pajama pants. Renji, however, is still in his every day clothes, complaining about the hour before asking Ichigo to deal another hand, which leads to Renji answering Ichigo's questions about Rukia.
"Sheesh, I dunno, where do I start?" Renji puzzles, looking at his cards seriously.
The coffee shop incident had been yesterday, the run in still had a bad mood effect on Renji, who was currently loosing the poker game. Most of his anger had boiled down into a simmer of sadness as he sighs before answering.
"Well… Uh…" Renji struggles to form a sentence, scratching the back of his head before tugging at his blue shirt nervously. "I know she has a brother, high and mighty… she doesn't talk about him much…"
"A brother? Is that her only family?" Ichigo questions further, picking up the freshly dealt hand.
"I don't know! She didn't really talk about them much!"
"Didn't talk about them or didn't want to talk about them?"
Renji looks at Ichigo in a pondering way before replying. "I'm not sure… how do you even notice something like that?"
Ichigo smirks. "Good insight I guess… You have to know your opponent if you want to win, right?"
"Right." Renji replies with a grin, suddenly turning sour. "Especially if I'm going to pay you 50,000 yen for it!"
---Rukia---
"So, whose he dated in the past?"
Orihime thinks about Rukia's question, the two painting Orihime's nails (she always needed help with her left hand) and discussing Ichigo. The television is on, some infomercial on an amazing hair product to do this and that, but ten times better than the cheaper ones.
"Um… He never really talked about his ex's…" Orihime tries to think of a time when he did, but shrugs her shoulders.
Rukia growls lightly. This guy was as almost as good at covering his tracks as she was.
"What about family? What about them?" Rukia squints, making a small flower on Orihime's ring finger, finishing off the last petal.
"Oh! I know this! He has two sisters and his father… I'm not sure if his mother is gone or if they got divorced… Hmm… Oh! Do that on this finger too!" She refers to the flower Rukia had just finished, but Rukia's already in shock.
"Orihime! How do you not know that?!"
"I'm sorry, Rukia! He never really talked about his family!" She thinks again almost pondering her next sentence as Rukia grudgingly starts the second flower, "He never really talked about anything… we mostly talked about me…"
---Ichigo---
"Can you tell me anything about her?!" Ichigo's questioning his friend's brain, if it could hold anything in it besides the pointless facts the university drills into them.
"I'm thinking! I'm thinking!" Renji says, almost frustrated, racking his brain for information.
"You where too busy doing other things, huh?" Ichigo suggests, putting the cards back into their packaging.
Renji turns red; the raised eyebrow and suave smile Ichigo is giving him can only mean one thing.
"No! We never! We…never had sex…" He drowns off, now furrowing his brow. "We actually hardly even kissed…"
Ichigo pauses, his hands mid motion in putting away the poker game, before starting up again with a shrug.
"Mm… I thought she'd be the kind to bag a guy and then dump him… interesting…"
"Why would you assume that?" Renji questions, starting to pick up the empty food wrappers, attempting to craft a makeshift basketball to shoot and…
"Nice miss."
"Shuddup." Renji growls, walking over to place the ball of wrappers into the waste basket. "But why would she be a grab and bag? Isn't that usually a boy stereotype?"
Ichigo looks over to Renji, "Hey, you never know."
Renji shrugs before popping onto Ichigo's black leather couch, sighing before grabbing the remote, a soap opera unfolding before the two buddies.
"Sure, go ahead, take the remote, I don't care." Ichigo says with sarcasm, helping himself to the matching recliner.
"Thanks partner." Renji replies, throwing him a huge smile to annoy his friend before surfing over the other shows.
A few moment of silence pass, Renji glances at the orange haired adult, noticing him thinking deeply. He's ridged, his hand over his mouth and leaning forward, eyes focusing on nothing.
Nothing good can be going through Ichigo's mind at this point.
"Hey, what? Interrogation over?" He lightly jokes, Ichigo snapping his attention to Renji.
"I'm thinking, dumb ass. Uh… Sure, another question." Ichigo leans back, lacing his fingers with his knuckles towards him to stretch his arms out, knuckles cracking in unison as he brings his arms back in.
"What's her weakness?"
---Rukia---
"Mostly about you, huh?" Rukia thinks, counting the flower petals on the second flower, 'two… three, four… one more…'
"Mm hum. He said he was more interested in me than him!" Orihime spouts off bubbly, admiring Rukia's delicate work with her nails. "He was so caring, so empathetic! He said my problems where more important than his." Orihime's eyes are filling with tears, glancing at her nails. "Uh… thanks Rukia…"
"Hey! No more tears for the asshole!" Rukia retorts to Orihime's cracking voice on her last sentence. "He doesn't deserve them."
Orihime nods, not trusting herself to speak as she tries to calm down, feeling her flustered face return to a normal temperature.
"Better?"
"Yes." She sounds raspy, so she clears her throat, trying to complete her reply without sounding stupid. "Yes, Rukia." Orihime smiles half heartedly, and Rukia shrugs, putting away the nail polish.
"You'll prefect it." Rukia replies, closing the case of the dozens of nail polish bottles, standing up and walking to put them back into Orihime's small room.
"Prefect what?" The brunette calls after Rukia, who re-enters after a few moments, smiling widely.
"You'll know when you get there." The dark haired girl shrugs. "Anyway, about Ichi-ass, what was the best part of being with him?"
Orihime sighs, trying to ignore Rukia's language before beginning.
"Well he was really good at list-"
"Physical wise."
She blinks. Physical? When had she and Ichigo been physical?
"Kissing, hugging… sex?" Rukia prods, now looking Orihime in the eyes.
"Uh… oh…" Orihime blushes, regaining control she answers hesitantly…
"Eh, holding hands?" A nervous laugh escapes her when Rukia looks at her confused, expecting an explanation.
"Didn't you ever kiss? Sex? Nothing closer other than 'holding hands'?"
Her auburn friend plays with one of her bracelets, prolonging her answer as she spins it around her wrist. "We only kissed a few times… He never asked for… ehm… more…"
"It's a cover up, him dating girls, isn't it? He's gay, huh?"
Gray eyes widen now. "No! No, Rukia! He's not! He can't be!"
Rukia folds her arms, paring it with a look that says 'yeah right'.
"What proves he isn't'?"
Orihime again turns her attention towards her bracelet. It's blue, with white spots and orange stars, her fingers grazing it and making it spin on occasion. "He… uh… He said he wanted a family! The white picket fence kind with wife and kids!"
"Cover up." Rukia mumbles, standing to than walk towards Orihime's kitchen. "Come here, you said you were going to make me some edible dessert."
"Uh, yeah!" She agrees, standing to join Rukia in the kitchen.
---Ichigo---
"Weakness?! What kind of question is that?!"
Ichigo shrugs. "What makes her cry?"
"Rukia crying?" The two words strung together sound weird in his mouth.
"Yeah, tears, liquid from her eyes… ya know? Cry?"
"I… I never saw her cry…"
"Not at chick-flick movies or over anything you talked about?"
Renji wracks his brain. They had seen a few tear jerker movies together, but she hadn't even blinked when a main character died. They talked about sad subjects, but never had he seen any weakness other than boredom.
"She's never cried in front of me, ever…"
Renji's not saying it as a fact, but almost as in disbelief.
"Five months together and she never cried?" Ichigo also questions, pondering the thought.
"Does that mean she doesn't have a weakness?" Renji wonders slowly… "Or does it mean she's a cold, heartless bitch and always will be?"
Ichigo glares over at Renji in annoyance. Way to break up his thinking.
"Think. What was the one thing she cried over?"
Taking a pause before answering, Renji begins, "The closest thing I saw to her other than happiness or anger was… when my grandma died. She didn't cry, but when I was telling her about my grandma and how much I loved her, she got distant, hazy almost…"
Renji goes quiet, his grandma and him had been very close, telling Rukia about her had, what he thought, bonded them together.
"Did she see you cry like the pansy ass you are?"
Renji's trance is broken from the past and turns a shade of red an apple would be envious over.
---Rukia---
"Brownies from a box?" Rukia looks down, reading the box in her hands hesitantly. "Two eggs, one third cup oil, water, and milk." She looks at her friend. "Mix, poor, bake. Now, the asshole, what really made him squirm?"
Orihime's pulling out eggs and milk from the refrigerator, closing the door with her him.
"Squirm?"
Rukia hops onto the counter to sit. "Yeah, squirm. I'm guessing he isn't the type that cries in front of girls… did he?"
Orihime thinks, measuring the oil. "No… he didn't…"
"So what topic got him going? Anything that made him uncomfortable?"
"He… uh…" Orihime thinks, setting down the filled measurement of oil. "I can't say… I can't remember…"
She turns to look at Rukia, still perched on the counter, her head cocked in thought as Orihime sighs.
"He never talked about himself… I know the basics, age and what he wants for the future… but… nothing from the past…"
Rukia nods, accepting that answer as her friend continues making brownies from a box.
Thanks to—
1290r5: I updated! On time! Faster wasn't an option, but I wish it was. :/
BleachOrcalover13: I hope this chapter didn't disappoint, it wasn't as funny, but needed.
RukiaMidget: I'm glad you like it so far! I hope if reaches maximum awesomeness when I finish it!
yukey: Haha, I try to find the spelling errors, but sometimes I fail, forgive me if I do…
leedakay: I changed it! The yen thing now makes sense! Yes! Haha, thanks for pointing it out!
Aizawa Ayumu: Yes! Updates rule! 'Specially on time updates!
Black Sun Upon An Ice Sky: Oh, chaos is the least it will cause… :D
NinjaBunnyOverlord: I know, this was a bit boring, but it'll get better, promise. :)
Azraelean: I fixed the point of view thing for this chapter and the last one. Originally, it had break points, but I guess something happened. :/ But thanks for pointing it out; I'm sure it confused others too!
Alero1990: Good so far, right? : )
Headyzest: Haha! Thanks! I love making Renji throw temper tantrums! :D
Chappy-Is-Mine: Haha, most people don't like Renji! I'm glad I'm making him more awesome! ;)
Rollmodel: Hopefully this will be good!
DAyanElaXD: Update completed! Chapter two finished!
Kaylee: Yes, this is God. XD No, I know you meant good, but hopefully it will be!
NEXT CHAPTER due for on Monday! Review for awesomeness points!
