Chapter Two
"Nii-san!" Yuzu cried, hugging Ichigo as he walked in the door. Karin smiled at Ichigo as well, and Isshin looked up from the dinner table, checking his watch.
"Barely on time. You need to be more punctual. Come sit d…"
"Not hungry… I'm going to my room…" Ichigo said moodily, gently removing Yuzu from him and slouching up to his room upstairs. When he got there, he shut the door and groaned. He had been having such a great day with Rukia, preparing all the while to confess to her, and then she dropped that bombshell on him?
That she was only using the date as an excuse to make him open to her Commander General's offer? What did he look like? What did she take him for? Suddenly, Kon popped out of the closet and began jabbering away.
"Heya, Ichigo! How'd your date with Nee-chan go?" He asked, jumping up and looking Ichigo in the eye.
"None of your business…" Ichigo said, shoving Kon off the desk, causing him to fly into the door.
"You are always so damn moody! So what!? Did she reject you or something? I don't blame her, a grouchy guy like you! Who would wanna date you, besides that Inoue chick? I never understood that girl's taste in men…"
"Please shut up…" Ichigo groaned, putting on pajamas, going out to brush his teeth and getting in bed. He was sure that he wasn't going to have any interest in dinner that night. Instead, he just tried to go to sleep. Unfortunately, as he unwound from the day he had, exciting as it had been, he found himself getting more and more agitated.
He watched as the moon climbed higher and higher in the sky as evidenced by the moving shadows in his room through the curtains. It was a beautiful night. It had been a night like this that he had first met Rukia. When he had first seen her, he had thought she was crazy, wearing samurai clothes, and coming in through his bedroom window.
He had recognized how very beautiful she was, though, and that held him in his place for a moment. Then he had gotten his senses back and he treated her like any other thief in the house. He kicked her, and sent her vaulting head over heels to the floor.
Then she used a binding spell on him, and walked out. That was the night his life changed forever. After that, whatever else he was, he was a Shinigami Representative first.
"I bet you didn't even tell her how you felt, did you? Moron…" Kon taunted. Ichigo looked over crankily at Kon and glared at him. "You didn't, did you? She takes you out on a date like that, and you can't even tell her your real feelings for her. You're the worst sort of person in the world, you are!"
"Shut up…" Ichigo said dangerously. "It wasn't a date! She just asked me out today so she could persuade me to join the 13 Court Guard Companies! She never intended it to be anything like a date!" he snapped.
At this, Kon was silent for a moment. He couldn't believe that Rukia would do something like that. As flirty as she could be when she was trying to get out of trouble, she wasn't a manipulative person by nature. Just a really good actress.
"Nee-chan isn't like that! You must have misunderstood her! You know her better than that!"
"I thought I knew her better than that, too. But I know exactly what she said…" Ichigo grumbled, turning out his light and getting into bed. He had no desire to be up at the moment. It was way too early to go to bed, but he was tired already. The shock of what Rukia said to him had exhausted him.
He could already feel his thoughts becoming sluggish, as slowly, they wended through his mind, passing slowly, but inconspicuously, leaving no lasting impression. His entire body was heavy, and looking at the stars outside, it was a beautiful evening.
Ichigo might have still been out if his father didn't have a 7:30 curfew. It didn't really matter to him usually, although, now, he wished that he could have spent more time with Rukia before he found out that she was just using the date…
What exactly had she done, actually? He wasn't entirely sure, now, why he was angry. It was probably because he had thought that Rukia actually wanted to go on a date with him, but thinking about it, Kon had a point. What reason had she ever given him to believe that?
Was he being as dense now as he had been about Orihime, though, admittedly, headed in the opposite direction? The point was, he was foul mouthed, ill tempered, and not really talented at anything but fighting. She, on the other hand, was graceful, beautiful, talented, intelligent, and strong.
Realizing this, he relaxed a bit, and found himself in a slightly better mood, and more liable to fall asleep. She had never given him any reason to believe that she had feelings for him. Although that felt kind of disappointing, it was also a bit liberating.
Now, it wasn't so hard to know what to say to her next time they met. Of course he would agree to join the court guard companies. He had no reason to say no. His studying was going poorly. He didn't have too big a connection to the human world, and frankly… He owed them… He owed Rukia… Big time.
Meanwhile, Rukia was sitting in her room trying to figure out what exactly she had done wrong. She would have been happy to sit alone all evening. She hadn't been hungry when she got in, and so, had refused dinner. Nonetheless, Kisuke had left some rice and miso soup outside her door if she wanted it. He was a nice person, even though he was a little bit weird.
Perhaps she should not have stated so blatantly that she was only in the human world to ask him to join the Court Guard. She could have waited until tomorrow, or the next day. She had been given a month in which to complete the mission, in order to give Ichigo time to consider his options, say his goodbyes to whomever he felt like saying goodbye, and get ready to go.
She was sure, now, though, that he would refuse her invitation, and that she would have to return having failed her mission. It was embarrassing, but she would have to give the reason that she believed that she failed the mission, and make a few short notes on the affair.
Did that mean that everyone in Soul Society would find out how horribly she had screwed up? After that, they would most likely send a captain to attempt to reason with Ichigo. Ichigo was a stubborn person, though. She couldn't see him caving to insistence from anyone.
Commander General Kyoraku himself could come down to see Ichigo, and it wouldn't change his answer. It was one of Ichigo's most frustrating qualities, but also one of the things she loved and respected the most about him. If not for the intrusion that happened next, Rukia could have sat up all night thinking about Ichigo. Unfortunately, there was a knock on her door.
"Yes? Come in…" Rukia said dispassionately, assuming it was Kisuke trying to convince her that it was wise to eat something… He would make up some dumb excuse like her gigai needed the nutrition, or even that he wanted to see her pretty face at the dinner table… Kisuke was the kind of shameless guy who would say something like that. Instead, though, it was that strange Fullbringer, Riruka Dokugamine.
"Hey, Kuchiki… Don't tell me my biggest rival is lost in her own melancholia…?" Riruka said, her semi-permanent scowl still on her face.
"Did Mr. Urahara send you in here? He wants me to eat, doesn't he?" Rukia asked, still staring out the window.
"No. He doesn't care if you eat. Your gigai doesn't need it, he says, and even humans can go one night without food. But I know you had an argument with Ichigo… What happened? Did he call you short? Make fun of you for being so flat-chested? Tell you how horrible your drawings are? How bad could he possibly have insulted you?"
"It's not like that." Rukia said irately, kind of annoyed that Riruka had just called her flat chested, short, and a bad artist in one sentence in addition to suggesting that Ichigo had any reason to insult her. "And it's not your concern." She continued, not leaving a chance for Riruka to speak. "Matters regarding Soul Society should not be looked into by Humans."
"Ahhh… So you're trying to get Ichigo to join your little Gotei 13 club, huh?"
"You're sticking your nose where it doesn't belong, human, and it's liable to get lobbed off…" Rukia said dangerously, glaring at Riruka. Riruka just smirked at this, though, and stuck her tongue out at Rukia.
"Aww… Don't be like that, Kuchiki… I can't let my rival in battle as well as love get caught up being depressed…"
"W-wha!? Who said I liked Ichigo!?"
"You did. Why would you think we're talking about him?"
"Erk…"
"You're way too easy to trick. Yukio was more fun to mess around with… But you're a more pleasant person to be with… So why don't you quit it with the Tsundere act, and tell me what's going on?" Riruka asked, patting Rukia condescendingly on the head.
Rukia scowled and turned away from Riruka for a moment, flipping through a small pocket sized dictionary.
"Tsundere isn't in this Human Euphemism Dictionary… Is it a type of human theater, like Kabuki or opera?" Rukia asked interestedly, leaning in toward Riruka, looking excited, now.
"W-wha!? What the fuck are you talking about!? How behind the times are you!? Tsundere isn't like Kabuki! It's a personality type, which indicates a person has a noted difference between what they say and how they actually feel. It often involves the person behaving in a hostile manner to avoid displaying their true emotions… It typically refers to a woman, although Tsundere men aren't out of the question…"
"What!? How is that anything like my personality! I am not hostile!"
"Aha… I bet you tried to ask Ichigo out tonight and he turned you down, didn't he? Don't feel bad. He even turned that Inoue chick down. If she didn't have a chance…"
"If you finish that sentence, you're liable to end up in your grave…" Rukia muttered angrily, her fist clenching irately. "Besides, I didn't ask anyone out. I was sent to the Human World to invite Ichigo to join the Gotei 13, and when I told him as much, he seemed to get annoyed, and we ended up parting ways. I'm fairly certain he's going to refuse, now."
"He probably mistook your intentions when you invited him out for the day." Riruka said, all traces of a smile gone from her face. What Rukia had thought earlier suddenly came back into her mind. She couldn't believe that she hadn't thought of that beforehand. Granted, Ichigo hadn't really said anything about believing it to be a date, nor had he ever told her that he liked her or anything.
"I bet you anything he thought you were asking him out on a date…" Riruka continued, staring hard at Rukia as if daring her to contradict her. She didn't, though. Rukia knew that Riruka was probably right.
"After all, it would have to be of pretty paramount importance to bother Ichigo right now…" The purple haired Fullbringer said, pausing at the look of shock on Rukia's face.
"What? Why? Is Ichigo in a bad mood right now?" Rukia asked stupidly. Riruka shook her head.
"College entrance exams. I'm not taking them because I decided not to go back to high school after the incident. However, if Ichigo is any kind of student, he'll be studying super hard right now, spending every free moment he has preparing for college entrance exams, as his results will more or less decide his future for him."
"Really? I didn't realize that Ichigo was such a dedicated student… I knew he was smarter than most people, but he always spent far more time exterminating Hollows and doing work for the Soul Society…"
"All the more reason that he should have to study. He doesn't have unlimited time, and time doesn't stop when he cuts class for you precious Soul Reapers. He's probably pretty frantic trying to catch up on lost work, so when he found out that you wasted his whole day just to ask him if he would join the Gotei 13, he was probably a little bit annoyed, too…
Beyond that, I think it's fairly safe to say that most human males, when asked on a date, don't expect the woman to merely be there 'on business'. It's an issue of ego…"
"You sure seem to know a lot about this…" Rukia said suspiciously. Riruka merely smirked at Rukia, sticking her nose up in the air and giving the Shinigami an oh-so-superior look that would greatly annoy most people.
"Well, being beyond and apart from other humans gives one a unique perspective on social dynamics." Riruka said with that same arrogant grin. Rukia sighed and nodded at this.
"I-is that so? Do you know what I should do, then?" Rukia asked hopefully. Maybe Riruka could help her fix what she had done. Was an apology enough? Maybe it required an explanation, or something beyond that?
"Nope. It's not my problem. The affairs of Shinigami don't interest me." Riruka said dismissively. "I only came cuz the shop owner asked me to. I have no responsibility beyond this. In fact, why should I help you? You're trying to take Ichigo away from me."
"You act like he belongs to you, Riruka. He's never belonged to anyone, much less me, nor do I think he ever will. Even if he does someday get married, he'll still be as independent as he is now, because that's just the kind of person that he is."
"You know him pretty well, Kuchiki… Maybe you should ask yourself what the best course of action is."
Rukia didn't sleep well that night. Her dreams were disturbed by thoughts of Ichigo kissing her, and her melting into his embrace.
Then, suddenly, he would disappear, and she would cry out his name, but he wouldn't be there. The only thing that would be left of him was Zangetsu. It was a well known fact that when a Shinigami died, their sword disappeared.
So that automatically meant that if the sword didn't disappear, then the Shinigami wasn't dead. But that tortured Rukia all the more intensely. If Ichigo wasn't dead, then where was he? She worried and fretted and cried in her dreams, begging Ichigo to stop hiding and come out and see her again. But she knew that he wasn't there, and somehow, it felt like her heart was slowly being torn apart.
The next day, Ichigo showed up at Urahara Shoten right as it opened to talk to Rukia. Not about what one might have thought, though. He had pondered his answer overnight. He had already known from the moment she asked what he was going to say.
But he had sat on it for a little while just to be sure. It was Kisuke himself who answered the door. The shop owner grinned at Ichigo and told him to come in and sit down for a while.
Ichigo walked in, and actually smiled at Yoruichi, Soi Fon, who was over on a visit, Jinta, Ururu, and Riruka. Soi Fon glared back at him, but then stood and bowed. She had been ordered to be diplomatic.
As an assassin, diplomacy wasn't something she was skilled at, although Yoruichi had given her some advice as to how to approach it. After all, the Commander General probably wouldn't be pleased if even a captain couldn't get Kurosaki to join them full time.
"Have you come to give us your answer, Kurosaki? The Captain-Commander was not sure if Kuchiki alone could get you to leave the Human world behind and join the Gotei Thirteen, so he sent me. Don't worry. I was ordered not to issue any form of threats in order to gain your acceptance of our invitation."
Ichigo gulped when he heard her say this, especially since her face stated rather clearly that she was not happy about not being allowed to threaten him or physically harm him. However, she had even left her Zanpakuto behind in a rare display of peaceful intentions. She walked over to Ichigo, and her face softened.
"I understand… that you have friends and family in the Human world. However, just because Aizen is defeated does not mean that all is fine and dandy. If you join Soul Society, you could further improve your current skills, and all the while, train the abilities that you forsook for sheer combat prowess in order to make yourself more balanced…" Soi Fon said diplomatically.
Ichigo was surprised that this introverted, even shy woman was speaking so much, and Yoruichi and Kisuke also seemed to be quite surprised that she had not whipped out her Shunko immediately, and offered him the chance to join them, or the chance to lose his head.
It was at that moment that Rukia came out into the front room, her hair a mess, and her pajamas wrinkled and poorly fitting from tossing and turning. She scratched her head and yawned, then said good morning to everyone. At first, Ichigo didn't know what to say.
As soon as he saw her, he immediately realized anew how amazing she was. Even when she was half asleep, she moved with a liquid grace that seemed almost hypnotic. Her lithe, slender body was perfect in every way… Ichigo tried to shake these thoughts out of his head. He was becoming as perverted as Urahara. That would never do. He had to be a better person than that.
Rukia yawned again, and walked out into the room, her eyes still blurry from sleep. As such, she didn't realize when she crashed straight into Ichigo, who had become nearly paralyzed as soon as he saw her. Ichigo stumbled back a few steps, and Rukia fell over, poorly balanced to begin with, and looked up in surprise and embarrassment.
"I'm very sorry… I didn't realize that we had guests this morning. I would have gotten dressed and looked a bit better than this if… I-Ichigo…" Rukia said, finishing her sentence breathlessly, as though seeing him had just knocked the wind out of her.
Ichigo looked at her seriously, not cracking a smile as he had done the previous day, but wearing his usual scowl. Rukia looked away from Ichigo, blushing slightly, feeling terrible all over again that she had led him on like that, even if it had been unintentional.
"Ichigo… I'm…"
"Wait… You don't have to say anything. But, could we talk outside?" Ichigo asked. "I never intended this to be a spectator event…" He asked, in the closest thing to a joke she had ever heard Ichigo say. She nodded stupidly and followed Ichigo into the back yard and shut the sliding rice paper door. Ururu and Jinta, along with Riruka started to run over to eavesdrop, but the adults stopped them.
"Hey, you little brats…" Soi Fon said irately. "They asked to be alone! If you have even a shred of respect for either of them, you'll listen and stay here…" This threat immediately gained Riruka's compliance, who, though she pouted a bit, sat back down. This more or less took the wind out of Jinta and Ururu's sails, so to speak.
"Ichigo…"
"I told you. You don't need to say anything. I shouldn't have been so angry about what you said last night. You never actually…" Ichigo couldn't finish his sentence.
"You thought I was asking you out on a date, didn't you?" Rukia asked, looking into Ichigo's intense brown eyes with her deep blue ones. Ichigo scowled, but nodded.
"It was stupid of me to think that someone like you would ever like someone like me… I'll join the Gotei Thirteen. That's all I came here to say. I just need a little time to say goodbye to everyone."
"Ichigo! Stop! It isn't that I don't like you. I just didn't think that you would take it like that. I guess we've been partners so long that I sort of assumed you didn't see me as anything else. That's why I never said anything. Partnerships deeper than ours have been ruined by one sided romantic feelings. I didn't want that to happen to us. I enjoyed being partnered with you. I enjoyed spending time with you… I-I love you…"
"You're crazy… Is what I should say." Ichigo started. Then, he spoke, just as Rukia looked like she was about to cry. "But even if you were crazy, I'd still say 'I love you'. I hope we'll work well together for Soul Society." Ichigo said, sounding uncannily romantic. He then put a hand on Rukia's cheek, and kissed her.
Her lips were smooth, and soft, like silk, and, not that it mattered, but she tasted like cherries. It was a nice taste, and he was sure that it would stay with him for as long as he lived.
"What the hell? You just kissed me without asking… You better be serious about this… Or I'll set Nii-sama on you…" Rukia said, blushing, but wearing a maniacal grin on her face.
"I'm not apologizing…" Ichigo said. "And I would fight your dear Nii-sama a thousand times over if it meant I could keep you. Does that sound serious enough?"
"If you live through a thousand fights with him, then we'll talk."
And somehow, Ichigo knew that she was right. The odds that he would survive fighting Byakuya 1,000 times were slim to none. However, this only made him laugh. The first time he had laughed in years. It felt good, like the sense of head spinning vertigo that he got when he battled a strong opponent, but stronger. And Rukia was laughing, too.
If she was beautiful when she smiled, she was positively radiant when she laughed. Her entire face lit up, and it seemed as though a nimbus of brilliant white, but cool light surrounded her, her entire body cooled by the power of her Zanpakuto. And he wouldn't want her any other way.
