Nostalgia
Chapter 1
Standard Disclaimer applies
…
Ring, Ring. Ring, Ring.
It was 7:30 am when a hand snaked out from underneath the covers and roughly slammed down on the loud alarm clock. If possible Ichigo would have made it to where alarm clock's rings weren't so damn annoying and so resembling of a military horn.
Throwing his covers back, along with sitting up to gaze out his window for umpteenth time this school year, Ichigo ran a large and calloused hand through his bright orange locks. He had a feeling that today was going to be interesting very interesting whether he wanted it to be or not.
Making his way down the stairs Ichigo was already ready when his dad jumped through the air to try to sneak attack him, after all these years shouldn't his dad know that his attacks just were not so sneaky anymore, in fact they were down right sad so much so that if Ichigo was a laugher he would have been laughing every morning.
"Ah Ichigo why do you always have to ruin the fun?" Isshin whined in mock seriousness, just as he stood back the front door opened to reveal a less than cheery Rangiku.
"Oh hi Rangiku!" Isshin said as he made his way over to her, while she put down her purse on the counter.
"Hello." She answered back solemnly, she gave Ichigo a small smile as he nodded his head towards her in greeting then made his way to the kitchen.
"Why did you drop by this morning, Is something the matter?" Isshin asked Rangiku in all seriousness. She looked up at him and when she saw his dark eyes full attention on her she had to look away.
"I saw him again yesterday." He already knew who she was talking about. "I thought that you know maybe if I talked to him again, I could resolve something. But it didn't work out that way, I just ended up falling into his trap again, and I had to leave before he woke up." She held onto to her tears while she waited in silence for Isshin to say something. But for a long time he didn't.
"You let him stay at your place again?" She nodded slowly.
"Rangiku, maybe there is a part of you that still wants him to change for you, but you need to know that not everyone changes."
"But what should I do? I can't function on my own." Isshin shook his head in disbelief and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. God he was so warm.
"Rangiku, I know you, you are a very strong woman. If anything he needs you, because you are an incredible woman." Through blurry eyes she looked at him in disbelief.
"Really?"
"Really."
….
"Who was that Ichi-nii?" Yuzu inquired as she saw Ichigo walk into the kitchen as she sat at the table with a spoonful of eggs.
"Rangiku." He answered nonchalantly while he sat down in front of the plate that Yuzu set for him.
"Rangiku-san?" Karin asked in surprise, Ichigo thought it was only him that thought it was weird that Rangiku was here so early.
"Is something the matter?" Yuzu asked with her voice full of worry, Karin slightly rolled her eyes at her sister's worry.
"It probably has to do with that man she keeps sleeping with." Karin said, Yuzu gasped in shock at Karin's bold accusation.
"How can you say something like that Karin? It isn't right to talk bad about Ranny like that, right Ichi-nii?" Yuzu and Karin both looked at Ichigo in expectance.
"I think that its best to just stay out of it, its her life." Ichigo said while he eyes stayed plastered on the ceiling.
"But still it's not nice to talk about her in such a way, she's always been there for us, and taken care of us. The least we could do is to only speak kindly of her." Yuzu said with a tone of finality.
Ichigo looked at her in question and let out a slightly annoyed breath.
"Yuzu's right, she has taken care of us, and even if what you say is true Karin we shouldn't talk about it." Karin said nothing in reply, and they finished their breakfast in silence with only the sound of Yuzu's humming sounding through the room.
"Well I'm done." Karin said as she scooted back her chair, and performed her daily ritual which consisted of putting her plate in the sink, washing her hands, then putting on her backpack, and then finally walking out the door after putting on her shoes.
Yuzu looked at Ichigo as he finished up his plate of food, did he really mean what he said about Ranny?
"Ichi-nii, do you think that maybe we can help Ranny?"
"Huh?" His amber eyes were now fixated on his sister.
"Ichi-nii would it really be so bad if Ranny became our new mommy?" Ichigo's eyes immediately opened wide, and at this point his fists were curled so tight that he may have been bleeding, and he was trying his hardest not to question his younger sister's sanity. Did she really just ask him that question?
"Ichi-nii?" Yuzu inquired softly.
"I have to go." He said abruptly before he left, it was all he could do to keep himself calm. Why did the idea upset him so much? It wasn't like Rangiku wasn't already taking care of them, she was and he cared deeply for her just not as a replacement for his mother.
….
Isshin sat down in the living room with Rangiku quietly as they watched a mediocre show as the rest of the house was quiet. It was only a few minutes ago that the kids left, and now all Rangiku could think about was the ways she could persuade the man lounging next to her to ravage her right here and now. Her thoughts of her and her troubled lover flowing quickly to the back of her head.
Almost as if he could sense something going on with Rangiku, Isshin turned to her and looked at her until she acknowledged him. She knew he was looking, she just wanted to soak in the feeling of his eyes on her.
"What is it?" She asked as she looked at him with her pale blue eyes. He chuckled softly and turned his head.
"No don't laugh at me, tell me." Rangiku demanded as she grabbed onto Isshin's shoulder causing her to scoot closer to him in the process, their noses a few mere inches apart. If he was flustered he surely wasn't showing it.
"It's just that I was thinking about how much you have given up to take care of my children. I owe you so much, I just feel like there is something I need to do for you." He looked in her eyes for what seemed like hours. She looked away from his gaze then shortly after looked up again, and her gaze slowly fell from his dark eyes to his lips.
"You have already done so much for me, Isshin. I think I should be the one who owes you something." Isshin looked down at her, he wasn't so thick to not know when a woman was attracted to him, and at this point the could tell that Rangiku was very much so.
"Rangiku look-" Before he could finish his sentence his lips were silenced by Rangiku's who soft lips caressed his own. He couldn't fight the feeling that her mouth on his felt so right, but he wouldn't show her that, that was how he felt. He was lonely, yes after 8 years of being without a woman in his life, he should be taking Rangiku right now, but some part of his brain was telling him to stop, but his body- his body kept urging him on, to touch the voluptuous woman claiming his long forgotten lips.
Rangiku could feel the tension and the confliction in his body, and she wanted nothing more than to ease it out, so she scooted closer to his warm body, and slowly wrapped her arms around his torso and trailed butterfly kisses down his rugged jaw and his muscular neck.
"Hold me Isshin, please." She pleaded in between kisses, she was surprised she could do this much without him pushing her back that gave her hope that some part of him was willing to let her into his life, not only as a mother figure to his children, but as his lover, his other half, and maybe even in the future- his wife.
"Rangiku, I can't do this." Isshin said finally, as Rangiku's lips grazed his pulse. Damn it felt good, but he couldn't allow himself to get lost in her charms. It wasn't right, and a lot of people would end up getting hurt, especially Masaki.
Isshin softly pushed her back by her shoulders, and he almost couldn't look into Rangiku's eyes as she looked at him with tears close to falling down her face.
"Why can't you let me in Isshin? For eight years we've been going in circles around each other, you know how I feel about you Isshin, I'll never break your heart." Rangiku said quietly, as her eyes bore into Isshin's although he was avoiding her gaze.
"Rangiku this is about more than just you and me, this is about-"
"Masaki…" Rangiku answered before he could finish. They were both quiet for a long time before she spoke again.
"Why, Why can't you move on Isshin, she would have wanted you to. We may not have been on the best of terms but she was my sister, and I know how she would react to this." Isshin looked up at her.
"I know that Rangiku, but I don't think she would feel the same if I were to be with her sister."
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x
"Ichigoooooo!" Ichigo didn't have to turn around to know that it was his obnoxious friend Kiego. Ichigo could hear the loud stomps his friend made as he tried to run to catch up with Ichigo in the hallway.
"Ah Ichigo you're so mean, I know you heard me call you, but you still didn't slow down, both you and Mizuiro are the meanest people I know." yelled Kiego as he caught up with Ichigo who was walking with Mizuiro, and Chad.
Ichigo didn't reply, he simply ignored him, his mind was on his dad and Rangiku. They couldn't possibly be together like that. His dad knew how they would feel about that, it would break him and his sisters, maybe not so much Yuzu, in their eyes no one could replace their mother.
"Hey Ichigo what's wrong?" Mizuiro asked while looking up from his cell phone.
"Nothing." Ichigo said in reply and that was the end of that discussion. Chad looked at Ichigo wearily, he knew when something was going on with Ichigo and today was no exception, ever since Ichigo told him about how close his dad and his Aunt Rangiku were getting in recent times Chad could tell that he was constantly on edge and always thinking of something else.
Entering the classroom, Ichigo made his way to his seat while greeting Ishida and Tatsuki. He was already prepared to have his mind wander during the class lecture, but of course like many thing in his life things would not go as planned.
"Attention class!" announced the teacher as she stood in front of her desk. Everyone's eyes snapped to the teacher in attention even Ichigo who wanted to avoid the wrath of his teacher.
"Today I have a surprise for all of you, a new student!"
Immediately the class burst in hysteria over the new student, if it was a boy he had better be cute or no would want to talk to him, they envisioned him with curly dark brown hair, chocolate brown eyes, and a face like Adonis. And if it was a girl, she had to be sweet, kind, and had to have rich raven hair, and eyes the color of onyx. That wasn't anything like the new student yet to be revealed.
"Quiet or you'll all have clean up duty today after school." The class quickly shut their mouths and waited for the student to enter. "Okay sweetheart you can come in now."
The class was deathly silent as the new student walked in, she was definitely not what they had expected. She didn't have rich raven hair, or beautiful onyx colored eyes, in fact her hair was the color of a sunset and her eyes the color of the deepest gray. In description she would have seemed like the most beautiful creature to roam the Earth, what with her curvaceous body, full lips, and seemingly soft skin, but to the eyes of the her newly made classmates, she was absolutely strange in appearance. Her hair that should be long and flowing in cascading waves was cut in a choppy manner it seemed as if she had hastily cut her hair before coming to school. Her large, round eyes were puffy and red, anyone in the classroom could tell that she had just finished crying.
Tatsuki immediately told herself that she was going to take care of this girl, and make her, her best friend she didn't want to see her cry again.
Kiego immediately thought, mine, mine, mine. I can finally get a girl with a good body, but is in my league!
Mizuiro thought that Kiego was a complete idiot for thinking the thoughts that Mizuiro knew he was thinking, even a girl like that wouldn't want to be with someone as annoying as him.
Chizuru thought Look at the rack on that one hopefully she is into the same kind of stuff as me.
Ichigo thought nothing about the girl except that she looked like someone who would probably be afraid of him like everyone else, but the one thing that did catch his interest was her auburn hair, he thought that he was the only person in Karakura Town to have such outlandish hair.
"Class this Inoue Orihime, and she is from southern Japan." The teacher gave Orihime a small smile, "Is there anything you would like to add Inoue?"
Orihime shook her head slightly, and nervously looked around the room, and surprise was apparent on her face when she saw Ichigo. A blush quickly found its way to her face, she couldn't believe how attractive the scowling boy was, she just hoped she wouldn't have to sit next to him. And to her great and glorious luck she did, at a window just two seats away from him.
After Orihime settled the teacher quickly began her lesson plan for the day, and just when Orihime thought she could survive the first day without really like new student minus the introduction and the glances she get sometimes from curious students, the teacher called for a partner assignment that would be due by tomorrow.
Orihime sat alone by herself as she saw everyone quickly find a partner, even the scowling red head found a partner, a large guy with thick brown curls falling into his face. Well what could she expect she was the new kid, and unless she was incredibly attractive she wasn't going to get a partner, not with her hairstyle and her seemingly puffy eyes.
"Hey want to be my partner?" Orihime turned to see a tomboyish looking girl with short spiky hair looking down at her with serious eyes.
"Sure." Orihime replied with a smile.
"My name is Arisawa Tatsuki by the way." She then stuck her hand for Orihime to shake which she did. Her grip on Orihime's hand was tight letting Orihime know that this chick was tough and she didn't let anyone walk over her.
"So what do you want to want to get started on first?" Tatsuki asked.
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x
Chad wasn't normally someone who talked about the issues going on around him in fact he barely talked at all, but when he saw the intense glare Ichigo was sending towards the new girl when he should have been working on their project he couldn't help but question Ichigo.
"Ichigo?" No reply
"Ichigo?" Still no reply, so instead of calling out to Ichigo again he nudged him with his fist using as little of force as possible.
"What is it Chad?" Ichigo with a hint of venom in his voice, which surprised Sado he normally was never on the receiving end of Ichigo's anger.
"Nothing, just wanted to get started on the project." And soon after they did causing Ichigo to stop thinking about the new girl who looked so familiar to him and it irritated him that he couldn't remember something like that.
Orihime let out a breath that she was holding in when she felt the scowling boy's eyes leave the side of her face. Tatsuki sensing Orihime's inner turmoil smirked knowingly and decided that after school today she was going to give Ichigo a piece of her mind for staring at Orihime like that.
"Hey Orihime, do you live far from here or anything?" Tatsuki asked, Orihime shook her head.
"No, not really why?"
"I was thinking that maybe we could walk home together, considering you're new and all. I mean unless a family member picks you or something like that. I don't really know how things work in the south." Orihime let out a small giggle at Tatsuki's ramble.
"No it's fine we can walk together."
Orihime knew that from this point on that she could count on Tatsuki to be a good friend to her, and maybe when the time was right Orihime could finally open up about her past.
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x
Rangiku pulled the strap of her bag over shoulder, then turned around to look back at Isshin who had his arms crossed but not in an impatient manner.
"I want you to think about what I said Isshin, I meant what I said I won't break your heart. I care too much about you to ever do anything like that." Rangiku said, before she placed a light kiss on the corner of Isshin's mouth.
"I think that I'm going to go away for a while." Rangiku said suddenly just as her hand reached the door knob.
"Away?" Isshin asked finally finding his voice.
"Yeah, I was going to ask you to come with me, but as things are now, this trip is for me." Rangiku's attitude changed back to her usual feisty and independent way.
"Maybe it would be for the best if you did go away for awhile." Isshin said, and Rangiku couldn't pretend that she wasn't hurt by his comment. Did he really not want her that much?
"I'm not going to be gone for a long time, maybe a week or two. I need to visit my mother, she's very sick. You should go and see her."
"No, I can't." Isshin said without a second thought. There was no way he could face Masaki's mother after everything that happened. It had been after all a catalyst towards Masaki's death.
"No one blames you Isshin." replied Rangiku, with a mixture of exasperation and pity.
"No, but I need to blame me. I could have saved her." Isshin mumbled quietly to himself.
Rangiku opened the door and without looking back at Isshin and said, "You know you don't always have to be the hero, that's why Ichigo is the way he is you know."
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A/N: Whew glad I finished with this chapter because I can't wait to get down to all the good stuff, and reveal all the stuff you thought you knew! Anyway Thanks for reading and please review criticism helps a lot.