One Year Later
-By the Stoplight
For some reason, Kurosaki Ichigo woke up feeling a bit unusual today.
His father had woken him up the way he usually does-shouting directly into his ears. But this time, he woke up feeling different. He checked before he got out of bed but he didn't have a fever. He ate the same breakfast as he had eaten yesterday. The shower didn't feel any different either. His toothpaste never changed. His clothes definitely didn't shrink nor stretch in the wash when he put them on. They were still the same white polo and grey pants he had worn everyday. His feet didn't really grow because his shoes still fitted him well. His bag didn't feel like there more nor less books in it.
The weather was the same as always-snowing all day and night. It was freezing outside.
He walked to school, like usual. He heard his steps crunching in the white snow. He would hear children carolling all around which wasn't really unusual since the first day of December. He would pass by people in uniforms and people all suited up. He passed by people who were like him-heading to a place which they had to get to as soon as possible. Everything was the same.
He looked at his watch. December 13, 6:45, he thought. He was going to be late if he didn't hurry. As he sped to school alone, he paused for a few seconds as a black butterfly flew in front of him. Seeing the black insect, his heart sank.
Rukia, he thought to himself. It had been a while since he last thought of her. When was the last time? About a week ago when he had passed by a dojo where the students wore uniforms similar to that of a shinigami's.
It's been over a year since they last spent their days together happily. It's been over a year since they last enjoyed each other's company. And realizing just now that he was having a normal day like everyone else, he began to miss the times he had to be late for school just because something supernatural was up to no good.
He missed the way Rukia would wake him up in the middle of the night because of some Hollow causing trouble in town. He missed the way Rukia would smack him behind the head when he would forget to be careful. He missed the way Rukia would be by his side while fighting those things.
He looked at his watch one more time. December 13. Today was the day Rukia had left. Exactly one year had passed since they've broken up and yet how come he hadn't been able to let go of her yet? He gave up being a shinigami just to forget her. He focused on his studies so he wouldn't think of her. He did everything to move on and let go and yet why does seeing a mere butterfly remind him of her?
It's been one year already and yet why do their joyous memories seem like they happened only a day ago? Why does he suddenly miss her so bad?
The moon was high in the sky and Ichigo was fast asleep in bed. After a day in gym, he didn't think he could ever move again. Even though he disposed of hollows every night, gym was still another thing. Especially swimming. It was practically impossible for him to swim as fast as Erika, his classmate who competed in the olympics.
He was finally getting some rest.
One big mistake, though. After a long day in gym, he probably should have thought about locking his windows. But he didnt...
...And so Kuchiki, his girlfriend, had gotten into his room. She climbed on his bed smoothly and began jumping.
"KUROSAKI ICHIGO!" She called. " There is a hollow in school. I don't know what it wants but WAKE UP!"
He rubbed his eyes, suddenly feeling a headache striking him the moment he rose. "It's 1 in the morning. Can't it wait?"
She gave him a look. He, of all people, should know that hollows can never wait. She kicked him out of bed. Ichigo fell flat on the floor but didn't care. He dozed off again and resumed his sleep on the wooden floor.
"Ichigo, for the love of Kami, WAKE UP!" She jumped to the floor and in front of his face and gave him a good slap. "If you won't go with me, then I'll go beat it up myself."
He was suddenly on his feet. He was not going to let his girlfriend go alone in the midst of the night to defeat some monster. He wasn't going to let her risk her life just because he was feeling a bit tired. He felt the headache go away but something inside him tried to pull him back to the bed when he saw the triumphant and smug look on her face.
Oh, how well she knew him.
He nearly died that moment. He was on the verge of death. Zangetsu was swiped away from him by the hollow. It was somewhere outside the building and he and the hollow were currently in the gym and in the tight grip of the hollow.
"You know," he said to the hollow though he was talking to himself, "I listed the gym as one of the places where I would die."
"Ichigo!" A voice cried out of nowhere. The carrot head looked around. He couldn't find her. He couldn't find Rukia."Catch!" The next thing he knew, Zangetsu was flying towards him and he caught his zanpakuto in a flash.
He stabbed the hollow's hand and jumped out of his death grip. He landed on the ground right in front of its feet and gave it a stab as well. The hollow cried and thrashed around wildly, hitting the ceiling of the gym. Some of lights came crashing down and one of them landed on the hollow's head.
He figured that would take care of it and calmly walked outside where Rukia surely was.
She was sitting by the pool, looking at her watch as if she were waiting impatiently. Icihgo reached out a hand but Rukia caught it and maneuvered him into the pool. "It's 2:32, Ichigo. What took you so long?"
Ichigo swam to the surface, hearing every word his girlfriend spat at him. "Oh, I'm sorry," he said in a sarcastic tone while catching his breath. "I mean, it wasn't supposed to be so hard. A high-level hollow attacking in a public location. I should have just let him break the gym into pieces."
"Why not?" Rukia asked with a raised eyebrow. "I know you hate the gym."
He rolled his eyes and swam to the side and pulled himself out of the pool.
"Let's get you dried up and let's head home." Rukia said. Ichigo put a wet arm around her and pulled her close.
"You do know you're going to pay for this some other time, right?" He kissed her on the forehead. "How about when we get home?" Rukia kicked him in the shin and reminded him that they had classes in the morning.
He shook his head. This was insane. Why did that butterfly suddenly remind him of Rukia? I mean, if he never met Rukia, that butterfly wouldn't have meant anything. And if he really did move on already, he would have ignored it.
Shaking the thoughts out of his head, he continued to school. One more stoplight and he's home free. But unlucky for him, the light for the pedestrians was red. He had to wait another 5 minutes to get to the other side of the street but he had that kind of time.
He crammed his bag for something but he wasn't really sure what so he stopped and looked at the pedestrian light on the other side. Still, it was red... His eyes wandered around, passing by the random people on the other side of the street. Some were wearing the same uniform as him, others wore navy pants and long-sleeved blouses and some seemed familiar. But there was one person that caught his attention. This person was not just familiar.
His eyes met hers and it was as if the whole world had stopped that very moment. It felt like they were the only two people around. It couldn't be. She told him that she wouldn't be coming back. She told him she was going to leave for good and then disappeared without a word. No news about her at all. This couldn't really be her. He didn't want to believe it but it was just on the other side of the street. The truth was just a few meters away, standing by the stoplight.
For a long while, he thought he'd been doing fine but now, he realized how much he had missed her... She came back.
Kuchiki Rukia.
