Right. Here's the second chapter, as promised.
Thank you very much to everyone who reviewed, and everyone who voted on the Bleach-Elfen Lied poll!
I want to remind everyone again that, if you haven't voted yet, please do. It's gonna take you like 45 seconds, and the input will be greatly appreciated.
So it has occurred to me that a lot of you want to see this story spanned out and experience slow progress and development in the relationship between Ichigo and Michiru.
Sadly, this is probably the penultimate chapter for the near-foreseeable future. I really don't have any time on my hands for writing at the moment. Everything's going in to making sure I don't fail any subjects.
But anyway, here's the second chapter.
Picks up right after the end of the last one.
Enjoy.
I don't own anything regarding Bleach, or its characters. It is owned by Tite Kubo, This is solely fan-made.
Chapter Two: Homework and…dates?:
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"Ichigo."
'Man,' Ichigo thought to himself while walking, his eyes fixed on the pavement down in front of him. 'Am I glad school's over with…'
"Ichigo."
'So, what're my plans for the rest of the day?' the orange-haired teen asked himself, his eyes still fixated on the ground in front of him. 'Hmmm, let's see…Well, we did get some homework, but it's not a lot, so I should be done with it before 16:30. Maybe I can go kick some soccer ball with Karin before dinne-'
"ICHIGO!"
"WHAT!?"
Snapping his head to the left, the orange-haired teen irritatedly glared at his brown-haired, loudmouth friend. "Why the hell are you yelling at me?"
"WHAAAAT?" Keigo quickly stuck his face almost right up against Ichigo's, overdramatic tears running down his face. "Do you mean to tell me that you haven't heard a word I've said before that?"
"Would you quit making a scene…" Ichigo scowled as he pushed Keigo's face away with his hand. "And why would I listen to you anyway?" he nonchalantly asked. "I haven't been paying attention to you since we left the school grounds."
"So you've just been ignoring me this whole time?" the brown-haired teen asked in disbelief.
"It's more like zoning you out." he corrected Keigo. "It's a handy skill to have, blocking out all the unnecessary noise."
"But I've been telling this awesome story for the past twenty minutes!" Keigo stated, wildly swinging his arms around in the air to accentuate his point. "And you didn't hear any of it?"
"Not a word…" was Ichigo's rather casual reply.
"WHAAAA-"
"Knock it off!" Ichigo yelled as he punched Keigo on the side of the face, sending the brown-haired teen crashing down onto the pavement.
Then, there was complete silence, until…
"Well, that's okay!" Keigo cheerfully announced as he suddenly reappeared in between Ichigo and Mizuiro, his arm draped over the black-haired boy's shoulders. "Because Mizuiro here was listening to everything I said! Isn't that right, old pal?"
"Hm?" Keigo's arm draped over his shoulders caused Mizuiro to look up from his cell phone. "Keigo? You're still here?"
"Huh?" Keigo frowned at Mizuiro in confusion. "What do you mean by that?"
"Well, it's been pretty quiet for a while now," Mizuiro started. "So I thought we've passed your house already.
"Haven't you been listening to my story?" Keigo desperately asked. "Surely you listened to it, RIGHT!?"
"Story?" The black-haired boy frowned at his brown-haired friend. "Keigo, what're you talking about?"
"WHAAAAAAT!"
Ichigo, who had been silently watching Mizuiro and Keigo's exchange out of the corner of his eye, let out an exasperated sigh. It was the same story every single day. Keigo and Mizuiro usually had a longer route home, all the way to Naruki City, in fact.
But Keigo and his sister had recently moved into a new apartment, which was situated much closer to school. So, Keigo was dropped off first these days, which was a blessing in the disguise, at least.
And yet, every afternoon's walk home consisted out of the same routine: Keigo would tell a stupid story, Ichigo would ignore said story while Mizuiro was preoccupied with his cell phone, Keigo would overdramatically protest, and the orange-haired teen would then shut him up with force.
'Every single day…' he let out another sigh, as the trio continued on their trek home…
"Well, this is my stop!" Keigo yelled back over his shoulder while running up the stairs of his apartment building. "See you tomorrow!"
"Goodbye, Keigo" Mizuiro bid his brown-haired friend goodbye, his face still buried in his cell phone's screen.
"Yeah, see ya." Ichigo bid Keigo farewell with a small wave of his hand, before resuming his walk home with Mizuiro.
It took the two of them another fifteen minutes before they reached the Kurosaki Clinic/Residence. Fifteen minutes that were spent in comfortable silence, save for a bit of small talk here-and-there.
"Well, I'll see you tomorrow, Ichigo." Mizuiro bid his orange-haired friend farewell, before resuming his trek to the station, where he would catch a train to Naruki City.
"See ya, Mizuiro." he replied while opening and walking through the gate located to the side of the property, making sure to close it behind him.
His walk up to the side door of the building was calm, and it wasn't until he started turning its doorknob that he realised the repercussions of his current choice of action: 'Dad!'
Stopping dead in his tracks, he made sure not to even breathe irregularly, as he quickly thought out a possible plan of action.
With the plan laid out in his head, he turned the doorknob the rest of the way, before casually pushing the door open. As soon as the door had swung open all the way, the orange-haired teen jumped to the left of the doorway, out of possible harm's reach.
After about forty seconds of hiding against the wall next to the entrance, Ichigo slowly poked his head out into the doorway, before hastily retracting it back behind the wall.
'So far, so good.' The orange-haired teen let out a sigh of relief at seeing an empty hall on the other side of the doorway.
Taking in another deep breath, Ichigo proceeded into the house, making sure to close the door behind as quietly as possible.
The hallway laid out in front of him was still void of any other life forms. 'Okay, let's see…he's either in the kitchen, or the clinic…' the boy remarked to himself while tip-toeing through the house. 'If he's in the clinic, I'm in luck, because then I'll only see him around 18:00.'
A small grin made its way onto Ichigo's face, but was quickly replaced by a frown. 'But he can also be in the kitchen on his lunch break. If that's the case, I've gotta make sure to attack him first.' He theorised with himself. 'That usually makes him back off. So, all I need to do is get Dad firs-'
"Hey, Ichigo."
"GYAAAH!"
A loud ruckus ensued as he quickly lost his balance and fell flat on his face, sending a mini-tremor through the hallway.
Painfully looking up from where he was lying on the floor, the orange-haired boy laid eyes on, "Karin?"
Yes, it was indeed Karin, the oldest of his younger twin sisters- By a whole two minutes and forty-two seconds, mind you. –who was standing in front of him, her arms crossed over her chest and the usual nonchalant/uninterested expression plastered on her face.
"Ichigo," Karin bent down, coming face-to-face with her brother. "Why are you sneaking around in the house like some ninja?"
Ichigo stared at Karin in shock. It seems that he wasn't so stealthy as he thought he was. And on top of that, it seems that he was so wrapped up in his little avoid-dad-scheme, that he didn't even notice his black-haired sister approaching him. 'Man, this is so embarrassing…'
"Well…uh…" he started. "…You see…" he tried again. "*SIGH*. Nevermind…" he finally gave up after Karin had raised her eyebrow in anticipation of his answer.
"Riiiiight…" was his little sister's simple reply as she watched her brother get back up onto his feet with a raised eyebrow.
"Anyway…" he quickly broke the awkward silence as he picked his schoolbag up, while looking down at his sister in feigned mild-interest. "Where are Yuzu and Dad?"
"Well, Yuzu's in the kitchen, busy with lunch. And Dad's not here." The black-haired girl stated, which caused Ichigo to raise his eyebrow, urging her to elaborate. "He said he had to deliver a few patients' documents to the hospital, or something like that."
He let out a sigh of relief as he dropped his guard. He was home-free.
"Alright then." He started dusting himself off with his free hand and flung his schoolbag back over his shoulder, before he started making his way to the kitchen. He stopped next to Karin, however, and, knowing his little sister well, gave her a little pat on the head, making sure to ruffle her black hair affectionately in the process.
Her big brother's actions caused Karin to let out a vicious growl, which Ichigo completely ignored as he started walking towards the kitchen again.
Karin hated being patted on the head…Actually, she hated most signs of affection which she was involved in. A smirk materialised on the orange-haired teen's face. 'Heh, a little payback for sneaking up on me.'
"Hey, Yuzu. I'm home." he called out as he spotted little Yuzu while walking into the kitchen. She was standing at the counter, busy making sandwiches that was presumably for lunch.
"Hey, Ichigo!" Yuzu cheerfully greeted as she turned around to face her brother momentarily, before spinning back around to focus on the sandwiches again. "How was school?"
"Boring, as usual…" was Ichigo's mostly-uninterested reply.
He was about to turn around and head up to his room, when he noticed that Yuzu was still wearing her school uniform. Thinking back to just a few minutes ago, the orange-haired teen remembered that Karin wasn't wearing her school uniform, which meant that Yuzu had been working on lunch- Among other things too, most likely. –ever since the two girls had gotten home from school, and hasn't even had the chance to just relax a little.
Yuzu not only attended school during the day; she had also taken upon herself to do the housework of the Kurosaki residence, which included cooking, cleaning, and laundry, amongst others. To say the brown-haired girl had a hectic schedule, was a severe understatement.
And it was for that reason, that Ichigo suddenly felt very guilty. He generally doesn't give his sisters much attention. Call it unsettling to his appearance.
And he had also kept them out of the loop during his Soul Reaper days, which caused them to worry themselves sick about him, something he deeply regretted.
He let out a small sigh, before he walked backwards and settled himself against the frame of the doorway, dropping his bag and folding his arms over his chest in the process. "So, how was your day?"
"Oh, it was pretty ordinary!" Yuzu replied as she looked at her brother over her shoulder. "But we did get a lot of homework, though. And it's pretty hard too." She added with an adorable little pout. "It's going to be another long night for me, I guess…"
"Well, if you need any help…" he casually offered.
"Ooh! That would be great, Ichigo!" Yuzu excitedly spun around on her heels to face her big brother. "Thank you so much!"
"No problem." Ichigo casually waved her off. "We can do it after lunch, then you won't have to sit with it tonight. We'll be done in no time."
"That's perfect. Thanks, Ichigo!" the brown-haired girl enthusiastically thanked Ichigo. It wasn't every day that her big brother offered to spend some time with her. So she was accepting his proposal with wide-open arms.
"Don't mention it, Yuzu." he said with another casual wave of his hand. "So, did anything interesting happen at school today?"
"Hmmm…" Yuzu hummed, giving the question some thought as she started cutting the sandwiches into triangular slices. "Nope. Nothing interesting. But we did play soccer in P.E. today." She turned to face her brother again. "Ugh, I hate soccer! I suck in it! Why can't I be good in soccer?! I mean, Karin is awesome in it! And I'm her twin sister! So, shouldn't that make me good in it too? I swear…"
Ichigo blocked Yuzu's rambling out right there. Man, his family was…unique. Yeah, let's go with unique. He instead kept himself busy by thinking about his own homework, along with his plans to go kick some ball with Karin afterwards.
"Hm?" the orange-haired teen turned his attention back to Yuzu, who was now swinging her hips from side-to-side while flailing her arms around, obviously in the middle of a mini-tantrum. "Uh, y-yeah…I'm sure it'll work out for you, Yuzu…" he awkwardly stated while watching his little sister start to calm down.
"Yeah, maybe I'm a late bloomer, so my athletic hormones haven't kicked in yet…" she trailed off, her index finger thoughtfully placed on her lips. She then suddenly gave her school shirt's collar a tug and peaked down into it, which earned her a gag of surprise from Ichigo.
"What the hell are you doing!?" the orange-haired teen yelled, pointing an accusing finger in his little sister's direction.
"Checking if I'm a late bloomer?" was Yuzu's simple reply as she glanced back up at her big brother, her collar still pulled to the side.
"Would you knock that off!" Ichigo yelled, a red hue slowly forming over the bridge of his nose. Where the hell did she learn that?
The brunette stared at Ichigo briefly, before she shrugged and let go of her collar. "Well anyway, lunch is ready!" she announced as she put a tray stacked full of sandwiches on the table.
"Great!" he exclaimed as he hastily started making his way over to the table, all previous embarrassment seemingly forgotten and replaced by hunger. "I'm starvi-GYAAH!"
A loud 'thud' echoed through the kitchen, as the orange-haired teen was suddenly kicked from behind and literally sent flying straight onto his usual chair at the table.
"What…the…hell…" he managed to wheeze out, his now-injured butt protesting at having to be sat on.
Karin suddenly walked up behind her older brother and, upon sitting down in the chair opposite his, glared at him. "Go on, try patting my head again!" she snarled, threateningly shaking her fist in Ichigo's direction. "Next time, I won't let you off the hook so easily!"
"Karin!" Yuzu chastised as she sat down to her sister's right, a disapproving look on her face. "That wasn't very nice!"
"Meh, he's had worse." Karin casually retorted, stacking a couple of sandwiches on her plate before knowingly glancing up at her brother. "Haven't you, Ichigo?"
Ichigo grumbled something incoherent under his breath as he bit down on a sandwich. He knew that she was talking about his past battles as a Soul Reaper, of course. After the battle with Aizen, he had decided that he would tell the people close to him everything, starting with his sisters.
While Yuzu was shocked, Karin was hardly fazed. His black-haired sister already knew, and her friendship with Toshiro only solidified her suspicions. It really was a huge burden off his shoulders, to be honest, and while none of them really talked about Soul Reapers or supernatural powers; they were at least aware of it.
"Well, it's still not very nice." Yuzu argued while nibbling on a sandwich of her own, her eyes closed and a slight frown gracing her features.
"Yeah-yeah…" Karin waved her sister off before taking another bite out of her sandwich.
And so, lunch time at the Kurosaki residence started, and lasted for another forty-five minutes after that, consisting out of small-talk for the most part, along with the steady decline of sandwiches on the table.
Ichigo then delivered on his promise and helped Yuzu with her homework, for which the little brunette was very grateful for.
The two of them finished up about fifteen minutes ago, and the orange-haired teen now found himself sitting at the table in his room, staring at the pile of books stacked on said table.
"Right," he exclaimed while poking the stack of books with the back of his pen. "My homework…"
The orange-haired teen let out a defeated sigh. Looking down at his wristwatch, he saw a digital '15:47' displayed on its screen.
Again, Ichigo sighed. He had planned on finishing his homework by no later than 16:30. But that was very much impossible now. It would take him at least an hour and a half to get everything done. "I guess helping Yuzu with her homework took longer than I thought it would…" he mumbled while picking up the first book on the pile. "Well, it can't be helped…"
And so, the gruelling task that was homework started. He had most likely underestimated the amount of homework they received, as 17:30 came and went, with him still busy for quite a well after that.
"There," the orange-haired teen closed his last book, before glancing at his wristwatch, which now displayed a digitalized '18:03'. "Wow…" he leaned back in his chair. "That took a little longer than I thought it would as well…"
For the next few minutes, he simply sat back in his chair and stared up at the ceiling with his hands behind his head, giving his mind a little break. His plans to go kick some soccer ball with Karin was also cancelled, as he knew that his black-haired sister was probably lounging in front of the T.V. right about now, and nothing would get her away from that except dinner time.
"Hmmm…Well, I've still got an hour or so before dinner. So I'll probably just watch some T.V. too." He said while looking back down at the stack of books. "But first check to make sure I didn't miss anything."
The boy then started stacking the books on the other side of the table, ticking each one off one-by-one in his head. He suddenly stopped, however, as he picked up a rather foreign-looking book. Bringing it closer to his face, he asked, "What's this?"
Upon closer inspection, the orange-haired teen noticed the bold-written name on the front of the book.
"Ogawa, Michiru."
He frowned at the book. "How the heck did this get here…"
"Oh! Right!" his eyes suddenly widened, as the memory came back to him. "How could I forget about that?" he irritatedly asked himself. "She bumped into me, and dropped this…"
Gazing thoughtfully at the book in his hands, he decided to put it back into his schoolbag and just give it back to her tomorrow in class.
But then it occurred to him that maybe she had homework that required this book. He really didn't want her to get in trouble because of it.
So, he decided to give it back to her, now. But that idea was quickly shot down though, as he realised that he had absolutely no idea where Michiru lived.
So, he instead decided to sigh in defeat…until he noticed a small paragraph in the top right corner on the back of the book: An address.
"Alright!" the orange-haired teen momentarily celebrated with a fist-pump, before slapping himself on the forehead for not noticing the conveniently-placed address right away.
Jumping up from his seat, he quickly threw on a pair of jeans, shoes, and a black, zip-up hoody, before grabbing his wallet, cell phone, house keys and, most important of all, Michiru's book.
Almost jumping down the stairs, Ichigo opened the front door before yelling, "I'm going out for a while!"
"Ichigo, wait!" Yuzu suddenly darted out of the kitchen and appeared in the hallway. "What about dinner?"
Ichigo, who was already on the other side of the doorway, briefly glanced back over his shoulder at the brown-haired girl.
"I won't be long!" he yelled back, before hastily closing the door behind him.
"Ichigo!"
Yuzu's shouting dimmed out, as the orange-haired teen was already halfway down the street, en route to what he hoped was Michiru's house…
"Twenty-eight…twenty-eight…twenty-eight…" Ichigo mumbled over and over again, walking from one house to the next.
He was obviously in search of house number twenty-eight in this complex: The address that was on the back of Michiru's book. Boy, the girl stayed quite a distance away; he's been walking for almost thirty-five minutes!
"Twenty-four…twenty-six…Aha! Twenty-eight!" Ichigo came to a stop in front of a white, medium-sized, two-story building, a '28' neatly painted in black on the front of the house. There was also a roofed patio in front of the building, which offered some resistance against the elements.
Briskly making his way up the stairs, Ichigo stopped in front of the door, cleared his throat, and rung the doorbell.
The echoing sound of the bell ringing through the house was all that was heard for a few instances.
"I'm coming!" a clearly-feminine voice broke through the now-dying sounds of the doorbell, and Ichigo could hear rapid footsteps approaching him from the other side of the closed door.
The doorknob suddenly clicked and turned, before the door swung open to the inside.
"Hel-Ichigo?"
In the doorway stood little Michiru. Ichigo observed that she was wearing some tattered blue jeans, a white, sleeveless shirt, and an…apron?
Hearing his name, the orange-haired teen focussed his eyes back on the brunette's face, which was gazing back up at him with confused eyes.
"Hey there, Michiru." Ichigo greeted with a wave of his hand, sporting a friendly grin.
"Hello, Ichigo…" the she greeted back, curiously gazing up at Ichigo.
"You're probably wondering why I'm here…and how I even know where you live…" the orange-haired teen received a nod in response from the brunette. "Well, it turns out when we bumped into each other at school, you kinda forgot your book." He lifted said book up into the air. "I noticed your address on the back of the book, so I thought I'd just bring it back to you." He explained, holding the book out to Michiru. "So, here you go."
Tentatively taking the book from Ichigo; Michiru proceeded to study it momentarily. "Oh!" she clucked, looking back up at the orange-haired teen. "This is my Math book! I thought I forgot it in my locker! Luckily Ryo lent me hers, or else I would have gotten in trouble tomorrow!"
"Yeah," Ichigo nodded in agreement. "We did get a lot of homework there…"
"Hmhm…" Michiru hummed in agreement, while quickly paging through her book. "Well," she looked back up at Ichigo once more. "Thank you very much for bringing this to me, Ichigo." She gave a small bow. "I would've really panicked when I didn't find this in my locker tomorrow morning. You saved me a lot of trouble."
"Heh, it's no problem…" he let out a small chuckle, scratching the back of his head.
And then, there was silence…
"So, uh," the orange-haired teen spoke up again. "If you don't mind me asking…why are you wearing an apron?"
"Hm? Oh! You mean this?" the brunette gestured to the apron tied around her waist. "Well, my dad gets invited to a lot of corporate dinners, like tonight. They always get home pretty late, so I have to make myself some dinner." She explained, before a sheepish grin made its way onto her face. "But I totally lost track of the time today, so I haven't even done a thing in the kitchen yet! I was just about to get started on dinner, actually."
"Oooh." he exclaimed in understanding. "Well, how's about we go out and get something to eat instead?" he turned towards the street, and glanced over his shoulder at the brunette. "Come on."
Michiru stood frozen in place, gaping up at the boy in front of her.
"…uh…e-excuse me?"
Turning back around, he looked down at the girl with a raised eyebrow. "I said: Let's go get something to eat." He repeated. "It'll save you the trouble of cooking tonight?"
The girl blinked, not actually believing what she was hearing. Was Ichigo Kurosaki asking her out on a date?
A small blush formed over the bridge of her nose as she shyly looked down.
"I-I don't know…"
"Hm?" Ichigo frowned, tilting his head to the side in confusion. "Why not? Will your parents be mad if you leave the house?"
"Oh, no, no! They won't mind!" the brunette waved her hands in front of her. "As long as I get back home safely."
"So? What's the problem then? You haven't started on dinner yet, and your parents won't mind either." he stated. "I'll make sure that you get back home safely, and I'll even pay? Ya know, to say sorry for bumping into you today?" he offered. "Unless you really don't wanna go…"
"No!" Michiru blurted out a little louder than she intended. A small blush made its way onto her face, and she looked down at her bare feet in embarrassment.
"I-I mean it would be nice to get some dinner…" the brunette looked back up at him, a small smile on her face. "Thank you…"
"Good." he smiled back at the brown-haired girl. "Well, let's go."
Quickly giving herself an once-over, Michiru looked back up at the boy. "Uhm…give me five minutes." The brown-haired girl didn't have her wallet or cell phone with her, she wasn't wearing any shoes, and she was wearing an apron. Definitely not suitable. "I-Is that okay?"
"Sure. No problem." Ichigo reassured her with a wave of his hand. "I'll just wait out here."
"'Kay. I'll be right back!" Michiru turned on her heels and darted back into the house, closing the door behind her.
He leaned back against the wall to the left of the door and waited in silence…until it occurred to him that he and Michiru were going out for dinner, which effectively meant that he was taking her out on a d-date!
A blush slowly started forming over his cheeks and the bridge of his nose. 'It's not a date!' he mentally screamed at himself, shaking his head to remove the intrusive thought.
'I'm just saving her some trouble, is all. And saying sorry for kind of walking over her.' He reassured himself. 'And that just happens to include me having dinner with her. Wait. Dinner!'
And hey, contrary to outward appearances, he's a nice guy. Always helping out where needed.
Quickly glancing down at his watch, he saw that it was displaying a digital '18:46'.
"Crap…" he muttered, his palm slamming into his forehead. "Dad's gonna flip out…"
Dinner at the Kurosaki residence was '19:00' sharp, and Kami have mercy on your soul if you walked in even a second later.
And Ichigo wasn't just going to be late for dinner. He was going to miss dinner, something that was most-definitely going to earn him a sparring session with the goat-chinned idiot.
Sighing in aggravation, the orange-haired teen took his cell phone out, slid it open, and pushed a few buttons, before bringing it up to his ear.
The phone rang for a few moments, before sound could suddenly be heard on the other side.
"Hello?"
A rather dull, bored-sounding voice had answered the phone.
He took a moment to slap his forehead with the open palm of his hand. Leave it to Karin to answer the phone so rudely.
"Hey, Karin. It's me."
"Ichigo?" His younger sister's voice responded from the other side. "Where the heck are you? It's almost dinner time, and you know how Yuzu gets…"
The two siblings shared an involuntary shiver at the mention of Yuzu, and missing dinner. The brunette was adorable…most of the time. But never miss dinner without a reason, though…never.
"Yeah…uh, about that…" the orange-haired teen started, scratching the back of his head uncomfortably. "Could you just tell Dad and Yuzu I won't make it for dinner tonight. Something came up that I have to take care of…"
A resounding 'WHAT!?' suddenly shrieked through the speaker of the cell phone, causing him to jerk the device away from his poor ear. "Yeah, like said; something came up that requires my attention." He repeated, holding the phone a safe distance away from his face. "Tell Yuzu that I'm sorry for missing dinner and not to worry about me. I'll just get something to eat here. Don't worry, I'll be back before '21:30'!"
"Hey wait!" Karin yelled from the other end. "I'm not telling Yuzu that you're missing dinner! That's suicide!"
"Bye, Karin! I'll see you later!" Ichigo over-politely yelled back.
"Wait! Ichigo! Don't you dare hang up! You hear me!? Ichigo! Ichig-*BEEP*"
'Man, I'm gonna get it tonight…' he sighed and closed his eyes for a few moments, not noticing that Michiru had come back outside, in the meantime.
It wasn't until he heard the door making a clicking noise as it was closed, that the orange-haired teen noticed the petite brunette standing next to him, busy locking the door.
Instead of the tattered blue jeans, sleeveless shirt and apron she had on a few minutes ago; Michiru now wore a white hoody with pink patterns and hearts, plain black leggings with black, open-toed shoes, and a plain black skirt that came down to mid-thigh, effectively protecting some of her modesty that the leggings did not.
All-in-all, Ichigo thought that Michiru looked…very pretty, actually.
"Ichigo…" he heard said girl timidly call out.
"Yeah?" the orange-haired teen focussed on Michiru again.
"I-I said I'm ready to go…" the little brunette softly informed him, nervously tugging at the bottom of her skirt.
Ichigo had been staring at her, and, in all honesty, it made her feel very self-conscious all of a sudden.
"Oh…" was the boy's simple reply. "Sorry, sorry." He shook his head. "It's just, you look so…pretty…"
Damn it! He knew he was staring at her again, but he just couldn't help it. He really had never noticed that Michiru was actually a very pretty girl, and the pink hoody contrasted nicely to her slightly-tanned skin. Geez. Since when did he start taking such notice of detail?
A blush quickly made its way onto Michiru's face, and she looked down, her eyes shyly fixed on her toes, a small smile appearing on her face. "T-Thank you…"
A small blush also appeared over Ichigo's cheeks and the bridge of his nose. Clearing his throat, the orange-haired teen turned and started walking down the stairs. "Well, come on. Let's go."
He stopped briefly at the bottom of the stairs, until Michiru caught up, before he started leading them down the street a little slower than usual. She was quite a bit shorter than him, so he didn't want to walk out of her by accident.
The two of them walked in silence for the next few minutes, with Ichigo occasionally turning left or right, leading them to Kami-knows-where.
"So," the orange-haired teen turned his head slightly in Michiru's direction. "You like ramen?"
He had completely forgotten to ask what kind of food the brown-haired girl liked. He figured that they could go to this new noodle restaurant a few blocks away, but if she didn't like ramen, they would have to go someplace else.
"Oh," Michiru looked back up at him, smiling brightly. "I love ramen!"
Ichigo breathed a quiet sigh of relief. "Good, 'cause I thought that we could go to that noodle restaurant nearby. Is that okay?"
"Hmmm…" Michiru explained, putting her finger to her lips in thought. "Ooooh, that restaurant! I've walked by it a few times, but I've never eaten there. I hear their food is great, though!"
He grinned in anticipation.
"Good, I can't wait to taste it."
"Hmhm." The brunette hummed in agreement.
The two teens walked the rest of the way in silence, and eventually stopped in front of a dark-brown, rather traditional-looking building. The words 'Noodle Woodle Moodle!' were written on the front of the building in a much lighter shade of brown, with 'Delicious hand-made noodle dishes!' as a subtitle underneath.
They were quickly helped by one of the waiters, who led them into the restaurant and offered them a seat at one of the tables in the far-left of the dining section, before giving each of them a menu and finally walking off, informing them that he would be back shortly to take their order.
While Michiru was scanning through her menu; Ichigo glanced around at their surroundings.
The inside of the restaurant also had a traditional Japanese feel to it. There were three rows of tables with accompanying benches evenly placed throughout the front section of the building. There were two doors on the right-hand side of the building, leading to the bathrooms for men and women respectively. And finally, the kitchen, which was located at the back of the restaurant, filling the rest of the building with various delicious food fragrances.
"Mmmm…everything looks so good…" Michiru thought out loud, looking over the different kinds of noodle dishes and their respective preview pictures.
Ichigo looked over towards the brunette briefly, before he too started scanning through the menu.
The waiter returned about a minute later, and the two teenagers quickly placed their respective orders. Michiru had decided to have Miso ramen with chicken and vegetables and a strawberry milkshake, while Ichigo ordered Shuyo ramen with pork, green onions and nori, along with an orange soda. The waiter then gave a small bow and walked to the kitchen area to hand their orders to the cook.
The two teens had started conversing in the meantime, mostly about school and homework, though. They weren't really friends, so they barely knew anything about the other one's life.
By the time their drinks arrived, the topic had changed to Michiru's parents, specifically her dad's job as a corporate employee in central Tokyo, which caused the brunette to see very little of him during the week.
This in turn led to discussing Ichigo's dad's career as a medical doctor, and how he always goofed around to keep his 'baby girls' smiling.
And then, about a quarter of the way into their bowls of ramen, the brunette suddenly asked about Soul Reapers. Ichigo had almost spit his orange soda right into Michiru's bowl, but had luckily gotten a hold over himself in time.
He definitely wasn't expecting that to spring up. Although, come to think of it, he did remember hearing from Keigo about Michiru being present in the battle against Aizen. Unconscious, but present. So he figured that Tatsuki or someone had probably talked about everything that happened, and the brunette only wanted to know a bit more of the afterlife.
So, he told her. About everything. From Rukia 'giving' him her powers, right up until Aizen's imprisonment, and the loss of the orange-haired teen's Soul Reaper powers.
He really had no idea as to why he was so talkative about it. Maybe he just needed to talk about everything for a change, with someone who has no experience whatsoever with the paranormally-unexplained and supernatural. Just a normal human being, living a normal, un-spirited life.
Someone like Michiru.
"So," the brunette slurped up the last of her milkshake and looked up at Ichigo. "So, you gave your powers up to defeat that guy? To save us all?"
"Yep." Was Ichigo's simple reply.
They had finished eating a while ago, and he was just waiting for her to finish her milkshake.
"Wow…" the brunette stared at her empty glass in thought.
Ichigo Kurosaki, the kid who seemed to be irritated by almost everyone, saved the world, knowing full well what the consequences would be, yet still gave it all up.
"Heh." The orange-haired teen scratched the back of his head in modesty. "Well, at least it's over, and I doubt the Soul Society would let something like that ever happen again. So, I think everyone's gonna be safe from here on out."
Michiru smiled slightly before looking back up at the boy. "Do you…do you miss being a Soul Reaper…?"
His eyes widened for a second, before softening quite a bit.
"I do sometimes…"
Michiru looked on as the orange-haired teen lowered his eyes to the table between them, a sad smile appearing on his face.
"When Uryu and the others have to go fight some rogue Hollow, I sometimes wish I still had my powers, so I could be right there with them, protecting them. Ever since my Mom died when I was little, I always thought that it was my job to protect people. My sisters, my friends. Even more so when I found out she was killed by a Hollow…"
Michiru let out a small gasp. She knew his mother had passed away a long time ago, but not that she was killed by a monster. That must be why he was so desperate to protect everyone from that man. He probably couldn't stand seeing another person close to him die. 'Oh, Ichigo…'
"But, I've accepted everything that's happened. There's no use living backwards. And besides," the orange-haired teen's smile changed into a happier one. "I'm finally normal. No more seeing random ghosts. The thing I have to worry about the most now is passing tenth grade, like everyone else."
Michiru nodded, a small smile forming on her face. He seemed genuinely happy with being normal.
"Thank you very much. We hope to see you again." The waiter walked up to their table, putting down a small booklet with their bill inside, on the table, before walking off again.
Opening the booklet, Ichigo checked the amount owing and took out his wallet. He took out a few notes and some coins and put it inside the booklet.
"Oh, wait." Michiru exclaimed from the other end, already taking out some monetary notes of her own. "You almost forgot to put my share with."
He chuckled while closing the booklet. "You don't really have a share, Michiru. I told you that I'd pay, remember?"
"B-But I-"
"Nope." he shook his head as he got up onto his feet. "Forget it. I'm paying."
"Are you sure?" the brunette asked, also standing up.
"Yep." The orange-haired teen ushered Michiru ahead of him towards the front door, making sure to hand the booklet over to their waiter in passing by him.
A small smile spread over the brunette's face as the two of them walked out of the restaurant into the night.
Putting the money back into her hoody's pocket, Michiru looked over to the boy walking next to her out of the corner of her eye. "T-Thank you…"
He glanced back at her, only offering her a small smile in return, as he tucked his hands into his jacket's empty pockets for some extra warmth.
The rest of their walk to Michiru's house passed relatively fast, and, before the two of them knew it, they were standing in front of the brunette's house once more.
"Well," the orange-haired teen turned to face Michiru. "Here you are. Back home safely, just like I promised."
"Hehe…" A soft chuckle came from the brunette, who was twiddling her fingers together as she looked right back at Ichigo.
Suddenly taking a step towards him, Michiru timidly wrapped her left arm around Ichigo's right, while her right hand softly took hold of his.
"T-Thank you for taking me out to dinner…" the brunette hugged his arm softly. "It was very nice."
She let go, and briskly walked up the stairs.
It was only after opening the front door that Michiru turned back to face the orange-haired teen. "I'll see you tomorrow!" she waved at him, a big smile on her face, before stepping inside, closing the door behind her as she did.
Ichigo dumbly stared at the closed door for a few seconds longer after it closed, before a smile slowly started making its way onto his face as well.
Putting his hands back in his jacket's pockets, the orange-haired teen started making his way home, only to suddenly stop a few feet later, feeling something foreign in his right jacket pocket.
"What's this?"
Taking whatever it was out of his pocket, he held it up to his face to get a better view under the darkened sky.
"Money?"
The orange-haired teen frowned at the crumpled up notes of cash. Where the heck did this come from? It definitely wasn't in there five minutes ago. Wait a minute…
He turned around, staring straight at Michiru's house.
It was hers. She probably slipped it into his pocket when she was hugging his arm just now.
He kept staring at the house a second longer, before a smile made its way onto his face.
'Oh well…' he turned back around and started walking home again, making sure to pocket Michiru's money safely in his jeans' pocket. 'I'll just give it back to her tomorrow anyway…'
[XXX]
As soon as Michiru closed the door behind her, she quickly moved to the front window to peek out at Ichigo. There was no way that she wasn't going to pay the boy back, so she just snuck some money into his pocket. She was definitely no mooch.
Her plan had worked: Hug his arm; plant the stash…and pray he won't notice it until he got home.
The brunette watched Ichigo start walking down the street.
"Uh-oh…"
He had stopped, taken the money out of his pocket, and now he was turning back around!
Darn it. He was going to give her money back.
She puffed her cheeks out in annoyance, but noticed that the orange-haired teen had turned around and started walking away again in the meantime.
The brunette let out a small sigh of relief, before a big smile appeared on her face.
Ichigo really wasn't as bad as she thought. She was always so scared and careful around him, because he never ever smiled, and always looked irritated by almost everything and everyone.
But, after spending most of the early evening with him, the brunette's opinion of the orange-haired boy had quickly taken a 180 degree turn. He didn't glare at her once, and never showed any signs of irritation at all. In fact, she could honestly say that he was nicer than most of the other 'nice' boys at school.
She slowly made her way up to her room on the second floor, the smile on her face not faltering the slightest bit, happy that she made a new friend…
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Yeah yeah. The story's probably moving along faster than many of you would want. But as I said, I really don't have time on my hands, and I thus planned it out accordingly.
Note that a lot of time will be covered by means of time skips and such.
Also, I'm really trying to include the twins in a few scenes during this story, as they don't really get a lot of screen time in canon or even Fanfiction.
Anyway, don't forget to review. I would greatly appreciate it.
And forget to vote on the poll please!
Thanks.
Cheers.
