I apologize for the length of this chapter, but I feel like the chapter should end where it does. It's a tad bit slow, but sometimes that's needed in a story. Thank you for all the reviews and comments! They just help me to improve the story. All your unanswered questions will most definitely be answered soon, just not now lol.
Sacrificial Treasure
Chapter II
This walk home was the longest walk he had ever taken. Nothing could get his mind off of what had just happened. Nothing could get his mind off the new knowledge he had just learned. He had never felt so hurt, so rejected, so used, or so broken. His thoughts continued to weigh him down and even time itself. The usual five minute walk from Orihime's apartment felt like an hour. He thought it would never end until he reached his doorstep, staring at it miserably, standing there for what had to have been at least five whole minutes.
He opened the door and slipped off his shoes, making as little noise as possible. He did not want to attract any attention and have his sisters see him this way or more importantly, his father. But of course, fortune was not something which was on his side this whole day. The next thing he knew, his father's foot was in his face as he came crashing down onto the wooden floor.
"What is your deal old man? Can I for once, go to my bedroom without you almost killing me?"
His father laughed a hearty laugh. "Oh Ichigo! You are just so moody all the time, aren't you? Teenagers… they never want to spend time with their fathers," he sniffled, a large unnatural teardrop forming in his eye.
"Tsk." Ichigo padded up the stairs and slammed his bedroom door behind him. He was surprised that his dad didn't even bother following him or even landing another move on him.
Kurosaki Isshin just stared at his son's back until he disappeared behind his bedroom door. He knew something was very wrong. Although Ichigo was being his usual self, his father knew him well enough to know something serious had come to pass, so all Isshin did was pray and let him go.
Ichigo lay on his bed helplessly. Helpless. Oh, how he had never felt so helpless before. Nothing he did or nothing anyone did, for that matter, would change the fact that Orihime had cheated on him, lied to him. He felt so crushed and he did not like it at all, but nothing in his being could make him man up right now… as much as he wanted to. So instead, he stared at the ceiling long enough to forget it was there.
Everything that had happened today, passed through his mind almost like a movie. He just kept replaying the scene in her apartment over and over again in his mind. It just would not end and it was torture. He just kept hearing those terrifyingly distressing words and he could not shut them out. He covered his ears, closed his eyes shut, and ground his teeth, doing anything he possibly could to get rid of her voice, her image, the truth.
Everything had been at least close to normal this morning and now… everything had changed. His love for her was so strong that this trial could possibly be his ruin. Unbeknownst to him, hot streams of salty water poured from his eyes. He touched the drops of water and stared at them, establishing the fact that they were tears. I can't believe I'm crying. I haven't cried since Mom died.For some reason, acknowledging this fact just made his pain more intense and he cried even more, letting go of the false pretense, even before himself, letting go of the man he wanted to be and just let himself cry. Crying turned into sobbing, sobbing turned into heart clenching muffled screams, and those screams turned into weariness. Soon, his body became exhausted from all the weeping and he fell asleep.
"OHHHHHHH! Wake up Ichigo!" Isshin howled, jumping on top of his sleepy son's body.
Ichigo grunted into his pillow.
"What was that son? I can't hear you!"
"Leeb meh aronnnne. I habb an alarm clock, ya know. I don't need you waking me up every morning."
"Why are you being so boring my son?"
At that mention, Ichigo immediately arose and punched his father in the face. "Now that's more like it! You have to be at school sooooon~ get ready!"
Ichigo glared at his father for what had to have been at least a minute, his father's cheeky little grin never faltering, not even for a second. Ichigo rolled his eyes, getting out of bed and walking toward the bathroom.
"Son."
"What?"
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, of course I am. Wh-" and then it all flooded back to him in a mere second. He had forgotten about everything after being passed out for ten hours. He hadn't even had a single dream. Dreamless sleeps were his favorite. But now that his father had asked him such a foreign question, he remembered all of yesterday's events. All he could see was Orihime and her beautiful russet hair and big grey eyes filled with tears and then her mouth uttering the very words that made his whole world come crashing down. There's… there's someone… else in the picture. He looked down at the ground, away from his father's gaze, unable to hide the emotions dancing across his eyes. He looked up at Isshin and even forced a tiny, pathetic smile. "Don't worry about me old man. I'm fine," he lied, scratching the back of his head.
All that Ichigo received in return was his father's extremely concerned look (which was incredibly rare) and a very long dragged out silence.
Ichigo dropped his hand to his side and decided to drop his act too. Being completely serious now he said, "Seriously, don't worry about me Dad. I think I'll be able to handle this on my own."
"I don't know what happened son, but I've just about been through everything a man could go through. I'm here if you need someone to talk to."
Ichigo smirked. "Thanks old man." Maybe his father did not know it, but Ichigo really meant that and he knew Isshin meant what he said as well. He was extremely grateful for his father's offer. It was moments like these when he felt closer to his dad.
Ichigo had no idea what he was going to do when he got to school. The whole walk there, the only thing he could deliberate was how he would act when he saw Orihime. Should he act normal for the sake of his friends? Should he completely ignore her? Just that thought alone twisted his gut. Ignoring her would probably be the best thing to do and yet the hardest. How could he even bring himself to ignore or avoid her? It was just going to be way too difficult. And at the moment, he really considered turning around and going back home to the soft comfort of his bed where he could run away and not have to deal with his currently painful issue. No, I am not going to run away from this… or from her. I'm not a coward. Ughhh! This is too hard…
He stopped in front of her apartment like he usually would on any normal day. Tsk… normal ain't the word anymore. But just for a moment, he pretended as though it really were a normal day, as though nothing bad had happened. He closed his eyes, as if doing that would make yesterday morning come back and all the mornings before that as well… when he would wait for her in this very spot and watch her bouncing down the steps with a huge smile plastered to her face. She was always just so genuinely happy to see him. 'I'm the luckiest girl in the world for you to be the very first thing I see in the morning!'And then he would kiss her forehead every time she said that. He never got sick of hearing the same line almost every morning, but right now, he was sick to his stomach at the thought. Snapping out of his daydream, he realized he was still standing in front of her apartment and the last thing he needed was for her to see him doing just that. He took one last glance at her abode and was nervous the rest of the walk to school. He realized this was his first walk to school alone, without her by his side and it would be like this from this point forward. All these realizations and reflections made him want to cry again, but he wouldn't. He would not cry because of her.
"Yo Ichigo!" greeted Tatsuki as he walked into the classroom.
"Hey Tatsuki," he smiled.
Tatsuki just stared at him openly, very shocked. Ichigo realized he was trying way too hard at acting like he was "okay" so he immediately replaced his fake smile with a scowl.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" she eyed him wearily.
"Eh? Oh nothing. Nothing at all. Why?"
"I don't know. You never smile," she laughed. "Wow, that's actually really sad Ichigo."
"Yeah."
"Hey, where's Orihime? She always walks to school with you. Where is she? Oh goodness, don't tell me she's still sick. That girl just does not know how to take care of herself. It drives me nuts!"
"Tatsuki calm down. Orihime knows how to take care of herself. Stop with that nonsense." Ichigo found himself defending her without even meaning to and that alone made him angry. "I have no idea why she isn't here though, okay?" he grunted, trying to cover up his self-anger.
"Sheesh, fine. I'm gonna call her then because she's never late for class and class starts in two minutes."
"Whatever."
What Tatsuki stated was true though. Orihime never missed a day of school. So far this year, she had a perfect attendance record which she had come to be very proud of. On top of that, finals were next week and all Orihime spoke about was studying for them and how it would never be acceptable that she miss a single day of school until the exams were over. Missing a day of school was completely out of her character and unfortunately, Ichigo found himself worrying about her. What if she's throwing up again? What if she passed out? She's all alone and has no one to help her. She's been getting really sick lately. Maybe I can… but he stopped himself right there, getting angry at himself yet again. Why should he be thinking of how much pain she was in or the different ways of how he could be helping her when she was most likely doing the opposite and probably did not even care about he felt? She obviously didn't since she cheated on him!
He slammed his fist on his desk, frustrated at his stupid mind and just his pure helplessness. His friends turned toward him concerned. "It's okay Ichigo. Orihime's probably fine. She'll make herself better in no time," Sado said.
"I don't know about that. She doesn't pick up her phone which is really odd, but I guess you're right Sado. She'll be fine soon… I hope."
"It's not that!" Ichigo yelled, standing up.
His friends stared at him astonished. "Then what is it?" Tatsuki asked, staring at him with wide eyes.
"Nothing. Just forget about it," he mumbled furiously, dashing out of the room.
"Oi!" Ochi-sensei yelled. "Why are you running out of the classroom like that? You almost bumped into me you delinquent!"
As Ochi-sensei continued muttering to herself irately, Ichigo's friends stared at the door Ichigo had just left through and then at each other. Any reason as to why their friend was acting so strangely was beyond them and they were extremely worried.
"UGH! Why did I even come to school today!" he yelled to himself. "I can't even take them talking about her. I'm such a pity," he said, his voice turning into a mere whisper. He stared at the floor, eyes wide, yet expressionless.
"Kurosaki."
Ichigo whirled around to find that Ishida strolled right into the bathroom in an all-knowing, yet apprehensive way. It ticked Ichigo off. "What do you want?"
"I don't know what's happening to you or why you're like this, but your behavior is concerning all of us, even me."
"Well, I don't need your pity, okay? So just leave me alone."
"Did something happen with you and Inoue?"
Ichigo just stared at Ishida. Ishida always had a way of getting to the bottom of things without even having to know the basis of a situation and it really irked Ichigo at this very moment. He did not like the fact that Ishida could so coolly see through him and the situation. Ichigo grew very irritated at this fact because he wanted to keep up the façade as long as he possibly could.
"Shut up Ishida. I don't need you putting your nose where it doesn't belong, so leave me alone," he demanded as he brushed past Ishida and walked out of the bathroom door.
Ishida just smirked, knowing he was right, but his smirk instantly turned into a frown at the realization that he was right. Being right this time was not a good thing. What could have possibly happened between those two?
Thank you for reading! I know that not a lot went on in this chapter, but there are some things which need to be laid out like in any story. Please leave reviews! I'd like to know what you think. (:
~Yono~
