Disclaimer
I don't own Bleach. However, I own Kubo Tite. Not.
2. Terms of Service Agreement
"So, Kuchiki Rukia. Be my girlfriend?"
Rukia bit her lower lip as she looked into Kurosaki's eyes deeply. After took a deep breath, she asked. "Why me?"
Ichigo ran his long fingers through his unruly hair, his face looked exasperated. "This again? You happened to be in the wrong time and place, though for me, it was the right time and the right place. And I must admit that how we had treated each other will give this whole thing its dramatic streak."
Rukia sighed heavily and averted her gaze away from Ichigo. "I… do not have many options, do I?"
Ichigo smiled broadly, satisfied with Rukia's not-exactly-direct answer.
"Very good." he said.
"And now after we are officially boyfriend and girlfriend," Rukia felt her tongue hurt at this, "what do you plan to do next?"
Rukia hated to ask 'what's the next plan' to others. She was accustomed to become the party to take decisions, not vice versa. Waiting for someone's instructions and then run them was completely a foreign concept to her.
Jii-sama once said to never let others to decide things for something that concerns her. A Kuchiki should only listen to himself or another Kuchiki alone, not anyone else. Never anyone else.
'And now because of this stupid, immature boy I was forced to disobey Jii-sama, Rukia regretted.
"Now we need to make the Terms of Service Agreement." Ichigo announced.
Rukia snapped her head. "What?"
"The Do's and Don'ts of this ... thing" Ichigo seemed difficult, or rather he did not want to mention their status which was now no longer friends, so to speak. "You understand, right? I'm sure a thing like this isn't foreign to you Kuchikis."
It was one thing that made Rukia hate Ichigo. Since he knew that she was a Kuchiki, Ichigo increasingly disliked her. Rukia had this idea that Ichigo considered her as a snotty, spoiled, and a pushy rich girl. Ichigo only saw the 'what' of her, not 'who'. Moreover, who did he think he was, judging Rukia like that? How many Kuchiki he knew so he could stereotype Rukia?
"Sure. There are lots of things that are not foreign to us, unlike some people." Rukia sneered.
"Not everybody was born with silver spoon shoved into their mouth!"
Rukia nodded wisely. "I agree. Otherwise, the world would not have been this interesting, don't you think?" to aggravate Ichigo even more, now Rukia added a sickeningly sweet smile into her expression.
Looked like it worked as she planned.
"Bitch. Who do you—"
"Are we going to work on your idea or not?" Rukia cut in harshly.
Ichigo gritted his teeth. This girl was probably the most difficult, impossible girl he ever knew of. What an unfortunate event… Really, were all rich people like this?
"Fine. Meet me on the roof after school."
"Who do you think you are, telling me what to do like that? We do this my way. Meet me at the park near Karakura General, 5 pm sharp."
"What the hell! What're you doing in the hospital at Friday, anyway?"
"I do not think I have to discuss it with you. Good day, Kurosaki."
With that, Rukia turned her body to walk back to the class, leaving Ichigo with his mouth agape. Even with her current bargaining position which was nowhere near gainful, that annoying girl could still manage other people to do as she wished.
The hallway towards VIP room was quiet. Rukia walked gracefully as she scanned her surrounding, her right hand held a bouquet of white Lily and her left hand held a big bag full of candies to her chest.
She disliked hospital for she thought the place was an epitome of uncertainty. There were always hopes, yes, but not everybody was lucky enough to have that. In this place, hope was a luxury.
Rukia sighed. Her father and her grandfather were among those who were unlucky.
"Rukia-san?"
Rukia stopped in her tracks. "Unohana-san!" she bowed after her eyes caught the sight of a woman with long, black hair braided in front of chest smiled softly at her.
"The usual?"
Rukia nodded. "The usual. How is he?"
"Don't worry. He's going to be alright."
Rukia beamed. "I am glad to hear that. Can I see him now?"
"Why, of course. He has been waiting for you, you know?"
With a last bow to the soft-looking doctor, Rukia proceeded to walk toward the room that unfortunately was familiar to her, due to the fact that she went there quite often, visiting the same person.
In front of room number 131, she knocked the door.
"Come in." there was a voice muffled from inside the room followed by several light coughs.
Rukia opened the door.
There, on the sickbed, was a man in his mid forties with long, white hair tied loosely behind his back smiled at her. He was good-looking, handsome even, and had this warm, fatherly aura surrounded him.
"Ah, Kuchiki." he acknowledged her; the smile never left his face. "Come in, child. I'm sorry you missed our piano lessons this week."
"Worry not, Ukitake-san. I practiced with your nephew instead."
Ukitake Jūshirō chuckled knowingly. "That must've been hard."
Rukia smiled. "He was impatient, yes, but nice, nonetheless. How are you, Ukitake-san?"
"I'm fine. This happens to me in a regular basis. Surely you should've known by now." Ukitake laughed. "Kami, I'm getting old. "
"No, you just did not take care of yourself well enough."
Ukitake smiled at this. Behind her cold demeanor and high-and-mighty attitude, the young girl in front of him was actually a loving, warm kind of person. Just like the rest of her family.
"How's your brother?"
And so, for the next two hours, they chatted and exchange stories. Rukia had always felt this odd feeling when she was around him. A strong fondness. A feeling that said she wouldn't mind being around him as long as possible and in fact, yes, she didn't. Maybe that was because the fact that she had known him since she was still babbling incoherently with drools oozed from her mouth, incapable of forming words and convey what she wanted to say.
Rukia loved talking to him and listening to his stories, so fixated she didn't realize there was a figure stood behind the door watching her. After a while, the figure was gone.
"Do I really have to meet that stupid human?" Rukia muttered under her breath. She was leisurely riding her cute bicycle, heading to the park where she and Kurosaki had agreed to meet at. She had made a call to her home earlier, telling her brother that maybe she would be late for dinner.
Of course her brother didn't take it just like that. He suspected she had some date waiting for her.
Really. A date? With Kurosaki Ichigo? Surely God wouldn't be so cruel to her, now would He?
When she reached the park, she parked her purple bicycle under a tree and not far from where she stood, she could see Kurosaki with his God cursed orange hair sitting with his two long legs stretched out. He seemed so peaceful although the scowl was still there.
Rukia walked toward him. "Did I make you wait? "
Without saying anything, Kurosaki stood up. "You see that bench? Let's go there."
Rukia inspected him with disdain. How could he not be bothered by dirt and grass practically covered his pants? Why was it that all she could see from him was negative things? Oh please, Kuchiki. Of course that was because all the boy had were all except goodness.
As soon as Kurosaki put his rear on the bench, he produced a paper that seemed out of nowhere.
"Okay. You read this."
Rukia snapped the paper from his hand and fumed. "You made this all by yourself?"
"Yes." Kurosaki looked smug. Stupid boy.
"It was not praise, dummy. Why did you do this without my consent? Why did you decide without my approval? That is not the way we do this kind of thing!"
"Oi oi, relax."
Rukia read what was written on the paper.
Do's
Call each other with given names.
Act like a couple in school, including some holding hands.
Go to school and go home together.
Don'ts
Kissing.
Act like a couple outside the school.
Rukia gripped the paper in her hand so hard it was crumpled. A thick vein popped in her temple.
"So this is your definition of Terms of Service Agreement, huh, Kurosaki?" Rukia asked with low, menacing tone.
"It's now Ichi—"
"If I knew this 'Terms of Service Agreement' would be this simple, I would have saved my precious time to do more important things! You see, idiot, even without you telling me what to do and what not to do, I will do exactly these things! Do not insult Kuchiki intelligence!" Rukia's face now red from anger.
"Hey—"
"Do not 'hey' me! I thought you knew what you were doing but I now suspect I was wrong—"
"What does that mea—"
"Shut up!" Rukia practically barked. "Shut up and let me do the talking. Up to this point, I can safely assume that you know what you want but you do not understand of what to do. Yes, I will call you Ichigo and you can call me Rukia. Yes, we will be holding hands and Holy Kami, yes, I will not kiss you. Who would want that anyway? But do you know how to 'maintain' this whole act? Maybe when does this 'agreement' end? No? To whom this fake-couple thingy applied? To everybody we know and know us or limited only to those in school—meaning the families not included?"
"That actually make sense—"
"I am not finished! Speak when I ask you to. What to do and what not to do in front of that Sonny girl—do you know? Do you not find it ironic and stupid for us to be a couple when you in all honesty are intended to woo another girl? Do you know how to work on it without jeopardize the chances you might have? No? I thought so. Now, speak."
Ichigo scratched the back of his head but scowled. He found himself couldn't meet the heiress' intense gaze. "I… Honestly, I didn't think way that far."
Rukia instantly gave him a 'wtf' look. A good thing he was merely a high school student. If he was a businessman like Nii-sama, he would've been the most favourite business partner of all time because he was so easy to deceive. He didn't acknowledge the ground he was battling.
"Do not jump head first into anything, Kurosaki. Learn your field first."
Kurosaki's broad shoulders slumped a bit. He didn't look sad; even his scowl was still intact. But Rukia could definitely notice the spirit within him had dimmed ever-so-slightly. At seeing this, Rukia sighed inaudibly.
"Okay. I have some ideas. Do you want to listen or do you want to find the way yourself?" the aristocratic girl asked softly as she positioned herself right beside him.
Ichigo lifted his gaze to meet hers. He didn't answer right her right away but somehow Rukia knew what he meant to say.
Garden at the Kuchiki Residence wasn't your average, of course. Its width was just as narrow as a soccer field with a Koi pond, a freaking river God only knew which spring it came from, and sakura trees. The building wasn't called 'Manor' for nothing.
In the middle of that picturesque garden, Rukia was sitting idyllically on a wooden chair, sipping her daily dose of green tea in a fine, classic-look teacup. She was contentedly basking on an almost-sunset glow. In front of her, also sitting was a man with flaming red hair tied into ponytail.
"Can you please stop staring, Renji?" Rukia put her cup, folded her arms and raised an eyebrow, glared at her best friend.
Renji blinked but didn't speak a word.
"I see. Not only stupid, now you are also mute."
"I'm trying to figure out this madness, here. Gimme a break." Renji grunted. "You and Ichigo. Man, The Mayans got it all messed up. The Apocalypse is coming faster than we thought."
"Very creative remark of yours", Rukia pinched the bridge of her nose. Her face was suddenly somber. "I have to do this, Renji. He threatened me and I can not let that happen. That damned camcorder of his has recorded my… deed… and that was like a checkmate to me."
Renji dumbfounded. Never in his entire life had he seen his best friend did something that was very out of character not to mention considered as a criminal act. "So basically this was because you had tried to—Kami, I can't believe this—climb Miss Ochi's room so you can enter through the vent and then swap the essay?"
"A little bit louder, Renji. There is someone in Uganda that could not hear you."
"Sorry."
"That was my fault that I submitted the wrong book, alright. But you know the essay weighed 70% and will be accumulated after our final exam. Did you think I could pass something like that?"
"Ah… I know, I know. So from now on, you two will be a couple? The whole holding hands and other lovey-dovey thingy?"
"We will act like a couple, Renji." Rukia corrected her best friend, "we won't say anything about the status. If we announce that we're dating, well, that will leave Kurosaki with no room to move; to acquire his actual goal. We will let other people think what they want; conclude what they want so that we can keep any chance that Kurosaki might have with her. The point is to make this what's-her-name jealous".
"And when she does feel jealous, Ichigo hopes she will realize that all this time she actually loves him?" Renji finished.
"Yes." If possible, Rukia looked more and more gloomy.
Seeing her best friend's expression, Renji patted her head lightly. "Hey, at least we know Ichigo will stay true to his promise."
"'We'? No, I do not. How do I know he will not betray me and send the recording to the Principal and, heaven forbid, Nii-sama? Maybe he now has thousands copies of that."
"No, he won't. I assure you he won't. I know him."
That was true. Renji and Ichigo were best friends with love to hate tendencies. They were both in Karate Club. Perhaps, outrageous hair colours and similar attitude was what made them sorta brother-in-arm. Renji knew about Rukia and Ichigo's 'history' together. He knew they both were born to strangle each other's neck and he knew how much they despise each other.
"You know what I'm thinking right now, Rukia?" Renji asked.
Rukia smirked. "Arisawa?"
"No!" Renji instantly yelled, making Rukia closed her eyes with comical expression. "I'm thinking about how I imagine you and Ichigo would make a great couple. Chaotic, but great."
Rukia snorted with a way that would've made her brother chastise her for being so 'unladylike'. "That is good, I suppose. People will be convinced."
"No. What I meant was real couple." Renji corrected her petite best friend.
And that stupid suggestion resulted in Renji's swollen jaw.
A/N:
My thesis is killing me!
Skittles was my muse. Thank Wrigley.
The grammar! I know, I know, still sucks as ever and I'm deeply sorry for that And thank you very, very much for all the criticisms, reviews, favorites, and alerts. They are so uplifting, considering my fic isn't that great.
Criticisms? Questions? Suggestions? Throw 'em all at me! I'd like to read some feedbacks from you
