There are not enough words to express how sorry I am for leaving this for so long.
I hope you still enjoy it.
xx
As the final bell rang, Rukia began packing her books carefully into her bag, ignoring the small twinges of pain that still lingered in her shoulder even after Inoue's help. The other girl had nearly exhausted herself healing the deep stab wound, and in the end Rukia had ordered her to stop before she ended up injuring herself. Regretfully, Rukia abandoned her plan of going to Urahara's to train. She knew from experience that she would do more harm than good to her body at the moment.
She didn't want to admit it, even to herself, but she was also reluctant to draw her sword again. She had forced herself to forget most of what had happened that night, knowing that if she began dwelling on it, she would be overwhelmed by everything that had occurred. The taste of blood. The sound of harsh, echoing laughter. The sight of sickly yellow eyes and the feel of cold, cruel fingers trailing across her skin.
The feel of Ichigo's lips on hers, and the sound of her own voice.
"I... love you..."
She shuddered and shook her head, forcing the memories back. It wouldn't be fair of her to tell Ichigo what she felt for him. She knew it would only hurt him.
"Everything okay?"
Startled, she glanced up into Ichigo's face. He looked... concerned.
Smiling up at him, she nodded. "It's just the heat. It's never like this in Soul Society." Standing up, she stretched, then picked up her bag and turned to leave the classroom, Ichigo following faithfully after her.
Their walk home was filled with a comfortable silence, the two of them content just to be together.
xx
When they reached Ichigo's house, Rukia thoughtfully went through the front door first, slipped off her shoes in the genkan and called, "Tadaima!"
"Okaeri, Rukia-chan!" came Yuzu's cheerful voice from the kitchen, along with the sound of a pan being placed in the sink and water running. Smiling, Rukia stepped through the doorway to the rest of the house as Ichigo entered the genkan.
He was abruptly attacked by his own father.
"Welcome home, Ichigo!" yelled Isshin, attempting to kick his son in the head. Rukia's eyes widened, and she turned quickly to watch the fight. Isshin's Ichigo-attacking abilities seemed to be improving; she hadn't even noticed him jump past her. Was she losing her touch, here in the Real World?
"What the hell are you doing, old man!" Ichigo screamed, bending backward to avoid his father's foot.
"You're later than usual, my son! Were you and my darling Rukia-chan off somewhere, alone together-" he was abruptly cut off by Ichigo's fist landing in his face.
Rukia heard a sigh from behind her and turned to see Karin standing by the stairs, arms folded as she watched the familiar scene. "I think we should have Yuzu cut off his food supply," she murmured. "Maybe it would calm things down around here for a while."
Rukia smiled, glad to see that some things, at least, hadn't changed since last week. "No, it would probably just make him jump on the memorial poster and cry about how mean his daughters are now that they've reached puberty."
Karin grinned, stepping aside so that Rukia could walk past her. "Okaeri, Rukia-chan. Glad to see you're feeling better."
Rukia blinked, unsure of what the other girl meant. "Feeling... better?"
Looking back toward the fight escalating in the entryway, Karin rested her chin in one hand, looking thoughtful. "For the past week, the two of you have seemed to be avoiding each other. But today, you're acting normal again. Did something happen to you guys?"
Rukia bit her lip, the image of a pair of yellow eyes flashing through her mind. Forcing it back down, she turned to Karin and smiled again. "It's nothing, Karin-chan," she said, stepping past the younger girl and heading toward the stairs.
As she reached the landing, she glanced backward; Karin still watched her, worry plain on her face.
xx
Fifteen minutes later, Ichigo finally reached his bedroom, grumbling about his stupid crazy father's psychotic hobby of trying to kill him. He opened the door, exhausted and ready to collapse on his bed.
Which would be extremely awkward, considering that Rukia was currently sprawled across it, reading one of her weird horror manga.
He scowled at her for a minute and considered telling her to move, but gave up and fell into his desk chair instead, sighing loudly in relief. Rukia glanced up, looked back at the book and turned a page, gasped, and closed it. Leaning over and dropping the book on the desk, she settled back onto the bed and looked at Ichigo, head resting on her folded arms.
"So," she said, "what do we do now?"
He closed his eyes and stretched his arms over his head, banishing the stiffness that had begun to settle in his muscles after the fight with his father, then looked at her again. "I don't know," he said quietly.
Rukia sighed and closed her eyes. "Neither do I."
They sat like that for several seconds, both silently contemplating the situation.
Until a flying ball of yellow fuzz leapt toward Rukia's chest with a cry of "Nee-saaaan!"
Reflexively, Rukia leaned up and swatted the plushie, smacking him into the door on the other side of the room. Ichigo noticed her wince as she extended her shoulder, and bit his lip in sympathetic pain.
It's all your fault... whispered a voice in the back of his head.
Shaking his head, he forced the voice back down, desperately hoping that it was just his own guilty conscience speaking and not the hollow beginning to stir again.
Kon slid down the door and flipped himself back into a standing position, tears somehow streaming down his fabric face. "Nee-san, I've missed you so much! After you came back from that pervert's shop, you've hardly been here! Is that it? Did that horrible man do something to you? Neeee-saaaan!"
Ichigo, quickly growing fed up with the stuffed lion's anguished cries, stood up, grabbed hold of him (get your filthy hands off me, Ichigo! You jerk!), threw him out the open window and slammed it shut. Silence ensued once again.
Glancing over at Rukia, he saw that she'd sat up and was fighting to hold back a grin, and despite his concern for her, he couldn't help smiling in response. He dropped onto the bed next to her and leaned back against the wall, stretching his arms over his head. "Well, so much for having a serious conversation in this house, between him and my dad," he said, tucking his hands behind his neck.
Rukia turned to lean against the wall alongside him, pulling her knees up and wrapping her arms around them. "Yeah," she said softly, and he could hear the humour lingering in her voice. "At least he's good for something."
Ichigo grinned, finally feeling like things might just be getting back to normal after all.
xx
Rukia lay on her stomach in the street, feeling gravel digging deep into her cheek as she twisted her head to the side in a desperate attempt to catch a glimpse of her attacker. She heard a whisper of cloth and felt pain explode along her spine as he dug his knee into her back, but forced herself not to cry out as she stretched out her arm in a futile attempt to grab Sode no Shirayuki. The hilt was merely centimetres from her fingertips, but in her current state it seemed like half a block lay between her and her blade.
With a sudden thrill of fear, she felt the hollow lean across her body, fingers sliding over her neck as he whispered in her ear. "Gotcha, Rukia-chan."
And the hands around her neck tightened, cutting off her scream for help, and his breath was hot on her face and she couldn't breathe!
With a gasp, Rukia sat up in bed, the thin sheet tangled around her sweat-soaked limbs in the still, hot air of the closet. She frantically tried to calm her erratic heartbeat, control her breathing and her reiatsu so as not to alert Ichigo of her predicament. He had enough to worry about already with his inner hollow, and she was determined to do everything she could to help him. Awakening him at-she checked the time on her denreishinki, lying beside her pillow-three in the morning because she'd had another nightmare would only make him feel even more guilty about the situation.
She could handle this by herself.
Lying back down, Rukia stared at the ceiling of the closet, pushing the images from the dream to the back of her mind and burying them in ice, just as she had done before.
They're going to break free again, you know, whispered a soft, gentle voice in her head.
I know, replied Rukia. But I don't want to worry him.
Shirayuki didn't respond to this statement, but Rukia could feel the sword's cooling presence surround her. Sighing in relief, she closed her eyes and tried to fall back to sleep.
xx
I will be attempting to restart my regular two-week update schedule from now on; however, if you don't hear from me for a while, assume I've been horribly distracted by Real Life. I'm also posting a one-shot of little Byakuya, which I hope you'll take the time to read.
I love you all.
Translations:
genkan: front entrance, where you take off shoes
tadaima: I'm home, literally "just now"
okaeri: short form of okaerinasai, basically "welcome home"
reiatsu: spirit pressure
denreishinki: "divine messaging machine", shinigami cellphone
