Disclaimer: I don't own them.
Pairings: Ichigo/Rukia…and some more as the story progresses.
Raitings: T for language
Genre: Romance/Angst
Wow an update!
Chapter 3
Familiarity
The morning breeze was chilly, no much different from the iced night. The touch of winter was dreadfully evident in this time of the year.
He shivered.
"0i," he poked the girl on the head that was sleeping deeply, he feared she was drooling on his pillows. "oi," he poked her for the second time, "do you have plans on waking up?" he questioned with a slight hint of sarcasm dripping form his voice.
Rukia stirred inside the comfortable blankets, "five more minutes…" she said sleepily, "just make sure the water on the tub is warm enough." She groaned not even opening her weary eyes. "I feel like I'm getting a cold…" she added softly, unaware then drifted back to sleep.
"water? Tub? Hey wait a sec. I'm not paid for room service h-" he was cut short from his rebuttal when she pulled him closer to herself, instinctively thinking he was some pillow she could cuddle. His eyes grew wider uneasy of their position, their faces were awfully close. "o-oi." Ichigo could hear his own voice tremble at the sight of their proximity; though he could admit, her porcelain beauty was rather tempting.
Her face twitched the slightest, "Kaien…" she whispered too softly he could barely hear; her warm breath tingling his senses as he felt it on his cheek.
A teardrop threatening to fall from the side of her eyes. He noticed this as he heard the name and something indistinct made him feel upset. He drew back, out of her grasp uncomfortably. She only rolled to the other side and still did not awaken. "wake up." He nudged her, his façade grew serious for some unspecified reason. Who owned that name she spoke of too many a time already, more so, why does it disquiet him? He shook her harder.
Rukia groaned while tediously revealing her amethyst orbs, she found a straight-faced boy above her. "morning," came her brief greeting.
He tried to hide a faint blush while remembering their position earlier. He wasn't exactly the 'intimate' type of person. "be thankful it's a Saturday." He commented, it was a relief he had no classes today or else he'd be late again.
He was in his senior year of high school and it was hard enough to keep up with all the kinds of pressure. "here." He handed her an old shirt of his that would hopefully fit her. "change into something comfortable at least." He pointed at her attire, she was still wearing the mauve night gown.
She took it and shifted uncomfortably while sitting on the bed, "thanks."
He then sat on the chair just beside his bed. "you ran away from home?" he suddenly questioned aimlessly not really expecting an ample response.
She immediately lifted her head to acknowledge his statement, displeased of his query. "I don't want to go back." she said firmly not answering his inquiry, resentment genuinely evident in her sentence. Wherever she came from, she certainly had no plans of going back.
It made him even more curious but he concealed it impressively, "you're parents might be looking for you." He answered bluntly, thinking that he stated an explicitly simple fact.
Her countenance was like an ice sculpture that refused to acquiesce, as if that same ice had numbed her heart for too long. "they've been dead for as long as I can remember." Her voice faintly softened though tone still detached. "I'll leave soon so you don't have to worry." She added as if reassuring him of something frankly trivial. It seems the air of severity that enveloped them before bitterly returned.
Dead? That was harsh, though he did have his own shares of misfortune, still. "and where'll you go?" it was a different question from his own intentions.
This interrogations plainly had to stop. "I don't think my whereabouts must concern you." She stated confidently. She never expected she'd involve total strangers in her undertakings.
He could somehow agree to that but his own stubbornness opposed him, "I've involved myself too much now…" He gave an honest reply much to her hidden amusement.
Her eyebrows twitched with what she heard, it has been a while since someone actually cared, or so she thought. "involved?" her tone had a distinct heightening in it. "That's a brave word coming from someone who doesn't even know me, don't you think so?" she wondered how it felt like to drive him off the hedge, after all, his facial expressions were just priceless.
She had him going; he was stirred by her last remarks. "Listen here Rukia," the nostalgic sound of her name made her stop. "if you wanna go then go, if you wanna stay then-"
An unnerving racket, "Iiiiiiichigo! Breakfast is ready my son!" The door of his room blasted open, revealing a jumpy old man.
Rukia blinked twice.
Ichigo scowled, "geez, why cant I finish my sentences peacefully…" he was growing annoyed of all the interruptions, "I hear ya old man, it's not like I live with the neighbors. You creep."
"why are you so harsh on your father?!" Isshin was getting melodramatic. "why?! my adorable son!" the older Kurosaki acted as if he was a child having some tantrums, but then he halted when he noticed the raven-haired girl looking bewildered at them.
he tore himself from Ichigo, "ara, Ohayo ojou-sama." He smiled at her warmly, "forgive my idiotic son for being so cold. He's usually that type of person, you know, always trying so hard to look miserable." He whispered mischievously while winking.
The carrot top gave him an upper cut sending him flying; he then glanced at the bemused girl. "let's have some breakfast first, Rukia." Ichigo said evenly before walking out of the room.
Rukia stared at his back for some seconds before following him shortly. 'he called me by my name again…' she thought while closing the door behind her and a light feeling strangely encompassed her senses.
Inside the room, Isshin smirked while removing himself from the hole in the wall. He left some good cracks on it and winced. "my back hurts…" he moaned.
"ohayo Onii-chan, onee-chan." Yuzu greeted them both while drying the dishes, she placed down the last one in the cupboard.
Rukia glanced at the boy then shifted her gaze to the gentle girl, 'onee-chan…? Such a casual title...' A small smile crept her face, maybe such casualness was what she wanted, His family, his family was a pleasant one she could tell. Family? When was the last time she had that…? She instantly shook her thoughts off almost immediately as she drew out her breath.
"morning." Ichigo answered while taking a seat.
"the food's on the table, we ate ahead of you already." She beamed, "I hope you have a nice breakfast." She added and went off cheerfully.
"aren't you going to sit?" he muttered while acquiring a pancake with his fork.
She pulled out a chair and steadily sat on it. "This is too much" she whispered weakly while looking down at the plate and utensils in front of her.
He suspended a fork in mid air, stopping from her sudden words. "what?" he could barely make out what she just said.
She met his gaze with a look of intent. "you're being too nice to me, it isn't right. You don't know me." was this compassion another front? She was tired of all the fake façades and hypocrisy.
Ichigo breathed deeply then placed his fork down, so this is where it was heading. "Rukia," there he goes again calling her by her name, so fluidly slipping out of his mouth. "cant strangers accept kindness?" he questioned wisely.
She paused for a moment to absorb his statement then nodded as if in slight agreement, "I don't often get genuine concern from people." She replied honestly, calmer than her earlier self.
"oh?" he continued on with his breakfast, slicing it. "that explains why you're weird."
"Weird?" an angered vein popped on her head, "what do you exactly imply on that?" she asked while frowning.
"Abarai-kun is it true? Rukia-chan, is she really missing?" Momo Hinamori tugged on his arm stopping him in the middle of the wide corridor.
"ah. We couldn't find her. she'd been gone since last night." He answered wearily, judging from his looks he had no rest. "do you know anything?"
The maid shook her head, "none…" She let go of him, "Rukia-chan, she told me she couldn't be happy." Hinamori's gaze fell to the floor. Remembering their conversation last night. "she was crying before I entered her room, it was because of Shiba-dono."
Renji heaved a deep breath, "Kaien, as expected." A part of him shattered, most likely the part that was beating.
"Abrai-kun," her eyes genuinely held concern "please, you need to find Rukia-chan." Hinamori said pleadingly. "before she does something terrible."
"ah.." he headed out to the place he'd search. The last place he dreaded to search.
The last place he saw his face before the earth ate him.
That day was a rainy one, the sky was lost in tears for a man so noble, a man so loved that even the heavens cried for him, that even the angel beside him offered to cut her wings just to follow him.
Shiba Kaien, primed for his last moments on the surface, elegantly dressed in black, as if he was just sleeping in the white casket with the clear glass as its sole boundary from the living.
The ebony haired girl pounds heavily on the glass, almost breaking it, desperately weeping just to see him open his eyes and awaken once more
No one dared to hold her back.
Her sobs echo like a relentless elegy too dismal to be sung. A funeral song she composed in a fracture of hollow anguish.
They know how her heart is breaking, slowly melting to tears that flows from her amethyst eyes.
Eyes that were once filled with vitality and luster,
Eyes that reflected an old love,
Eyes that now held empty remorse.
The sea of black around her joins her in her grief, they cry with tears that cannot suffice to her pain.
Her brother restrains her while eyes closed in despair. "enough… Rukia…" he envelops her in his stern arms.
"Kaien…" she whimpers reaching out to the white rectangular box that cradles him. "don't take him away…!"
She cries more and everyone looks at her with pity.
She wails as the hearse lowers down the coffin…..
She will never see his face and the earth devours him forever.
Renji shook the memory off, the sensation lingers in the edges of his conscience. "am I still so incomparable to you even in death?"
Now he stares at the epitaph beside his feet, grass growing lusciously above the marble gravestone like they breathe for those who no longer live.
His eyebrows furrowed in anxiety. "Kaien, where is she…?" he asked aimlessly and the cold wind only replied soft unfathomable whispers.
He will no longer speak….
She stands in front of the porch, ebony hair swaying with the hum of the chilly breeze. She stands there looking up as the delicate snow flakes descend like falling grace from heaven. She wished her thoughts could reach him, wherever plane he now existed. She wished she could stop her weary heart from breaking.
Rukia pulls the black card out from her pocket. Her eyes slowly shift to the barcodes at the back. She thinks why Yoroichi Shihouin unhesitatingly gave it to her, of all people and she wonders if the family she had left in that cage was stirred even a bit by her absence.
"Hinamori would probably be worried.." she whispers even to console herself, that girl was the only person she could call much of a friend in that mansion.
"of all the years I stayed in the Kuchiki household, never did he once care for me…" she adds distraughtly as the image of her stone cold brothers flashes in her consciousness.
"He won't notice…" she closes her eyes momentarily and felt the wintry wind take her away in the advent of snow.
A fleeting dream….
Pure as white…..
Beautiful….
Undaunted….
The snow goddess that cries as she watches the world turn to ice…
Her heart never melts….
Always cold…
Always in despair….
"oi…" a hand landed on her shoulder and the sudden interjection of the voice made her senses leap the slightest.
She turns abruptly and glares, "baka. Don't do that!" she suddenly yells.
"sorry, didn't mean to surprise you.." he scratches his head, ruffling his bright orange mesh of hair. "just that you had a stupid look on your face.." he adds insensitively rude.
"You boorish person!" she kicked him in the shin out of pure annoyance. This boy certainly had issues with etiquette.
He winced, "argh…you bitch! Didn't have to kick so hard!" he whined childishly still in the attempt to lighten the pain.
"that was your fault for being rude!" she retorted with a decent argument and folded her arms on her chest.
They stuck their tongues out at each other while making faces. But then stopped midway realizing how immature they acted…
A moment of silence between them
She laughs lightly and he smiles. It's the first time he's seen her happy.
Rukia retained her leveled façade and turned to him, "what did you want?" she asked while returning her gaze to the whitened sky and the silent fall of snow.
"go back inside, you'll catch a cold if you stay here." The boy stated with a slight hint of concern, hiding a small tint of blush in his cheeks for the thought of caring about a girl neither his sisters nor his mother.
"ah, I'll follow" she nods obediently for the first time this day.
"good then…" he said dismissively soft and opens the door to enter the house, but before he fully does her voice stops him.
"Ichigo…" She fumbled hesitantly for words but continued nevertheless, "thank you…" she finally says though as soft as it was, not even turning her back to meet his gaze.
He completely enters and leaves the door open, she'd follow soon enough.
It was the first time she called him by name since their fateful meeting, it somehow delights him for some unknown reason but he shrugs it off all the same.
There's just something different about her.
She still stares blankly at the horizon beyond her, too far for her gaze to reach.
What is this boundary that restraints her?
i wonder...
A dream that captivates a heart long tired of dreaming….
a knock on the door and He orders the unknown person to enter.
A woman with dark hair parted in two by white laces wrapped around them, she wore oriental Chinese clothing "It's me, Soi Fon...Kuchiki-sama" her voice was stern, cold and driven; her face no different. "I'll find ojou-sama at all cost" she sounds as if she'd sworn to god and every word was already put on stone.
He sat on his executive chair, behind the rosewood desk. "do not disappoint me." Kuchiki Byakuya remarked and pushed one button amongst the many line in his desk.
"hai, this is Matsumoto Rangiku speaking…" said a feminine voice, thick but delicately flowing.
Byakuya's visage does not waver, "I need to speak with Hitsugaya." He commands condescendingly.
In the other line, the woman knew what it was all about.
"you're dismissed." Byakuya signaled Soi fon to leave.
She swiftly walks devoid of sound.
The door closes behind her.
Today we live in a world forged by ice….
Beneath the snow that falls eternal…
A dream that breathes in deprivation…
She cries…
Tomorrow we die with no less than our hearts..
Will they beat with nameless fire?
Author's notes: I know it's been too long but oh well…no much to say I guess….
Japanese terms:
ojou-sama- my lady/ princess
Thanks for dropping by…..
Reviews are always welcomed!
Take care
Love,
Amerie