Well here is chapter 3!! Sorry for the delay! I was busy with school and work! So here it is! Enjoy and don't forget to REVIEW! And once again don't get confused about the time frame!!
Chapter 3: Close calls
It was late and still raining as two college students ran to the tent of a nearby apartment building. Underneath one big umbrella, the two girls each had a duffle bag with them in tow.
"Are you sure he is going to be ok with this?" a husky female voice asked.
"Yes of course! Why wouldn't he be? And besides this is the closest place." a sweeter female voice replied.
"Well, we still shoulda called……"
Orihime and Tatsuki had just returned home from one of Tatsuki's matches in Tokyo. It was late and they were both tired as they trotted through campus to get to the University apartments. They were originally on the other side of campus, heading for their dorm rooms when they spotted a University bulletin that said their dorm building had a gas leak and would be closed until the problem was fixed.
"He shouldn't be mad. He is my boyfriend after all and we need somewhere to sleep." Inoue replied happily as she opened the door to her boyfriend's apartment building.
They stepped inside and Inoue shook the umbrella off. Tatsuki pushed the up button for the elevator and they waited for it to come down.
"How are we gonna get? You didn't get a hold of him did you?" Tatsuki replied, very pissed off. She wanted to get some sleep and fast.
"I left him a message. Ichigo hardly ever picks up his cell phone, that's why he gave me an extra key to his apartment if I needed to wait on him….."
Ichigo still was on top of Rukia, but the moment was not what one would expect it to be being in this position. The mood had gone from a wonderful bliss to hell in a matter of seconds.
Ichigo's hurt expression changed to an angry one as he rolled off of Rukia. She turned from him and slowly got out of bed. She began looking for her clothes to put back on with the moon as her light.
"What the hell is wrong with you now Rukia." He said, not thinking before he spoke.
"What the hell do you mean what's wrong with me?"
"You know what I mean. Your seriously going to go back to Renji after you just fucked me?" he asked accusingly.
She was shocked at his harsh words. She turned to face him, only wearing her shirt. His eyes were cold and his whole body looked tense, but she didn't let that get to her. She couldn't.
"It was a mistake. I hope you can forgive me. I don't want to ruin what you have with Inoue, and what I have with Renji." She said very plainly.
Ichigo's face looked more upset now, while Rukia's looked like she had just made the biggest mistake in her life. He gritted his teeth and turned his face away in disgust.
"You don't have SHIT with Renji and you fucking know it."
"You don't know anything. Go FUCK yourself Ichigo"
"Naw I'm good, I just fucked you. I think I can hold out till the next time Renji can't get it up…" He said violently putting on a pair of boxers.
"………"
"What's the dumb look for? If you are leaving me to go back to Renji after that, you can't say that you care about me. That was just sex. It meant nothing." he said plainly.
At that moment Rukia lost all her strength and will. What just happened? Ichigo never got seriously mad at her, never. She felt her eyes water up, she tried, but she couldn't stop them.
"You know damn well that's not true!" She yelled.
He stared back at her coldly while he put on his pants. Her watery eyes were not fazing him at all. He was angry with Rukia, truly angry. After everything they had been through, she could still leave him.
"That's not true at all," she whispered.
Ichigo had to blink to make sure the moon light was not playing tricks on his eyes. Tears were falling down Kuchiki Rukia's eyes.
"Damn it" he thought to himself, "I didn't mean to…"
He slowly walked over to Rukia. He stood in front of her and reached out to touch her but she flinched. How could he be so stupid? He wanted nothing more than to take back what he said and hold her again. He had to fix this.
"Rukia, I-"
"Don't….please."
Ichigo couldn't believe how hurt she looked. Never had he seen this face on her before. But at least she knew how he felt. That was apparent on her face as well. For a moment he considered leaving her alone, but if he did that she would more than likely leave. Hell, if he said something she might react the same way. But neither mattered anymore; he wasn't giving up on her either way, not again.
Rukia looked at Ichigo through the corner of her eyes. He was going to say something soon. She felt awful, even after the way she treated him, he was willing to do anything for her and she knew it.
"I should tell him…" she thought.
Ichigo saw that Rukia was deep in thought, so he decided to use it to his advantage and catch her off guard. He reached over to her slowly once again, half expecting to be pushed away until-
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
A hollow had shown up. Perfect. And it was a strong one. Ichigo looked at Rukia to finish was he was saying before she had cut him off, but she had already moved.
"We should go get that…"she said as she started out the window still in her gigai.
"You're not changing into a shinigami?" he asked confused.
"No. I don't want to have to come back here." She said as she jumped to a nearby roof top.
"Oh..." was the only reply Ichigo could make.
Ichigo started for his badge, but he stopped as he heard a noise coming from inside his apartment.
"What was that, is someone here?" he thought to himself heading towards his bedroom door.
"Are you coming!?" Rukia yelled up to Ichigo, still sounding a bit sad.
"Yeah!" Ichigo forgot about the noise as he grabbed his shinigami badge and left his body behind as he followed Rukia.
"Ichigo!?" Inoue said as she finally found the light switch after tripping over several items on the apartment floor.
"He's not here," Tatsuki started, "I told you that was a hollow I felt while we were opening the door."
Inoue nodded.
"Yeah, he probably went after it. But still…" Inoue said walking towards his bedroom.
"What's wrong Orihime?" Tatsuki asked confused.
"I thought I heard him yelling"
Tatsuki's eyes widened a little, as Inoue opened the door to Ichigo's room.
"No way Ichigo would do that to her, I'll kill him!" Tatsuki thought.
Inoue opened the door to Ichigo's room and Tatsuki sighed at the sight of Ichigo's empty body lying on the floor.
"See, he's not here." She said as she ran to flop down on the couch.
Inoue nodded, but she was still concerned. Ichigo's bed was a mess, no hollow could stir him up that easily that he get out of bed in that big of a rush and he's not a crazy sleeper.
She slowly walked to the bed and examined the rest of the room. The window was open from when he left. It was blowing cold air and rain into the room. His shirt was on the floor and he was wearing a pair of pants. Everything was fine, it was just the bed. She bent down and touched the bed on both sides.
"Both sides of the bed are warm." She thought. She remembered coming in while Ichigo was still sleeping several times and one side of the bed was always cold and untouched.
"Ichigo?" she said quietly.
Rukia and Ichigo ended up around the neighborhood of Ichigo's old high shcool. They quickly reached the hollow that set off the alarm. It was huge, with a spirit pressure to match. It looked like a bear with giant claws and teeth. Its fur was as black as night and his eyes were red with a hollow mask. It was also fast.
"RUKIA!" Ichigo yelled.
They had both just arrived and the hollow already noticed their presence. It reached Rukia first and smashed her against a wall. She hadn't even turned into a shinigami yet.
Within seconds Ichigo had cut off the hand that was around Rukia. The hollow backed away in pain for a moment.
"Rukia, are you alright?" Ichigo asked concerned.
"Of course I am, that was nothing," she said, brushing herself off and swallowing a pill. She instantly came out of her body.
"Mae… Sode no Shirayuki…" she said gracefully.
Rukia wasn't wasting anytime. She was going to get the hollow back for embarrassing her.
Ichigo stood in awe. It had been awhile since he had seen Rukia release her zanpakutou, it still amazed him. It was beautiful, just like its owner.
The hollow stopped his agony and regenerated its missing arm. It stood on its hind legs, towering over Ichigo and Rukia even more. It growled fiercely and stormed towards the unfocused substitute shinigami.
Ichigo came back from his daze a second too slow. The hollow was fast; Ichigo had barely dogged the fatal blow he was about to receive.
He grabbed his wound and leaped into the air with his zanpakutou and slashed at the hollow, leaving a gash in its chest. There was blood every where, form the hollow and Ichigo.
Though Ichigo was bleeding pretty badly, it was nothing compared to the blows he had received in the past, and Rukia knew it.
"FOOL! You still don't stay focused!" she yelled as she charged toward the hollow.
"Whatever…" He said as he followed her.
"First dance, white moon"
Rukia froze the ground in which the hollow stood. It yelled in pain, but was still able to free itself, at the cost of its two hind legs.
Ichigo and Rukia stood in awe as the animal was still able to move at top speed charging at them. Using their flash steps they dodged one attack after another from the beast. It was swing its long claws at them from every direction.
"WHAT THE HELL?" Ichigo yelled in between steps, "THIS THING IS GETTING FASTER!!"
Rukia nodded. What was going on? Missing two legs, one would think it would have a negative effect on its spirit energy, but this thing was fighting better.
"Next dance-"
Rukia was cut off by the hollows long bear claws cutting into her shoulder.
"What the hell?" she thought, "It moved 3 times as fast as it was moving before!"
"You two think you can beat me?!" the hollow laughed with its claws still in Rukia," You both wreak of each others scent, probably why you're not focused at all!!! I shall enjoy this!"
They hollow pulled its claws out of Rukia and blood poured from her shoulder and arms. She stumbled a bit, and held her shoulder.
"Damn it, I'm not focused." She said quietly.
Unlike Rukia, Ichigo took offense to the hollow calling out their personal business the way he did.
"Our scent will be the last thing you smell. No more games… GETSUGA TENSHO!"
The hollow tried to evade the energy blast but it was unsuccessful. The hollow yelled once more before it disappeared in the blast.
Ichigo slug the blood off his blade from his previous blow to the hollow and looked toward the area the hollow once stood.
"That was the first time I've had to use that power in a while. Every time I encounter one of them they get stronger. The next one I may have to use my Bankai…." Ichigo thought.
"Hahaha! Yeah right! A hollow strong enough for me to use ban-" he said out loud.
He was again stopped mid sentence by a rock hitting his head. Rukia was looking at him rather annoyed.
"Damn it Rukia! That is not the only way to get my attention!" he said rubbing his head, "Anyways, come here so I can help bandage you up."
Rukia smirked, and surprisingly didn't protest to the help.
After they finished with her wound, she bandaged his chest. It was deep, but not as bad the scar next to it had been, the one given to him by her brother. It was barely noticeable, but to someone who knew it was there, it was easy to spot. She let her hand brush over the scar quickly as she stood up. She sighed briefly and picked up her gigai as she turned to leave.
"Rukia, where are you going…" he asked.
"I told you already. I'm going back. I didn't know your hearing suffered damage after your battles…" Rukia said, trying to make him smile, and it worked.
"Come on Rukia, I know you've got to be tired, you can rest at my place." he said with a smirk.
That earned him another hit in the head with a rock.
"Where the hell do you get all these rocks from?!" he yelled.
"I carry a few in my pocket; they're new part of the Chappy Rabbit line, "Chappy Rock". It comes with a purchase of Chappy Rabbit soul candy," She said proudly showing him more rocks, "I never thought they would come in handy!"
Ichigo picked up the rock and behold it had a chappy rabbit logo on it. Dumbfounded, Ichigo decided to move on with the conversation, ignoring the "chappy rock".
"Anyways, come on Rukia, you're hurt and I have a spare room if you feel uncomfortable. Ishiada is out of town for the week so his bed is open to you if you want it." He said.
Rukia considered her options. She was tired, and she did want to talk to Ichigo some more. She didn't want to leave things the way they were. He deserved to know what was going on.
"I should tell him in the morning." She thought to herself.
She was taken away from her thoughts by her own "chappy rock" hitting her in the head.
"Hey, you're right these things work great! So are you coming?" Ichigo said smiling.
She looked at him angrily for a moment and walked up to him as if she was about to hit him. Ichigo braced himself for the blow, but to his surprise she walked past him, and leaped onto a roof.
"Well, come on! We can talk about the hollow with Soul Society in the morning!" she yelled.
Ichigo smiled and jumped onto the roof, and they headed back to his apartment.
They climbed back in his window slowly. The room was still dark, but the moon light was still bright enough for Ichigo to see his body on the floor. He was about to enter his body, but Rukia spoke before he could.
"Ichigo, there is something I want to tell you," she started, setting her gigai on the floor.
Ichigo dropped his body and faced her fully. She looked so serious, it bothered him.
"Yeah, what is it?" he said a little uneasy.
"I was going to wait till morning but, well, Ichigo when we-... wait, why is your bed made?" she asked startled.
"Huh?!" he almost yelled as his focus changed to his bed.
He looked over his bed. It was nicely made. When the hollow alarm went off, he left without fixing it. The bed had still been a mess from, well, stuff.
Ichigo turned and looked at Rukia, still wondering who had made the bed. Then suddenly they both looked blankly at each other for not noticing sooner.
"Ichigo if I'm not mistaken isn't this energy…" she started.
"Shit," Ichigo said feeling stupid, "that spirit energy is-"
His bedroom door opened and the light was turned on.
"Ichigo? And Rukia? What are you doing here?" a red haired female asked.
Well that's it! Sorry if it sounded a little angry at first, but Ichigo had a right to be mad, damn it! I think I will update again at 30 reviews. SO….… review and make me feel better:P besides…reviewing is good for me and YOU!!!
REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!!!!!
Next chapter: Oh yeah, I do have a girlfriend.
