I Promise You
Chapter 4
Disclaimer: Everyday I'm sh-shuffling! So this means I don't o-own Bleach!
Dirtyspots-Chan- I AGREE! GO HITSURUKI! Thank you for reviewing!
Denidene- Thank you and thanks for reviewing!
Shadow Pain- You're welcome and here's the chapter! Thank you for the review!
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Unknown bleach fan- Yes they do! Here it is and thank you for reviewing!
Senna54367- Thank you and I'm glad you love this story!
So, of course, I'm sorry for updating so late! I got really lazy and what not...plus school work. So, I will be working on writing the next chapter soon, well as soon as I finish writing the chap for My Bloody Rose Kiss and Angels' Will. Well anyway, thank you all for the reviews again! They're inspirational!
Rukia's head was throbbing. It felt like an architect was hammering his way out of her skull. Her body was enveloped in silky sheets and her head lay on a velvet soft pillow.
My bed is not this soft...
Her eyes slowly opened, blinking a few times to adjust to the dim darkness. The curtains in the room were drawn closed, allowing only little rays of sun light to peek through. She sat up in the bed and her head began immediately pounding in protest. Faintly, she heard the small squeak of a door open.
She sat with her head cradled between her knees, eyes barely opened. Two hands, one holding a water bottle and the other two pills, appeared before her squinted vision.
"Take these, it helps the headache," a male voice stated calmly.
Rukia nervously took the pills without looking at the owner of the hands.
"Thank you," she said softly.
She took the medicine and then looked up to see the shock of her morning.
"T-Toshiro?" Rukia choked out.
Toshiro averted his gaze. "Hello Rukia."
Rukia's eyes narrowed and she pushed off the covers, checking her clothes.
Toshiro saw this and scoffed, "We didn't do anything."
Rukia ignored Toshiro and got out of the bed, brushing past him and out the bedroom door. Her usually light footsteps were loud and hard, as she walked into the hallway.
Toshiro sighed, This is going to be harder than I thought.
He followed her out the door and into his large apartment living room. All the while, he refused to utter a word, and watched her dart around his apartment silently.
Rukia flitted about, looking for her purse, not bothering to look at Toshiro. Why is he here? Why am I here in his apartment?
Frustrated, she turned to him, "Where did you put my purse?"
Toshiro went to his closet, opened it and pulled out the said object. He walked towards her handed her it.
Rukia snatched the purse and almost literally ran to the door. She was confused and that seemed to only make her headache worse.
I haven't apologized yet! I can't let her leave like this! Toshiro scolded himself.
Rukia's hand was on the doorknob when she heard him call out her name.
"Rukia I-" Toshiro began tentatively.
She whipped around. "Why are you here?"
Toshiro swallowed. How should I start this? He looked at her beautiful pools of amethyst that were filled with confusion and hints of anger. Her petite shoulders were tense and her whole body was slightly trembling.
Rukia bravely took a step forward. "What do you want from me?"
"I want to apologize for-" Toshiro started.
"Apologize?" Sarcasm was dripping heavily off Rukia's words. "Oh, an apology after what, five years?"
Toshiro looked away, unable to face the woman he had fallen in love with. He searched for an answer to her blunt question, but unfortunately could not come up with one.
Tears gathered in Rukia's eyes. "I knew it. This is all your bull shit, isn't it? You decide to suddenly come back now?" This time Rukia looked away. "You...you ignored my calls, my letters." Her voice faltered at the last words, and her purse dropped to the floor with a quiet thud.
"I tried to get back to you!" Toshiro blurted. Lie, that's a lie.
A few tear drops escaped Rukia's eyes. "Really Toshiro? You didn't try anything that had to do with me after that day!" She wiped the tears off her face.
"You broke my heart, I loved you!" he retorted. His anger from that time was starting to bubble up, a volcano waiting to burst, but he wouldn't allow it.
"You don't even know why I said no, do you?" Rukia asked bitterly. Her eyes were narrowed and she looked pained every time she glanced at the man before her.
Toshiro's eyes widened and he stuffed his hands in his pockets. "What does that have to do with anything?"
Rukia threw her hands to the side. "Everything! You just walked off thinking about your feelings, your pride! Not giving a single thought to what I was going through!"
"Then tell me! What were you going through?" Toshiro pleaded.
Her face held a scowl. Her body looked tired and defeated. "I thought you were rushing me into something I wasn't ready for."
"I didn't know," Toshiro whispered.
"Of course you didn't!" Rukia snapped. "We weren't even dating and you confessed your love for me right out of the blue!" She wrapped her arms around herself as more tears fell, making small plops on the wooden floor.
Rukia looked utterly broken, and Toshiro felt the guilt, the pain wash over him. Seeing her like this, made him feel like a jerky asshole.
Toshiro crossed the space between them and embraced her. He felt her stiffen, but to his relief, she didn't break away. He didn't resist hugging her tightly, he had waited for this moment for five long years.
He made small comforting circles on her back as he stroked her head. Leaning down to her ear, he murmured, "Rukia, I'm truly sorry."
His breath sent tingles down and up her spine as he whispered in her ear. She was so tempted to bury her face into his chest, for the moment felt so welcoming. It felt good, it was...wrong.
She pushed herself away from him and the loss of contact made her head spin. Toshiro reached out for her again, but she jerked away.
"Rukia-"
"I can't do this, I'm sorry," Rukia apologized, stalling to quickly collect herself.
She locked eyes with Toshiro and registered the hurt and longing in his eyes before dashing out the door.
Toshiro's mind scolded him for letting her slip out of his grip. He clenched his fists and cursed, but what could he do? She was already in a relationship.
Rukia got into a taxi and rode to her apartment. Stupid, stupid, stupid! she yelled in her thoughts. How could she have let it go so far?
"Ma'am, we're here," the taxi driver stated, bringing Rukia back into reality.
She paid the taxi driver, muttering a polite "thank you," and fled to her safe haven. Her cozy apartment.
Locking the door behind her, Rukia flung herself onto her couch and tightly hugged a nearby pillow. Looking at the clock, she saw that it was a quarter past nine.
Rukia's apartment was modestly decorated, with a few expensive vases placed here and there. Her bedroom was down a hallway and the kitchen was right next to the front door. The wallpaper of her apartment was light blue mixed with delicate purple swirls. The flooring consisted of bamboo wood for every part of the house except for the kitchen and bathroom. Two leather couched crowded the living room, surrounding a rectangular gray coffee table.
"Ichigo should be up by now," Rukia thought aloud, with a quiet voice.
She dialed his number and eagerly waited for the moment he would pick up. She needed to hear his voice in order to assure that her feelings for him were still there, were still strong.
The rings went by, and his voice mail picked up.
"Yo, this is Ichigo. I'm not available ri-"
She ended the call, feeling confused and utterly desperate.
ChAngE! Nobikanai nagasarenaiyo. Ima kanjiru koto ni sunao de itai no!
Orihime looked up from her octopus ink coffee and reached out for her phone.
"Hello?" Orihime asked.
"Orihime? Orihime! I need to talk to you!" the voice on the other end whispered fiercely.
"Senna, what's wrong?" Orihime whispered back. Her friend sounded on the verge of tears.
Toshiro had left for his office after moping around his apartment for twenty minutes after Rukia made her hasty exit. He raised his wrist to check the time as he filled out some paperwork.
Sighing, he got up and walked towards the meeting room. The last thing that he wanted to do was sit through an hour of old men arguing about his trade company's next "big step." Instead he wanted to feel Rukia in his arms and smell her hair, her body. Impossible.
Toshiro sat down at the head of the table and watched as his co-workers trickled in, filling up the empty chairs one by one. There was small side chatter, but they were made only when the offenders were sure that their boss wasn't looking.
Gin took a seat to the right of Toshiro, and Hinamori sat to Toshiro's left.
Gin smirked and leaned towards the two. "Did you guys have a good night at the party?"
Both knew what Gin was getting at, so they weren't too eager to reply.
"As a matter of fact, I did," Hinamori coyly answered.
"Oh really now?" Gin stated, his head flitting back and forth between his boss and co-worker.
"Yes, I met a guy at the party," Hinamori continued. She licked her lips, "One of my best nights."
Gin looked slight disgusted and disappointed at the same time, but clamped up once he noticed Toshiro's irritated expression.
"Let's get this meeting over with," Toshiro said while holding the bridge of his nose.
Please R&R! Thanks for reading and constructive critism is always welcomed! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter even though it's pretty short... Hahaha, til next time!