Disclaimer: I have no life except for pole fitness, and doing ab workouts like it's my job. Well…sort of. Enjoy this next chapter, and hello Ichigo and Grimmjow.
As We Know It
Chapter Three
Rukia ran down the alley, and skid through the brick way division of a backyard. She crotched low, and tried to calm her breathing down. She had been running for a few minutes now doing zigzags in the neighborhood. As Rukia collected herself she had a moment to feel what she could of her back. She kept the hiss from escaping between her teeth as she felt her wounds. She couldn't tell how bad her injuries were, but she was clawed, and not by a stray cat. Her tank top was hanging loosely on her shoulders now after the attack. 'It could've killed me, but it didn't. It's fucking toying with me. What do I do?'
Rukia pulled her phone from her back pocket and quickly dialed Byakuya, and waited anxiously for him to pick up. "The person you are trying to reach—." She cussed mentally, and scanned through her phone for anyone else she could call.
"I..can smell..your fear."
The ground beneath Rukia's feet trembled with every step the creature took. Looking at the houses she wondered why no one had called the cops with all the commotion this monster has been creating. Why aren't there people running around as if it's the end of world screaming their heads off?! There's a hideous creature rampaging causing destruction, and yet there were no sirens being heard. 'That's just not possible!' Rukia slowly stuck her head out from around the brick wall to catch another look at it. 'Why haven't I heard of anything like this before? There were never reports of these things in the news, and that's just impossible.'
The monster was huge enough to make the two story houses around appear like boulders to its size. It had a black body of what Rukia assumed were distorted muscles. Its proportions weren't anything she's ever seen before in nature, and as a head it was completely white with freakishly oversized teeth sat in a row. In the center of it's chest was a large hole with a viewing of whatever was behind it. It cranked its head up in distorted manner, and let out another toe curling howl.
Rukia covered her ears, and tried to keep her adrenaline from spiking but…
"Your fear..is..growing." The steps were increasing, and Rukia still couldn't fathom why no one else was bothering to even at least look out their window. "Fear..I thrive off of..fear! Give me..your soul!" The creature stopped walking, but Rukia knew it was too close. This wasn't a good hiding spot at all. Rukia grabbed her remaining courage, and dashed back into the alleyway. "You are..MINE!"
Rukia felt its hot breath on her neck then suddenly there was a loud explosion right behind her. Rukia felt her body shoot across towards the other end of the street, and braced herself for impact. The hard ground never came, but instead a hard chest.
"I'm glad we got here in time, but Grimmjow, I think you might've over done it," she looked up at her savior barely understanding what he was saying with all the ringing in her ear.
"Dr. Urahara!" She gasped, and surveyed the area. There was so much debris and smoke swirling around she couldn't see the monster. "There was something behind me!"
Kisuke adjusted his hat. "There was something," he replied as the hollow's body turned into black ash, and drifted skyward. He watches her curiously as she was still scanning the area.
She could barely make out two figures standing amidst the wreckage. Did people finally hear all the commotion, and come out? "Did you see anything? Why are you here?" She asked as she continues her search.
"Now's not the time, but if you can focus your attention on me," Kisuke brought her attention his way, and there was a small flash and a perfumed tiny puff in Rukia's face. "I love my little gadgets," he complimented himself, and hoisted Rukia into his arms.
"You did not need to use a cero," Ichigo berated Grimmjow as they walked up to Kisuke.
Grimmjow scoffs and peers down at the little woman in the shopkeeper's arms. "You must not have been using your eyes. That damn hollow practically had her," he reached a hand to brush Rukia's cheek, but Kisuke stopped him.
"Sorry, but you two can't touch her quite yet. At least not like this."
Grimmjow growled and dropped his arm to his side. "Where's Byakuya anyways?"
"Here," said man shunpoed into their sight.
Ichigo eyed Rukia's brother. "And where were you at the beginning of this?"
"I'm here now so what does it matter?"
Ichigo sometimes hated this aristocratic man. Always answering his questions with questions of his own. "Yeah you are here, when everything is said and done. If we didn't show up when we did Rukia would've been eaten."
"Pfft, he was probably asleep," Grimmjow, guessed not knowing how right on the nose he was.
"I think it's safe to say that everything is all right," Kisuke interrupted before an actually fight broke out. "Let's get Rukia home shall we? Ichigo, you should get going home too, and Grimmjow, I have a gigai waiting for you at the shop."
"Wait," Ichigo stopped them, and pointed at Rukia. "What's going to be her memory replacement?"
"She was drunk, and had radical dreams," Byakuya stated simply, and held his arms out for Kisuke to place his sister in. After that he disappeared from their sights.
"Ah," Kisuke brought his fan out, and covered his face. "I think he might be embarrassed."
Ichigo lay in his bed staring up at his ceiling. He's been doing it since he arrived home. He lifted an arm up, and wiggled his fingers. The first thing he did once he rejected Kon out from his body was rush to the full-length mirror on his door, and noticed a few changes. His hair was longer, he wasn't flabby, and retained a majority of his muscles. Everything was as he left it, but it felt surreal being back in his own body. He felt sore for one thing.
Kon wanted to give him a play-by-play of his life as Ichigo Kurosaki for the past five years, but he didn't want to hear any of it. So he grabbed a balled up sock, stuffed it in the lion's plush mouth, and duct taped it. He made sure to get his arms too. Really, it couldn't have been that thrilling since he was restricted within a certain area to keep the risk of running into Rukia.
He turned his head to watch the sunrays lift up. 'Waiting.' He sent out a group text despite how late or early in the morning it was. Tatsuki was the first to respond, and suggested that they all get coffee in the morning. She put emphasis on the 'all' part. He had to make sure not to touch Orihime. At this point they can touch Rukia as much as they want, but he rather break through Rukia's memories first. Besides, that was Uryuu's job unless him and Grimmjow get to a certain point before the Quincy does.
He watched as the sun rose higher into the sky. It was quiet except for the rapid hammering of a neighbor somewhere. It was getting louder though. "Wait. That's not hamm—."
"I-CHI-GO!" His dad crashed through his door, feet first, flying at his son.
"You crazy old goat!" Ichigo jumped up out of reaction. He hadn't needed to deal with this for five years. Anyone would have a heart attack! He punched his father down, and grumbled about annoying family.
"Is that any way to greet your old man?!" Isshin shot up from the floor, and dusted himself off.
"After a few years of peace and quiet? Yes," Ichigo opens his drawer and rummaged through his clothes to find something to wear.
"So how was Soul Society?"
Ichigo shrugs. "It was fine. Would've been better if…"
"If Rukia was there," Isshin finishes the sentence for him. "Did you visit your cousins?"
"Whenever I could I did," Ichigo replies, not really wanting to talk about his cousins. They got over the fact that he looked just like Kaien when he first stepped into Soul Society, but it didn't stop the comments. Then there is Rukia who had this undeniable hard crush on Kaien, the cousin he will never meet. For some unknown reason Kaien took Rukia under his wing, and even trained her so well she got her shikai. He didn't really get much on Miyako except she was loyal, and a tough fighter. Every time he heard a story on Kaien it was he, Ukitake and Rukia. Always the three of them because of course Rukia followed Kaien around like a "Love-sick-puppy," Ukitake coined the term. "All in good nature", he said. Because, of course, Kaien loved the attention. "Jerk," Ichigo breathes out.
"What was that?" Isshin asked completely oblivious to his son's inner thoughts.
"Nothing," Ichigo closes his dresser drawer, and heads to shower. "I'm meeting up with some friends soon. I'll be back for dinner."
"Oh! Is Rukia coming back with you? Are you two going to make sweet, sweet love?!"
"Get out!" Ichigo shouted and delivered a roundhouse kick to his dad. Isshin slid down the wall in the hallway, and lay out on the floor.
"Well," rasped Isshin. "If you see Byakuya tell him sake is on me this time."
Ichigo paused on his way to the bathroom. "By the way, you wouldn't happen to know why he wasn't patrolling the area last night?"
"Kanpai!" The three men cheered as they downed the liquid in their small cups.
Isshin sighed happily. "The machine finally went off, Ichigo is coming home, and Rukia is going to get her memories back!"
"Dad!"
"Yes my dear Karin?"
"It's ten o'clock in the morning! Why are you guys drinking!"
Ichigo felt the twitching in his eyebrow. "I'm going to go take a shower." He stepped on his dad on his way down the hall.
"Make sure you hug your sisters before you set out," Isshin remained on the floor in pain.
Grimmjow clenched and unclenched his left fist. "It's a bit slow, and tight."
"Oh definitely," Kisuke said behind his fan. He shrunk back a little from the look Grimmjow was giving him. "You'll find that humans are a lot slower in some of their physical activities, such as running, but you're such a dashing human! And look, there's no hole in that stomach of yours!"
The teal haired man resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He took out a pez dispenser, and held it out. "And this thing contains temporary souls for when I need to be an arrancar again?"
"Correct. Don't fret too much, you'll do fine."
"And this device," Grimmjow pulls a cell phone from his back pocket. "Tells me when hollows are nearby?"
"It's not just a hollow detector, these are our newest models," Kisuke snatches the phone out of Grimmjow's hand. "It's a cell phone, a hollow detector, and it has Internet capabilities. It's pretty much your modern day cell phone. All the young people will be jealous."
"I don't care about that," Grimmjow snatches the phone back.
Kisuke fans himself with a twinkle in his eye. "Oh, you might if that means you'll be able to talk to Rukia. Shouldn't you be heading out soon?"
"How do I get there?"
"Well you see this phone also has GPS capabilities too."
Rukia sat up in bed from the weirdest dream she had. Taking in her surroundings she sighs in relief that she was indeed home, and hadn't ran around neighborhoods in fear from some scary looking monster. She fell on her back, but sat right back up again. That dream felt too real though. She lifts her shirt up, and slowly reaches back to feel for the claw marks. Nothing. She lets out another breath, and rolls on her side. That dream felt too real. Rukia glances over at her nightstand, and notices that a light indicator on her phone kept flashing. She grabs it, and scans through the notifications. 'Tatsuki wants to meet at the coffee shop.'
Rukia sent a confirmation message back, and got ready quickly. Rushing down the stairs, and through the kitchen she almost collides into Byakuya. "Hi, morning," Rukia says breathlessly.
Byakuya eyed her for a moment, and decided not to grill her on her whereabouts last night. "Morning. I see that you had a wonderful time last night. Coming in loud, and drunk."
"Um, I remember clearly that I wasn't drunk, but yes I did have fun," Rukia tiptoed on eggshells. "You should let me hang out with my friends more often."
"I don't see why not. Where are you headed off to this early?"
"Going to meet Tatsuki at the coffee shop."
Byakuya couldn't help but eye her shirt that was open on both sides giving a clear view of what color her bra is. "Wearing that?"
"You sometimes act like a father. Loosen up," she patted his shoulder then went to the front door, and slipped into a pair of sandals. "I'll be back."
Stepping out the front door Rukia could tell today was going to be a scorcher. She couldn't complain, but the summertime would be bearable if there was a pool in their backyard. This was when staying in her ice box room was the best thing ever. The walk to the coffee shop only took ten minutes, but it was ten minutes too long in the morning heat. Stepping into the shop Rukia notices that most of the gang was already here, and caused the main line to be long. Rukia waved to Tatsuki, and stood in line with her. "Morning."
"Good morning indeed!" Tatsuki said a bit too jovial to Rukia's liking, and briefly wondered if her friend was smacked in the head too hard during the game of Twister.
"Uh, yeah, sure. You're not drunk or anything right?" Rukia asks, and turns her attention to the front. She couldn't really see the menu because of two tall guys in front of her. She clicks her tongue then balks at their hair color. Never in her life has she seen anything so vibrant that didn't belong on a t-shirt. Bright orange and cyan, and oh they were such pretty colors. She shakes her head, and turns her back to them to question her friend more.
"No, I'm far from drunk. I'm not some amateur like Keigo," Tatsuki reassures Rukia. "It's just that it's going to be a great morning. Just wait, and see."
Rukia watches as the guys in front of her get their beverages, and move away. As she places her order she couldn't help being nosy, and stole glances at the two men as they made their way over to Uryuu. Uryuu? "Hey, Tatsuki, do you know those guys?"
"Yes! And it's about time you know them too."
"Hm, they are pretty cute though," Orihime suddenly appears between the too sucking loudly on her drink. "Mermaid-man has very sharp looking teeth, and carrot-top has a permanent kind of scowl. Like a pirate! It's a merman and a pirate!"
Rukia lightly giggles at Orihime's observations. "I don't think they're close to any of those things, but they have an attractive quality about them."
"Good, let's say 'Hi'," Tatsuki grabs Rukia's arm, but Rukia quickly stood her ground.
"What?! No way Tatsuki!" Rukia could say these bold things from afar. She likes to observe from afar! Being put in the hot spot just wasn't her style, and she tried to resist without bringing too much attention their way.
"Hi guys, hi everyone!" Tatsuki beams, and maneuvers Rukia into a seat between the two new guys. "You sit here, and I'll grab our drinks."
Crickets. Rukia also hated awkward situations.
She sighs, and sends air up to move her bang a bit. "Well, this isn't awkward at all," she says and crosses her arms across her chest.
Ichigo was only silent because seeing Rukia in motion distracted him, and the fact that her attire was completely different from what he remembers her being comfortable in. He shook his head to clear his thoughts, and chuckles. "Yeah well, excuse my friend, she isn't exactly tactful."
"Ain't discreet either," the teal hair man chimes in next to her.
"I'm Rukia Kuchiki by the way," Rukia holds her hand out to Ichigo first. Once he grabs her hand Rukia had a sense of déjà vu.
"Ichigo Kurosaki."
Rukia felt her heart skip a beat. She swallowed, and steadied her breathe before introducing herself to…
"Grimmjow Jeagerjaques."
When their hands touched Rukia felt as if a jolt ran through her body. There was an image that flashed behind her eyes of white sand dunes, barren like trees, and a black sky with only a moon in wispy clouds in sight.
She jerks back, and stands up.
"Rukia, are you okay?" Uryuu asks. He was apprehensive about this whole meeting. No one knew how her memories would return. Will it all come back suddenly? Will it be in bits and pieces? In order or out of order? Will her memories come back at all? Urahara doubted the latter, but those who knew couldn't help question these things.
"I'm fine. I just really need to get my drink," Rukia lies and walks away from the table. Her head was pounding, and the pain seemingly kept increasing with each step.
"Rukia are you okay?" Orihime asks as Rukia made it to the counter. Orihime was watching from the waiting area for her drink when she felt something stir within herself.
Rukia slowly shook her head. Bad move. "Oh my head," she braces her arms on the table in front of her.
"Is it the weather?" Orihime asks now seriously concerned for her friends health. "Tatsuki, do you have Rukia's drink yet? Can I get some water over here?"
Rukia shuts her eyes tightly to stop the room from wavering. She opens them to find herself compromised, and immersed in her dream world. She was floating extremely high up, and an invisible force was holding her limbs. Directly in front of her was an enormous bird of fire. She watched as it rears its blazing head back, and launches at her. Rukia's eyes snap open as she screams, and falls backwards. Tatsuki rushes around the corner, and catches her by hooking under her armpits. How she didn't spill both their drinks was an amazing circus trick.
"Hey, are you alright?!" She asks while looking down at her.
Rukia blushes slightly at her public and clumsy outburst. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just looking like a completely crazy person but…" She couldn't shake the déjà vu feeling. Something was amiss, something was really wrong here.
The guys at the table were eyeing her from afar with wary expressions. Uryuu felt like he was literally sweating enough to fill up buckets. "Well don't look so damn obvious!" He hisses at them all.
"I can look at her as hard, and long as I want to. Haven't seen her in five years," Grimmjow retorts sounding like the jackass everyone knew him for.
Ichigo frowns at his counterpart, well other counterpart. "You look desperate, stop drooling."
"What?" Grimmjow scoffs. "Like you're not curious how all this is going to go down?"
Uryuu sucks in his breath as the girls began making their way back to the table. "Okay, can we shut up about this right now?" He whispers. It was the wrong day to wear white. If this situation gets anymore tense he could enter himself into a wet t-shirt contest if they held them for males.
Rukia took her place back in between the new males, and acted like nothing happened. So did they. Everyone waited with baited breaths as they watch Rukia settle down in her sit, and sip her drink. "Well, what's everyone doing today?"
The group around her flinches in their own unique way. "Why are you guys so jumpy? Is it because of me?" Rukia asks pointing a finger at herself.
Uryuu clears his throat. "We were just wondering if you're truly okay?"
"You guys, I didn't hit my head or anything. Tatsuki caught me," Rukia shrugs nonchalantly, and takes another sip.
Grimmjow growls much to Rukia's amusement because humans just don't do that. She watches as he pulls out a smart phone. "This damn thing won't stop shaking."
He unlocks the screen, and Rukia leans closer to take a look. "Oh hey, we have the same phone, but what kind of app are you in? Is that a game?"
On Grimmjow's screen it was black with a neon blue grid. There was an indicator that Rukia wasn't sure to say it was the GPS location of where they were at, or another destination. Surrounding that indicator was a radius filled in with a light blue color, and there was a dot beeping on the outside of it. Ichigo could see what was going on, and cursed to himself. He looks over to Uryuu who nods in understanding. Hollow. It was Chad who excuses himself though beating Uryuu to it. Uryuu really wanted to go though.
Grimmjow laid his phone down on the table finally getting the gist of what the heck was going on with his gadget. He sensed the hollow, but it was nothing but a little weakling. Absolutely nothing to be bothered with, and he highly doubted that it could sense Rukia's reiatsu. If anything it was all of theirs' concentrated in one area, and if that weakling hollow knew what was good for it then it would flutter away to look for something better to do. After a few minutes the outside dot on the radar disappeared, and Chad came back all cool and collected. Rukia tilts her head to the side.
"It's a really slow paced game if you ask me," she says as she notices no other dots were popping up on the radar.
"Well what do you do on your phone?" Grimmjow asks.
Rukia pulls her phone out. "I can play games, text people, and call people."
"Call?"
"Oh come on you know when you call someone," Rukia starts and stares at Grimmjow who had a blank expression on his face. He wasn't getting it. "You dial the person you want to call, and you talk to them over the phone."
'Has this guy been living under a rock?'
Grimmjow looks away. "I get it."
Rukia wasn't convinced.
"Eh, why don't you demonstrate," Tatsuki suggests.
Rukia grabs her phone. "I'll call Tatsuki, and you can see how this strange technology works."
"No, call Grimmjow," Tatsuki says quickly. "He probably learns best by being hands on," she says covering her tracks.
"Don't you know it?" Grimmjow's grin was back.
Tatsuki looks at him not in the mood. "Actually I don't, but I know who does, and she's sitting right—."
"Rukia, call Grimmjow!" Uryuu screams out suddenly.
This was the most animated Rukia has ever seen of this quiet man. She looks at him perplexed for a second before reaching over to input her number in Grimmjow's phone. She showed how it worked because she felt deep within her that he didn't actually know what the fuck to do with a phone.
"Just that simple," she says and smiles at him. Grimmjow wasn't a shy person, not at all, but he couldn't help himself when she talked to him. He became docile and tamed, and he felt at peace with himself. Which is a high rarity. He grabbed his phone back from her, and mumbled thanks in return.
The rest of breakfast went by smoothly. Except for at one point Rukia began to feel hot again with a dash of nausea that she battled away with water, and a bite to eat. Whatever was going on with her body she figured that it was because of an inadequate amount of sleep. Rukia yawned discreetly behind her hand. Yes, she needed more sleep obviously.
"You about to go?" Ichigo asked quietly.
Rukia blushed lightly. "I thought I covered myself well, but yes, I do need to take a nap." She said her goodbyes and promises to talk later that day when a news bulletin brought everyone's attention to a TV mounted in the corner.
"There have been no leads as to what has caused destruction in this neighborhood." A news anchorwoman talked as the camera panned away from her to the cemented barriers that were demolished in front of the peoples' homes, and large craters in the street.
"That's so bizarre," Orihime spoke up then shrugged her shoulders. "Oh well, must be the invisible monsters."
Rukia gave her dear friend a look, and shook her head with a smile. Not paying attention to the eerie silence of the group.
"What invisible monsters?" Uryuu asked wiping sweat from his brow.
"You know, ghosts!" she explained casually. "When they get angry they cause destructions for no reason. My brother used to tell me stories like that."
Rukia nodded her head in agreement. So her brother was responsible for all the crazy talk, which explained a lot. "And with that I'm going home guys."
"Would you like me to walk you home?" Ichigo asks, standing up as well.
"That's kind of you, but I think I can man—."
"Grimmjow will walk with you guys as well!" Tatsuki piped in, and pulled the disgruntled looking man up from his seat.
Rukia took in a deep breath to calm her nerves. Everyone was acting completely out of character this morning, and she didn't know these guys but apparently everyone else did. "Fine. But I suggest everyone goes home, and get some rest. You're all acting weird as hell."
The walk was surprisingly pleasant, minus the heat of course. Rukia was surprised that they all had a lot of things in common. Not that she knew that Ichigo and Grimmjow were pulling from her likes and dislikes prior to the memory wipe. Before she knew it she had acquired Ichigo's number as well before the two males left her side after walking her home. It couldn't be helped that she had a shit-eating grin on her face as she walked the halls of their modest house. Despite the weird, and obscure visions, the morning turned out really well, and now… "Bed," she sighed as she threw herself into the nice, cool, puffy comforter.
A whole set of weeks laid out in front of them. It was summer vacation, and who knows what shenanigans her and her friends will get themselves in. She smiled as she drifted back to sleep.
A/N: They are here!... And now we build on top of that, and reveal secrets and lies, and monsters OH MY! I like how innocent this all is. What happens next? Some light fun, some light flirting, and maybe some power surging.