In Her Eyes
Chapter Four: Plans
It had been about a week since Ichigo talked to Rukia, and even during that week when he tried to talk to her, Grimmjaw would come out of nowhere and take her away. He had to admit he missed her, and was longing just to speak to her once more.
"I know you are all excited about the fall festival coming up. And as promised, you can now discuss what you are planning to do! I will just sit here, and let you talk." And as she stated, she sank into her leather chair with a big sigh, and the class stared at her. "Well, go!" The class jumped and then in an instant voices started to fill the room. "As a group, you idiots!" She said. And the class all turned to Kina, who was the smartest in the class.
"Um…" Kina said, and she put a hand to her face. Rukia raised her hand and the class turned to her. Ichigo blushed when he saw her smiling face.
"I have an idea." She said. The class stayed silent. "We can have a café, but there's a twist. Instead of a regular café, it will represent a western American style saloon with a bar in the corner of the room and dusty looking tables here in the middle." She motioned over to the places she spoke about. The class listened in closely. "In the front, will be a small stage, and every fifteen minutes or so, our class will put on one act. Either in groups or solo, but the trick is, is that we have to put on outfits from back then." The class clapped their hands, and started to mutter in agreement.
"That's an excellent idea Kuchiki-san!" Orihime said.
The teacher smirked in pride. "Well Kuchiki, why don't you do the honours of being the leader of this project?" Rukia flinched back at the request then she blushed and nodded. "Alright then, we will need to figure out the jobs first. Kina, why don't you start off?"
"We will need a bunch of people for prop designs, people to bring in the supplies and people to fill in some of the other important roles. And seeing that it is American style, we will need someone to make costumes for us." Everyone turned to Uryuu Ishida, one of the quietest guys in their class, who was looking out the window. He turned to the expectant class and then cleared his throat.
"As you wish. But I will need a team." He muttered, and then turned his attention back out the window.
"Then it's settled, we need a few waiters and waitresses, about ten or so." Kina said, her blue eyes darting back and forth at the class, slowly a few hands went up in the air, and so did Ichigo's. The class looked at him in surprise; never had Ichigo volunteered to participate during the actual event. "Alright, we have ten." Kina wrote down the names in her notebook. "We will need three bartenders, two hosts, a few people who can cook, and the rest are the props and etc." A wave of hands appeared in the air. Orihime clapped her hands and grinned.
"This is going to be great!" She exclaimed.
Yume walked down the halls of the busy school. There was an air of excitement around the preparations for the school festival, there were banners hanging everywhere and posters to go along with it. She was on her way to Ichigo's class to send them the entry form for the festival. She walked through the open door and saw all the happy hard working faces with occasional laughing here and there because of Keigo's terrible jokes.
And there he was, his orange hair outshining the entire class, his face was in his usual scowl but Yume noticed that there was a glint of happiness and excitement in his eyes, as everyone's. Her eyebrow rose at the direction she was looking at and saw that he was talking to Rukia again, her stare turned to a glare, as the small girl was laughing along with her Ichigo. Damn it, she wasn't going to lose him.
Walking over to Ichigo she pushed Rukia aside and kissed him full on the lips. Rukia, oblivious to what was going on, slapped Yume in the back and she bent back yelling in pain.
"Why the hell did you do that?!" Yume yelled.
"You pushed me, so I slap you. Makes sense doesn't it?" Rukia crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"Oh, that, I thought you were mad because I was French kissing Ichigo right in front of you." Yume laughed.
"No, I wouldn't be mad at that. At least I know that you're the one making the moves, not him." Rukia's mouth formed a thin smirk.
"Well, at least I'm not blind." Yume said. The class went into utter silence; the tension was so high in the air that you could hear crickets chirping and the faint sound of heart beating. Rukia's face was masked in seriousness betraying the friction of anger and frustration rising about her. The class slowly backed away.
"Did you just criticize me about my weakness?" Rukia said.
"I guess I did." Yume said. Rukia shook her head.
"Do me a favour and say what you said again." Rukia took a small step forward.
"At least I'm not bl-" Rukia punched Yume in the stomach and she doubled over, the small girl kicked her side and then pushed her into a group of desks.
"Do you think, that any normal blind person could do that? Well maybe some, but you never expected it out of me did you?" She cracked her knuckles, and the class stared at the fuming girl who was smirking.
Yume glared at Rukia and then came at her; ready to tear her eyes out, when a hard figure blocked her path. She looked up and saw Ichigo's face in a way she had never seen before. Disappointed, really, really, disappointed. Yume straightened herself up and cleared her throat, then she handed him the sign up form for the festival then made her way out of the room. Ichigo handed the paper to Kina who started to fill it up.
He looked at Rukia, who was fixing her hair and went back to her work. He sighed and laughed, she was definitely different. He walked over and poked her on the shoulder. Rukia turned around and looked at him.
"Yes?" She said.
"Sorry about Yume." Rukia laughed.
"Don't worry about it Ichigo. It was fun getting my anger out." She smiled. Ichigo's eyes softened.
"So, what do we have to do first?"
"We need some supplies to make the stage and everything." She said, and then put her hand to her chin to think. "My dad has some left over wood and tools at his workshop, so he barely uses them anymore. You can help me pick them up after school."
"Sure, but what are you going to do about Grimmjaw?" He asked.
"I'll tell him it's for school, I'm sure he'll understand." Rukia said, Ichigo laughed, Grimmjaw? Understand? "What about Yume?"
"I don't know, she might start bugging us… I'll just tell her that I have some work to do."
"You're not going to tell her exactly what you're doing?" Rukia said and Ichigo shook his head.
"She'll end up trying to make you jealous by a make-out scene that you're not even able to see." Rukia laughed.
"Well okay, right now we have to make plans. You're good at art, draw out the plans for me?"
"How did you know I was good at art?"
"Your hands." She said, and handed him a piece of paper and a pencil. Ichigo received the paper and pencil out of her small hands. "There will be a stage there, a few meters tall and covering the whole front wall." She made hand gestures and Ichigo scribbled them down on the paper. "And then, round tables, that look old and dusty with peeled-ish paint…" She looked over to the source of the scribbling and looked over. "Are you drawing this?"
"Mm." He muttered.
"Okay. So over there, would be the bar with bottles in the shelf behind it, what a typical bar would look like but really old." She laughed, and then continued. "Then we could put a table of comments for our café." Ichigo nodded and scribbled down the rest.
"Finished, will this be okay?" Ichigo held it up, then quickly pulled the paper down.
"I know what you're thinking… go ask Kina to take a look at it." Rukia turned away, and looked through her bag for something. Ichigo looked at Rukia worriedly then made his way to Kina.
Yume stormed into the noisy classroom and slammed herself onto her seat. Grimmjaw's eyebrow rose as Yume's friends backed away from her. Grimmjaw made an annoyed sigh and decided to address the situation.
"What's your problem?" He asked.
"What I saw in Ichigo's class." She muttered.
"Why? What happened?" Grimmjaw asked. Yume looked up with a raised eyebrow, and then remembered that Rukia was part of the problem too.
"I saw Rukia and Ichigo talking. Pissed me off as hell. So I pushed Rukia away and-"
"French kissed him. You pushed Rukia?" Grimmjow chuckled. "Oh boy."
"And obviously Rukia couldn't see… what? What do you mean by that?"
"Wouldn't you like to know." He said. "And so then what'd she do?"
"She freaking beat me up." Grimmjaw laughed again, even louder. "What the hell is so funny?"
"I'm sorry…" He tried to contain his laughter. "But I find that really, really funny." He continued to laugh. Yume rolled her eyes.
"I bet you won't find the fact that they were acting real close funny, now do you?" Yume looked up and Grimmjaw's face turned back to his usual scowl.
"So what? They need to work together for the coming festival anyway." Grimmjaw stuffed his hands in his pockets. "And Rukia's been ignoring him for the longest time."
"But don't you ever get worried that the person you're with might cheat on you? I mean, with all these girls chasing after Ichigo… it's hard to-"
"Hey, that's your problem, not mine. Rukia and I trust each other. So you can go deal with your own problem. Just don't get Rukia hurt in the process."
"Oh yeah right, that coming from a guy who had five girlfriends at the same time? Then m-" Grimmjaw covered Yume's mouth and Yume started to scream in his hand.
"Shut up, or else you might end up like that other girl." Yume stopped screaming, and then licked Grimmjaw's hand. He pulled back and quickly wiped away the spit.
"Don't pretend, you know you liked that." Yume laughed.
"Hey, can it bitch." He said and then he left to go to his own group of friends.
Rukia wouldn't cheat on him, at least, that's what Grimmjaw thought. Lately he couldn't stop thinking about her. He ran a hand through his hair, it was his first time feeling attached to someone in this way. What made her so different? He sighed and shook his head, better not think about it…. But still, he considered what Yume said to him. I should keep a look out…
School ended quickly for the class, they sadly put down their equipment for the festival and groaned; they were having so much fun. The teacher clapped her hands at the diligent class and put her hands on her waist.
"Great job, you've got the plans down and some of the woodwork done! Which is not that close to done… but just to tell you, the festival is coming in two days."
"WHAT?!" The class said in unison.
"You heard me. Also, we're doing the dancing part differently this year. Instead of normal gowns, you have to dress up for Halloween, like the American custom." She said. The class nodded in approval at the adjustment. "Alright! Go home! I want to go home too, so go home!"
"Is it okay if some of us stay and work on things?" Rukia said, her smile warming the room.
"Sure, since you asked very politely Miss Kuchiki. But this place better be clean for tomorrow." And with that the class picked up their bags and left the room with the teacher.
The people left were Ichigo, Rukia, Uryuu, Orihime and Kina. Ichigo packed up his bag when Rukia told him to drop it and help her pick up the materials. Ichigo nodded and led Rukia by the arm out of the door. Her cane tapped the ground as they walked down the empty halls, footsteps sounded from behind them and Ichigo turned and saw Grimmjaw running towards them.
"What are you looking at?" Grimmjaw straightened up and then brushed past Ichigo. His scowl changed into a faint smile, as he took Rukia into his arms and gave her a small kiss on the lips. Rukia laughed as she pulled away.
"There's someone here." She said, shoving him away. Ichigo tried to gulp the anger and embarrassment down, the scene created knots in his stomach.
"Right." Grimmjow cast a disgusted glance and then turned back to Rukia. "Want to go somewhere? I have time."
"Sorry, can't, Ichigo and I have to pick up the supplies for the festival." She said. Grimmjaw frowned.
"Then can I help?"
"We already have me, and so, we are leaving." Ichigo grabbed Rukia's hand and then Rukia used her cane to hit the arm that was clutching onto her. Ichigo pulled away in pain and glared at Rukia.
"Of course you can. But don't you have basketball?"
"Basketball can be for another time." He said, and put an arm around Rukia's shoulders, he smirked at Ichigo who was rolling his eyes and followed, hands in his pockets.
They walked down the sunlit streets to Rukia's house. As they neared the large home Grimmjaw whistled at the size. They entered the workshop and picked out pieces of lumber and the tools to go along with it. Grimmjow picked up a bunch and started to flex for Rukia, he grabbed her small hand and placed it on his bicep. Rukia laughed and commented on them. Ichigo just rolled his eyes as he picked out a few more things they needed.
Ichigo scrounged through a few drawers looking for a screwdriver and was unable to find any. Of all things, why wouldn't her incredibly rich dad have a screwdriver? He turned to see Grimmjaw pulling Rukia close and the small girl trying to push him away with a laugh. Ichigo looked away.
"Hey Rukia! Got a screwdriver?" Ichigo asked.
"What was that?" Rukia said.
"Where's the screwdriver, midget?" He asked. Rukia's eyes narrowed.
"The bottom drawer by the door, the one that's dark brown, okay, idiot?" She said. Ichigo just nodded and then scrounged through the drawer.
"I seriously can't find it." He said as the sound of clanking tools filled the garage.
"It should be there!" She said. "Look with your eyes dimwit! You can see!" Ichigo grunted.
"I swear I can't find it! Even look for yourself, dwarf!" Ichigo crossed his arms at the small girl. Rukia stomped her foot.
"Fine, I'll do it myself!" She tapped her cane onto the ground as she walked over to the drawer in quick steps; she suddenly tripped on one of the planks and fell in front of the drawer, her head an inch away from the sharp edge at the top. Grimmjow and Ichigo gasped and Grimmjaw quickly made his way over.
Picking Rukia up in his arms, he looked at unconscious face; blood trickled down from the gash on the side of her head. Grimmjaw glared at Ichigo and aimed to punch him in the face, Ichigo blocked the strike.
"Not right now, she needs our help." He said, and Grimmjaw's glaring blue eyes shifted back to the unconscious girl. "I'll need some cloth with warm water and… just get the first aid kit!"
"Who do you think you are telling me what to do?" Grimmjow said.
"Just get it!" Ichigo took Rukia into his arms.
"If you touch her in any bad way I'll-"
"GET THE DAMN BOX OR ELSE SHE WON'T BE ABLE TO FEEL SHIT." He yelled. Grimmjaw growled as he ran over to the first ad box that was displayed by the window.
"What do you need?"
"There should be a brown bottle in there and get me a cloth with warm water."
"I can't go in there! I might be charged for breaking and entering!" Grimmjaw muttered.
"Since when were you worried about that?" Ichigo said, not taking his eyes off of Rukia sleeping soundly on his lap. Grimmjaw made an annoyed sigh and then went into the house.
Ichigo studied the cut; it was big, from the side of her eye to her cheek. Ichigo cursed, looking around for what might have made the cut. He glanced up at the tall drawer closet and saw the end of a saw sticking out from the top, and beside it was the screwdriver. Ichigo cursed once more and wondered where Grimmjaw was. Right on cue, Grimmjaw popped out of the doorway with some warm water in a plastic bowl and a white cloth.
"Of all colours, you got white?"
"Doesn't matter."
"How'd you get the plastic bowl?"
"I learned a lot from my breaking and entering days." He grinned proudly. Ichigo just rolled his eyes and looked at Rukia.
"Grimm…" She muttered. The boys looked at each other, and then back at the sleep talking Rukia. "Ich… Ichigo…" She said, tilting her head slowly from side to side. Ichigo's eyes softened, while Grimmjaw's stare hardened into a glare. Ichigo took the white cloth into the warm water and washed away the excess blood, and then put some disinfectant on the other side.
"Are you sure you know what you're doing?"
"Relax, my dad's a doctor. Besides, this will be easy." He said.
He soaked the cloth in the disinfectant and briefly put it on Rukia's cut. The girl flinched, but Ichigo continued patting the wound down, cleaning the blood off.
"Ichigo…" Grimmjow muttered.
"Shut up…" He said, and then started to dab the wound. He put the cloth in the bowl of warm water and then grabbed some bandages and medical tape to stick to Rukia's head. Grimmjow watched as Ichigo did his work.
"Isn't that…" Grimmjow pointed at the poorly placed bandage.
"Shut it, this is just so she won't touch the wound."
"But… it's so big." Grimmjow said..
"Can you do any better?"
"Hell yeah I would try…"
"Whatever." Ichigo said.
As soon as he was finished, Ichigo and Grimmjaw decided to put Rukia back into bed. They slowly opened the door, with Grimmjaw leadin and Ichigo following him with the small girl in his arms. Grimmjaw lead him through the quiet halls and up the stairs. They looked down the bright hallway and wondered which room was hers.
In the end, using their 'common sense' they assumed that since she was an only child, she'd get the best room. They walked towards the large oak doors that led into the master bedroom. They opened it quietly, and a small squeak sounding as they did so. Hearing that there was no one inside, Grimmjaw pushed the doors open. They were met with a high-pitched scream, and even Ichigo and Grimmjaw screamed when they saw the woman in the bed. Rukia, however, did not seem to have heard it.
Hisana took a deep breath out and was careful not to have a heart attack from the boys who just crashed through her door. She knew one of them, Ichigo Kurosaki, and in his arms was a depressing sight. Rukia's frail body in a slumber with a bandage taped very poorly to the side of her head with medical tape.
After Ichigo got his wits back, he noticed that they had just barged into Rukia's mother's room; he flushed at the sight of her. He then followed her gaze to Rukia in his arms, he slowly made his way to her and put Rukia in her arms. Tears fell from her face as she held Rukia close.
"What happened?" Hisana asked, rocking back and forth slowly.
Ichigo ran a nervous hand through his hair. "She tripped on like a box and then when she fell… the side of her face got cut by the saw that was sticking out… and then she blacked out." Ichigo's hands were shaking, afraid that he was going to be shut out because of his carelessness by hurting Rukia like that, after all, Hisana did tell him to take care of her. Hisana's deep violet eyes turned to her daughter's face and she kissed her forehead.
"Excuse me… but are you Rukia's sister?" Grimmjow asked, unaware of the situation, Hisana gazed at Grimmjow for a while, as if reading his face.
"No… I'm her mother, Hisana Kuchiki. And you are?"
"I'm Rukia's boyfriend… Grimmjaw Jeagerjaquez." He held out his hand, and Hisana merely gazed at that too, Grimmjaw slowly pulled back and put the hand back into his pocket.
"So… you did this?" Hisana's hand brushed the bandage.
"Yeah… I'm not that good, but I try." Ichigo replied.
"It's good." She smiled. "And you two were trying to get her back into her room?" She laughed.
"Yeah… sorry for what I did…" Ichigo said. Grimmjow's eyebrow rose, 'I'? Shouldn't it have been a 'we'?
"That's all right, you didn't do anything bad. Thank you for trying to take care of her, you are keeping my promise well." She smiled once more. "Her room is two doors down, the one with the painted silver flowers." She said.
"Alright, we'll bring her there." Grimmjaw stepped forward to retrieve Rukia, but Hisana held her back.
"I think… Ichigo should carry her, you probably get to hold her enough already." Her eyes pierced Grimmjow, and he quickly stepped back.
Ichigo took Rukia into his arms and then apologized once more. Hisana merely laughed and told him that before you learn to walk, you have to fall. Ichigo nodded and they made their way to Rukia's room. Inside the large room was a queen bed near the large window with baby blue sheets and a white rabbit hopping in its cage. Grimmjaw lifted the blanket and Ichigo placed Rukia gently down and pulled the covers over her small body. They stared at the small girl for a few seconds, as if asking for forgiveness.
"What was that bitch's problem with me?" Grimmjaw said.
"Maybe she thought your hair was too fake." Ichigo muttered and then he turned to leave.
"Hey, shut up." Grimmjaw said as he followed him out of the room.
"Whatever, let's get the supplies and head back, we'll have to start on that stage or she'll bite our heads off."
"What do you mean 'we'? I'm not in your class."
"Well then help me carry the things into the wagon, be some help a least."
"No."
"Do it for your girlfriend."
"Whatever."
Rukia woke up from the throbbing pain in the side of her head. She reached up and felt a soft material at her fingertips. Her eyes opened slowly, and she noticed that it was a bandage; she jumped up in surprise and wondered what had happened.
"You're lucky you're not severely hurt." A voice said. Rukia knew that voice and turned towards the direction it came from.
"Mom?" She said.
"Yeah, it's me Roo." She said.
"Please don't call me that." She laughed. "What happened?"
"You blacked out, and got the side of you head cut by a saw in your dad's workshop. How many times have I told you not to go in there?"
"Not a lot…"
"Rukia."
"Okay, a few times… but I thought it would be different with other people there with me." Rukia looked away.
"Either way, you shouldn't be near there." She said.
"Who did this?" Rukia's fingertips went down the soft material.
"Ichigo."
"Ichigo?"
"Yes, you should have seen how guilty he looked when he explained what happened."
"But it wasn't his fault."
"You need to tell that to him." Hisana smiled, and she placed the food on Rukia's lap. "Eat up." Rukia nodded and picked up the spoon, the door clicked when it closed and Rukia sighed.
"Ichigo is an idiot." She laughed softly, forgetting about the fact that Grimmjaw was also witness to the accident.
A/N: Yaaay! And so ends chapter four! Please review, and you know what I noticed? Around about the time Grimmjow was arguing with Ichigo, I slapped my head and thought, why didn't I use Renji? But then I thought more about it, and also noticed that he wouldn't fill the need that Grimmjow has in this story… as it progresses. You'll get me in a few, few, chapters. : ) And remember, review!