AN: OMG guys! So sorry for the late update! It's been a freakingly busy week - so this won't happen again - I SWEAR! But totally understand if you've recently bought a pitchfork and flaming torches for revenge of the lateness -_-
Apologies for the characters acting OOC in here - It's not purposely done, so let me know 'kay?
Wow. Is it me or did the chapter before suck? Reviews for that one was slow :| maybe I won't be doing any of those type of scenes...unless reviews are thrown in...
Review guys! The more reviews I get, the more likely I'll be posting a chapter sooner (motivational wise, you see...) even though I haven't done a good job so far D: 5+ is the goal ;)
Anyways, here's another chapter. If you like it review it. If its crap, review it. I need your intell guys! For the time being its not gonna be a AU so I'm trying REAL hard to get the foundations of the story right.
3
~:C H A N G E S:~
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Rukia never liked being vulnerable.
She had taken into account of the odd feelings she had been feeling lately but brushed them off as one less thing she needed to worry about. Rukia was, of course, a Kuchiki – so whether or not she felt like she had to hide something, she would never allow it to be discovered.
But Ichigo Kurosaki was one of those people that knew when something was up - especially with Rukia. So when it came to the both of them going to class the next day, Rukia's imperceptible stone-like face got the best of the now-irritated seventeen-year old.
He took a step in front of Rukia and turned in the doorway. Rukia stopped walking for her next step would have landed her in his chest. She rose a thin, raven brow and crossed her arms.
"You've been ignoring me all morning." Ichigo stated, enough said before he sounded like he was complaining.
She waited until two students passed them to get inside before she replied. Rukia's expressionless face remained completely smooth. "What do you mean? I've been talking to you all morning."
Ichigo shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest, imitating her. "That's not what I mean and you know it."
She made sure that she wasn't showing it, but Rukia was nervous. She had been nervous for the entire morning since what happened on the roof last night. She inwardly cursed. If she had acted like nothing had happened and just started aimlessly arguing with him, he might not have noticed how irritated she really felt.
"Well then, pray tell Ichigo. What do you mean?"
He scoffed and unfolded his arms, "seriously? Are we going to play the 'I Have No Idea' game?" When Rukia didn't reply he lowered his voice, "I'm talking about last night."
Rukia's eyes widened a fraction, but not enough for Ichigo to see the flash of panic behind them. For a second, she pictured Ichigo down on one knee and confessing his love to her with those smoldering amber eyes brimming with tears. Her face flushed hot at the thought. Baka! She really had to stop secretly reading Yuzu's magazines. "W-what about it?"
"You walked off last night," Ichigo's voice came back to her red ears. "And I just… I don't know – I'm worried that's all."
For some reason, she felt disappointment at the reply. Rukia swiftly side-stepped Ichigo to go to her desk and he followed. "There's nothing to worry about. Seriously Ichigo its not like I'm a sick, old woman – I can handle any situation by myself and last night I was just tired, that's all."
"I don't know about the 'sick' part," he grinned, following behind her. There serious conversation now long gone. Rukia suppressed the action to roll her eyes. "But 'old' seems like a good enough reason why I should look after you."
Rukia slid her chair across sharpily and sat herself in it rather grumpily. "You to me are only an infant."
"RUKIA! MY LOVE – YOU'RE LOOKING BEAUTIFUL TODAAAAAAY~" Keigo sung as he did something that resembled a Wet Noodle Dance across to them.
"How about aged? Ancient? Timeworn? Stale? Antediluvian?"
Did he want to pick a fight today to make up for the ones he missed this morning? Rukia's eyebrow twitched.
Her eyes narrowed dangerously at his grinning face, which infuriated her even more. She turned her body towards him, hunched forward in an aggressive stance. "BAKA! H-HOW DARE YOU TELL ME I'M OLD!"
Even though they sat next to each other, Rukia had flash-stepped that few inches to close the gap. Unfortunately in that split millisecond, Keigo had somehow managed to be in the firing lane. There was a sudden tangle of legs and strangled noises from the floor. Rukia had somehow misjudged herself and landed right on top of a stunned looking Keigo.
Ichigo laughed so hard that he had to grab his desk to stop himself from toppling over. The morning chatter in the classroom died down to an almost complete silence. Everyone stared.
Then Rukia got to her feet and helped Keigo up from the floor, blushing and stammering an apology to the boy as the conversation in the room slowly buzzed back to life again.
"…thinking that we should go to the beach sometime…"
"…shopping would be a good idea, wouldn't it?"
"…the guys there are super cute…"
"Earth to Orihime. Calling to planet Inoue?"
But Orihime wasn't listening to her group of friends that surrounded her desk from across the room. Her honey-duke eyes stared at Ichigo and Rukia, her lips pursed in a thin line and a tight sting in her chest.
xxx
When the bell went that officially end the final lesson of the day, it was the sound of Heaven to every student.
"Class, don't forget to read Chapter 19 tonight. I want to see an extensive range of answers from question 12 to 45 tonight. We went through them this afternoon so studying shouldn't be that hard. And I will be checking them all tomorrow, so no copying each other's work…"
Student's shuffled out of the classroom, chattering mindlessly to each other about what they wanted to do after school and work.
Rukia made her way down the busy corridor to wait outside Ichigo's classroom. She never complained about going to a human school once, let alone the lessons. She had actually grown quite fond of them and had even volunteered for a few extra things here and there. But now because they were older, Ichigo's and her own classes were different and only a few lessons did they have together. It was the ones that she didn't have with him that Rukia seemed to be more distracted than most.
She waited against the wall beside Room 302 – Ichigo's Alternative Language class with one foot propped up against the wall and her arms crossed lightly over her chest. The door seemed to be closed, meaning the class was still inside.
A few moments later, the door opened and students from the Alternative Language class began to stream out. Neither of them casted a second glance at the Kuchiki as she was always there, waiting. There had been a few occasions when one of the boys had stopped and asked her what she was doing and she would reply sweetly, "I'm here for Ichigo Kurosaki, could you perhaps notify him I'm waiting?"
She kept her eyes closed until she sensed the familiar aura as it passed. He was the last one out – as he was every single day. Rukia opened her violet orbs up to him. "Karin's waiting for us."
He looked away from her sheepishly, itching an imaginary scratch behind his head. Rukia cocked her head and he answered, "I won't be able to walk home with you guys tonight. I have tutoring with Orihime after school."
Rukia didn't think twice about his statement. There was nothing to think about it. She pushed herself lightly off the wall, "alright. I'll let Karin and the other's at home know. You'll be home before dinner, right?"
Ichigo chuckled. "Of course, mother."
"Someone has to keep you in line, baka," Rukia smiled, hitching up her schoolbag higher on her shoulder. Ichigo ruffled her hair playfully and Rukia replied with a punch to his stomach. They both grinned at each other.
"I'll see you at the house," Rukia called over her shoulder as she walked down the hall. Ichigo stared after her, before he turned around to head in the opposite direction. He held up a hand to show her he heard, "Hai, Rukia."
xxx
Rukia sat down at the bench underneath the shade of a small tree in the park. In front of her was the school soccer field and Karin Kurosaki running like a bullet train straight down the middle.
"Korusaki! Over here!" shouted out one of her teammates. Rukia had been to enough soccer practices to tell that was Luzo. His dark pointy hair bouncy as he chased after her, sweat gleaming off his forehead.
Karin skillfully kept the soccer ball in front of her and even managed to dodge one – two – three members from the other team as she headed towards the goals. Her team members shouted to her and with one quick glance up, she hooked her left foot right – sending a powerful kick to an open team player who received it and kicked a goal.
There were maybe one or two other parents scattered around the field. Not a lot of people showed up to the Junior League soccer practice but Rukia enjoyed watching them play. It made her feel as if she could connect with the Kurosaki daughter and felt like she too, had owed her and Yuzu her time from taking their brother away from them to Soul Society.
The coach – a man in his thirties, slim built and wearing the official school gym uniform – blew his whistle until he was blue in the face as Karin streamed ahead once again. "Pass the ball, Kurosaki! Pass the BALL!"
Karin frowned, sick of hearing the chirp of the whistle and kicked the ball. It soared to a player on her team who caught it with their foot and began dribbling down the field. Karin jogged to a stop, momentarily leaning against her knees to catch a breath. They had been training for almost two whole hours and by the time the coach had blown his whistle for end game, the sun was setting behind the buildings afar.
They grouped together for one final chat. From the looks of it, the coach didn't seem too happy with Karin. They broke apart after a minute of talking, each to be sent home or somewhere else.
"Hai, Kurosaki!" Luzo called out to the girl as she walked up to the fence. "Same time tomorrow, right?"
"Alright!" Karin called, giving a wave. She jogged up to Rukia, a towel around her neck, a water bottle in one hand and her duffel bag in her other. "Eh, where's my slacker for a brother?"
Rukia didn't usually come alone to Karin's soccer games – she first started going because Ichigo always went. So Karin was surprised when Rukia answered, "he's tutoring Orihime after school now."
"You mean Orihime Inoue?" Karin asked, skeptical. She pushed open the squeaky gate and they both headed down the street out of the school grounds. Rukia glanced over to her, hearing the delicate exacerbation she tried hard to hide.
"You don't seem too fond of her…" Rukia gathered, confused. She thought Karin had met Orihime Inoue often?
Karin shrugged. She didn't want to go into the details right about now, so she changed the subject. "Why's my brother teaching her though? I thought she was top of your year level."
"She changed classes mid-year and moved into English halfway. I guess all the catch-up work was a bit overwhelming for her," Rukia mused.
"I would've thought of Orihime – as smart as I hear she is – to have caught up by now." Karin paused at the sidewalk and checked for traffic. "I still can't believe my brother did that…"
"Well, I did tell Orihime that she should ask Ichigo for some help," Rukia replied.
"…to you, of all people," she muttered.
Rukia wanted to stop walking when Karin said that last sentence, but she was in the middle of the road and there was a car coming. What Karin had said, wasn't meant for Rukia to hear. "I beg your pardon?" Rukia asked.
Karin looked over to her, blushed slightly and shrugged. "Nothing."
Rukia opened and closed her mouth. Opened it again and then closed it. It was now bugging her, whatever Karin had started to mention. She walked along side the girl, lost in her thoughts.
"It's my brother's birthday soon," Karin replied out of know where. Rukia nodded. She had known that Ichigo's birthday was coming in a few weeks time. She hadn't forgotten at all. It seemed like forever, but the day was finally coming.
"What are you planning to get him?"
Rukia looked up at the golden colored sky. It was still going to be light out for a few hours. "Not sure to be honest."
"He's in love with those spicy-chocolate buttons called Whitsey. One time I found a stash hidden under his bed – I swear there were like – fifty of them in there," Karin replied in a sly voice. "Just so… you know… you might have an idea or whatever."
Karin's hinting made Rukia smile. She never knew Ichigo liked anything in particular apart from fighting Hollows and Shinigami. There you go, another one to add to the list. "Thank you, Karin."
The girl smiled back. "Eh, any time. You can even use them to bribe him too. I swear he goes nuts for it as you do for Chappy."
Rukia's eyebrow twitched. So much for kind converses…
"Yuzu!" Karin called and waved to her sister who was waiting for them at the corner of the block. The twin shot up to her feet, grinning as she ran up to them both and joined them.
"Karin-chan! Rukia-chan!" Yuzu beamed. "You wouldn't believe what I got in my marks for hospitality…" her voice trailed off as she was trying to find her brother. "Where's Nii-san?"
"He's at school tutoring that Inuoe girl," Karin sniffed, rather irritated at the whole thing. "I told you he's no good for nothin'."
Yuzu's expression faulted and she pouted, "why does she need tutoring by Nii-san?"
"Beats me," Karin replied thickly. Yuzu looked away, thinking.
Rukia sweat dropped. "So Karin-chan tells me you're brother is fond of this spicy chocolate…?"
Yuzu perked right back up. "Whitsey! He loves that! Are you planning on giving him, Rukia-chan?" She wriggled her eyebrows.
"Eh?" Rukia blinked, feeling her traitorous cheeks reddening. She laughed giddily. "For his birthday, Yuzu-chan! Karin told me how much he liked them and I wasn't sure what to give him."
Yuzu giggled and skipped ahead of the girls. "Sure, sure, Rukia-chan! I see how it is!" She turned on her heels and faced them, walking backwards. "How about next week we go down the street and get them together?"
Rukia wasn't sure how to react to the girls kindness. So she just smiled back and nodded, "OK, Yuzu-chan. Arigato."
xxx
Ichigo came back home a few moments ago.
They passed each other in the hallway to his room. Rukia stopped and greeted him, "how was the tutoring?"
Ichigo's face immediately reddened. He was hoping not to bump into Rukia on his way to his room, but Heaven's against him, she was there still in her uniform, leaning against the wall. He averted his gaze, his blush glowed redder in chargrin. "F-fine."
Then he lurched into his room and closed the door behind him, leaving Rukia curious and confused in the hallway.
~AN: OoOoOoOoO Ichigo! Why so flustered, Ichigo? Eh? Did something with Orihime while we were 'tutoring'?
Poor Rukia, she's so oblivious to this type of thing - well, it'll be a rude awakening, won't it?
Rukia: BAKA! *thumps my head with her fist* Why am I going to get the worst of this?
Me: *defends self* J-just read the story! I swear it'll get better!
Rukia: How's it going to get better if I'm 'sick? Wait - I'm dying? DYING? Why did you write that in the summary?
Ichigo: Well, it's catagorized under 'romance' - I guess it's meant to be a little dramatic.
Rukia:Been reading too much of Yuzu's magazine's again, Ichigo?
Ichigo: Eh? N-no I haven't!
Rukia: *chuckles madly*
TBC: Matsumoto and Hitsugaya come into town and take Ichigo and the gang out for his birthday! What's this? Rukia has to take a drunk Ichigo home? WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN?