Chapter 4

I based characters' hair on the manga hair colours, and not the anime colours.

Important note: Regardless of what direction this manga takes, be assured that the focus will always be on ISHIDA/RUKIA's interactions, whether it's friendship or romantic now or in the future. I repeat ISHIDA/RUKIA will always be the focus. There will not, and never be any love triangle or quadruple affairs. Those types of stories are not my reading preference so they will not be my writing preferences. I rather spoil my story, than to disappoint people. I'm the type of loser who turns to the end of the book to read the ending before deciding if I want to read the story from the start LOL

Thank you for the 2 opposite feedback and suggestions from 2 lovely readers. Most of the suggestions are what I have been debating in my head since chapter 1, to do or not to do. I'm still not clear about the future, but thank you very much. I'm pleased to know that there are people who are in thinking almost in the same wavelengths as I do.

ice, I hope you will also enjoy this chapter, even if there's not much funny interactions in this.


Rukia's mouth opens wide as she gapes at her new PJ set. She holds the top up in the air and her eyes look as if they are sparkling. "Thank you Uryuu."

"It's Ishid-" he corrects her but she's already skipping out of the room without hearing the rest. She's been calling him Uryuu without even a -kun suffix, instead of his last name. She's way too familiar and forward considering they are enemies.

Only minutes later, she's skipping out to show off her new PJ. As if he wouldn't know what they look like. She's way too excited for just a pair of PJ. How old is she supposed to be again?

"It fits me perfectly." Rukia praises him.

He only smirks and accepts the compliment as due course. "It's nothing." He brushes off her praise and pushes his glasses up. Just his eyes alone, he can estimate very accurately her various length measurements against the wall or furniture she stand nears. He already knows how tall those fixtures are, and from there he deducts out her length based on them. He believes the material he especially picked out is better than her first PJ. No, he knows for a fact it is! It's soft but breathable even in the summer months, and the colours turn out nicely against her skin colour just as he has predicted. Her first PJ is yellow with orange collars. He just switches it around for this one: orange with yellow collars. As if she can read his thought, she beams him a huge grin again. Well at least this Shinigami knows how to appreciate his skill.


It's noisy today in class as usual. Class hasn't started but he's already turning to the chapter they will cover next. He has already preview it last night, and even did more than half of the chapter questions already.

This is such a bother, that Kuchiki Rukia. Why does her seat have to be right across from his? There are a few people surrounding her today too. Her fake friendly outer appearance is winning people left and right, both females and males. She's very pretty and cute in people's eyes, super polite and always smiling when she answers people's question. He has to give it to her how she's able to talk but actually not giving away much. He knows her deft way at avoiding topic first hand. She's still very mum about Soul Society and what they exactly want with him. He's still not buying this whole "I'm your bodyguard," and "I'm not here to kill you." She did explain that she didn't know much about Quincies. Of course those scums wouldn't teach their soldiers about how in the past, they committed atrocious crimes against the Quincies.

He pointedly stares down at his textbook and pretends to be oblivious to the jealous and maybe angry stares of his various classmates. No matter how hard he tries to block out annoying voices. He is forced to hear people gossiping and whispering about Kuchiki and him. People's guesses are so far from the truth. So many people can't believe that they are together, or can't believe that they are sleeping together. Preposterous really! If Kuchiki doesn't kill him with her own hands, he probably dies anyway due to high blood pressure caused indirectly because of her presence. That will be a feat and a surprise for his doctor since Uryuu actually has low blood pressure.

The sound of the door being opened brings Uryuu's head up. A flash of orange hair on a student comes in. This guy… There's something about Kurosaki Ichigo that bothers him. It has nothing to do with the permanent scowl on the other guy's face, nothing to do with his outrageously hair colour, orange yellow, and nothing to do with his behaviours. Even though so many delinquents are drawn to picking fight with him, Kurosaki's grades are actually good. His last midterm marks landed him at 18th in their grade, out of the 322 freshmen. Uryuu's mark was ranked number 1.

His dislikes of Kurosaki is unexplainabled; it's a gut feeling. Perhaps it's the other man's high spiritual pressure from his energy which he doesn't know how to contain. It springs and flows everywhere around him. For the last few months, his spiritual pressure actually increases. His uncontained spiritual pressure, without his knowledge, has actually attracted a few hollows to this school before.

Uryuu has taken care of those hollows without anyone's knowledge. As a Quincy, he will keep this town safe whether he has goodwill toward anyone or not. He will continue to follow his grandpa's former guidance, even if his father has long abandoned being a Quincy. Ishida Ryuuken believes that being Quincy is not a profitable occupation. He rather focuses all his time in saving the living, instead of the dead. He had an estranged relationship with his father, Uryuu's grandpa, back when the older man was still alive.

The orange haired boy walks toward his seat and sits down. From Uryuu's peripheral vision, he notices Kuchiki has gone noticeably quiet. Her body does not turned back to look at Kurosaki but from her still and straight posture alone, he knows she's aware of Kurosaki's spiritual pressure. The other guy's seat happens to be right behind Kuchiki.

Kuchiki's eyes and his catch each other with silent understanding. He only knows for sure that Kurosaki is not a Shinigami. When Uryuu concentrates, he can compress and visualize spiritual energy in the atmosphere into spirit threads. Normal human's spirit thread is white, while Shinigami's thread is red. From the time Uryuu has entered this school till now, Kurosaki's white thread has always remained white.

Kuchiki's eyes have turned away again, and now she's facing a very loud and enthusiastic short red haired girl. Even in her gigai, her thread remains red. The thread is moving and flowing around her amidst all the white ones. It's as if it's dancing along with the free spirit particles in the air. The movement captivates his eyes for a few seconds.

Speaking of her gigai, today her spiritual pressure does feel much stronger compared to the first day she stayed at his house. She's supposed to regain her energy as she's resting, according to that suspicious man. It was what Kuchiki believed too at that time. When she was healed and then regained consciousness that day, she had referred to that man as Urahara, and him to her, Kuchiki-san.

When Uryuu had asked about Urahara, all she had answered was he was a store owner where she frequented to buy her supplies. Uryuu then told her he didn't trust Urahara as a first impression, and she only smiled slightly and agreed that she too thought so: Urahara was a suspicious man and not to be trusted. She was tired and weak at that time, so he didn't pushed for more information after that.


It's the start of lunch time, and he uses this moment when Kuchiki get surrounded by a bunch of female classmates to slip away. Should he go to the rooftop to eat today? Nah, the last time he went there, Kurosaki and a bunch of other people were there. They were always rambunctious and noisy. Perhaps he can go behind the school, near the sport field. He keeps his eyes straight as he passes by any classmates he sees. He has no need for socialization; he only needs to eat his lunch in peace. Most of the time, he succeeds at that. People tend to keep away from him, finding him to be unapproachable or intimidating. Now his peaceful lunch time is in danger because of Kuchiki. Wherever she goes, eyes follow. Her sweet front works all too well in drawing unwanted attention to him.

Two girls are walking in the opposite direction of him in the hallway, one has short and dark hair and the other girl has orange brown hair all the way to her waist. He ignores them and keeps on walking but the long haired girl perks up when she notices him. She smiles brightly and waves excitedly.

"Ishida-kun, hello."

His inside jumps but he keeps his cool façade on the outside. He tilts his head lightly at her direction. "Inoue-san." He responds politely.


He sits down and takes out his bentou, "ah peace and quiet." The handicraft club will meet today after school. He's going to stay there perhaps for half an hour, and then heads home. Some of the members are already talking about the upcoming seasonal competition in the next semester. They are too excited too early. Ever since he joined this school, their club has never lost once. People even dub him the 4 eyes sewer for his unmatched speed and accuracy. His skills are unparalleled. Well Inoue-san is also good, and is considered a surprised genius by some people.

He puts a piece of hotdog into his mouth and stops chewing midway. He squints his eyes up at a tree, and isn't that Kuchiki? What's she doing sitting on a tree branch alone. She's not appearing to be eating anything. Maybe she has already finished her lunch and is now avoiding making conversation with people. He doesn't know and he doesn't care. It's none of his business. It won't be long now till she regains enough of her spiritual energy to not need a gigai anymore. She'll hide her spiritual pressure once again in the near future. When he first sensed her in Karakura town, he had a very hard time of tracking and keeping her in his line of sight, or more like his senses. Her pressure kept disappearing due to her tight control on it, and then appeared briefly later at different times, possibly caused by her fighting with hollows.


When he comes back inside the classroom, Kuchiki is already sitting at her desk. She moves fast for someone less than 5 feet tall. She had sit on that tree branch the whole time that he could see, not moving way and not finding anyone to talk to. She just sat there alone, almost hidden away from people's eyes. The sunlight shined down on her shoulder length and very dark hair, dying some strands into the hue of midnight blue. She looked even smaller and even more solitary than him up on that tree.

At present, her face is set blank as her eyes turn outward to the window. She sits very primly, her back straight, and her hands on her laps. She talks and responds when people approach her, but otherwise she's quiet. Well she's secretly a Shinigami anyway, and why does he care? Uryuu turns back into the blackboard and waits for the teacher to start their lesson.

"Ishida-kun," Kuchiki's fake light tone drags his attention back to her. She's smiling gently without it reaching her eyes. "Can I borrow your book again? I promise I'll get all my books by tomorrow."

He can feel in the air in the atmosphere change drastically, and the invisible arrows some of his classmates are shooting at him. He takes his book, leans easily over and drops it onto her table. He just stops himself from throwing it down. He's annoyed again, not so much at her but at the nosy people. He wants to stand up and proclaim that "NO, I'M NOT GOING OUT WITH KUCHIKI. AND ESPECIALLY I'M NOT SLEEPING WITH HER." However that would cause too much of a scene, and he doubted people would even believe him.

As he turns back, his gaze happens to catch someone else's and it's…Inoue Orihime. She's looking at him and Kuchiki very curiously. Oh no, she's thinking I'm dating Kuchiki isn't she? She even looks pleased and appears to be happy for him. He can feel his temples throb; one day he's definitely going to keel over due to high blood pressure.