Hey people :D, again, I hope you're enjoying the story until now :P. Well, from now on more ichiruki stuff will happen. Tell me what you think please; remember I get better with your REVIEWS!
Ch. 4 Infiltrazione Nella Fraternità
The Palazzo Medici… symbol of a Renaissance Italy, influenced in Roman architecture, and home to the rulers Florence. But, for Kuchiki Rukia, a shinigami, a current peasant, a woman, and a soon-to-be assassin, it was the door to a new world. Shall she cross that door; any chances of regret would be useless… well, that was if she could at least get though the front gate…
"Password," commanded the guard behind the gates of the palace.
"Uuuh, what?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"You need a password to be able to pass through this gate. Who invited you?"
"Ummm, Kurosaki Ichigo, he told me to meet him here at 3 o'clock."
"There is no Kurosaki Ichigo in this palace. Go away peasant!" he ordered, before returning to his guard post.
Damnit! Did he lied to me? She asked to herself… No, that can't be, I need to find a way into the palace and try to find him, I can't go back without anything at all!
After surrounding the palace several times to find an opening, she finally saw an open window in a blind spot, out of the guard's line of vision. After several pushes, jumps, and almost-falls, she could finally reach the window, and enter the palace…
She landed on what seemed to be a hallway in the 2nd floor, decorated with several windows, paintings, and other decorations sculpted in the walls. She leaned closer to one of the windows, and realized the palace was a lot bigger when you see it from the inside. A huge garden in the center of the palace covered most of the whole building. It was decorated with trees, a concrete pass way, and a statue at the entrance of the garden.
Realizing she was being too distant with her surroundings, she remembered what she was actually doing there: infiltrating a palace, risking herself to be hanged if discovered, to infiltrate a bigger and more powerful organization later on… Oaky, lets find that strawberry…
But as soon as she began to turn around, a cold, small and sharp blade was pressed against her neck from her back…
"A single false move and you won't ever realize when you were killed," threatened a deep and harsh voice.
"Don't say a word and start walking." She gulped and obeyed her captor and started walking along the deserted hallway. She could hear his and her footsteps, and she didn't like any of them both, they seemed to be leading her to a brutal death.
"Stop," he commanded, just in front of a wooden door to their left. He opened the door, and slightly pushed her inside with the hand that wasn't pressing the knife against her neck.
When they were inside, the room was pitch black, and she couldn't see further than her own nose. But then, the man that was holding her as a captive pressed the knife slightly harder against her throat.
"You did a very good job entering this palace, there's been few people who have dared to try so," he said while slowly taking away the knife from her throat. She closed her eyes thinking it was her end and that her luck was over, "you did well … midget."
…
…
"HUUUUH?!"
And out of nowhere, a loud and a little maniac laughter that could be heard miles away literally exploded in her eardrums…
The man lit up a candle, and what Rukia saw was a bright and messy ORANGE hair, plus, the face of the assassin she had just met the day before, choking in laughter before her.
"…Ichigo," she said angrily with a vein popping out her forehead while looking at Ichigo with a death glare, though he seemed not to care…
He was wearing typical Italian clothing, black boots, dark-brown pants, a white shirt with a brown leather vest, and two large and thick dark-brown wristbands that covered from his wrists to the middle part of the arm.
"OH M'GOD, YOU… YOU SHOULD'VE SEEN YOUR FACE!!" he said, although with a lot of effort while doing so, considering he hadn't stopped laughing yet…
She watched as the man she thought was her pass to completing her mission was acting like a child, and she even wondered if he was actually an assassin… or just a crazy fan…
"Alright strawberry, you and your incredibly messy orange hair can stop laughing already!" she commanded, getting upset, angry, and desperate.
He took several deep breathes to control the laughter, and was finally able to speak clearly after experiencing what he considered to be one of the most hilarious (although a little maniac for most people) moments he's ever experienced.
"O god, I'm… sorry 'bout that, I know, I know it wasn't that cool, but I just couldn't resist," he said while lighting more candles around the room.
"Yeah right… And why the hell didn't you tell me there was a password?! You could have saved A LOT of trouble!"
"Well, if I just gave you the password and let you in, it would've been very boring, wouldn't it?"
"… you totally forgot about the password didn't you?" she asked with crossed arms and a raised eyebrow.
"What?! No, I didn't," he answered back.
"Yes you did."
"No I didn't."
"YES… YOU DID!"
"… Okay, I admit it, I did," he confessed while raising his hands.
"I KNEW IT! I wonder how you ever made it to be an assassin with that attitude."
But that statement turned his expression to one of such seriousness, that even she felt some regret at making it; his eyes seemed capable of seeing directly into the soul of a person at pure will. He sat at a nearby desk, and stared directly at her eyes while leaning on his hard fists…
"So, what is it that you wished to speak with me?" he asked with a deep and serious voice, nothing like the person that had just mocked her outside the room they were in. It was more… like an assassin's.
Damn, I heard the assassins could be serious, but he could easily compare himself with my brother, and THAT'S saying a lot…
She cleared her throat and looked directly at his eyes with the most serious expression she could make, "I'll go straight to the point, I wish to be part of the Assassin Order…"
He looked directly to her violet eyes for a moment before closing his own and letting out a huge sigh. Again, he looked to her eyes before standing up and slowly walking to where she was with his hands on his back, and without taking his eyes off her own.
He slowly grabbed her chin and raised her head to be on the same level. "…Why do you wish to join the Assassin Order?"
She had long waited for that question, and she thought she was well prepared for it… but it looks easier when you just think about it…
"I've heard about you for a long time, and I share your reasons for why you fight corruption, and the templars."
He slowly released her chin and went back to his desk. He leaned on his fists with his eyes closed and started to do what seemed like a deep meditation.
Finally, after what seemed to be a small eternity, he opened his eyes again and looked to her eyes…
"It is not an easy life," he said.
"As far as I know, my life has been everything but easy," she answered back.
"You can't with your current skills," he said while standing up and surrounding the room.
"I can get better, it's not like we are born with the abilities."
"You would have to kill sooner or later."
"I'll learn to deal with it…"
(Knock knock)
They both turned to the door that just interrupted the reunion, but she seemed to be a little more… relieved, now that the unbearable tension in the room was, acceptable…
"Yes, what is it?" he asked from behind the door.
"Mater Ichigo," called a man, "Master Lorenzo has called a meeting with you."
"Tell him I'm on my way."
"Stay here, I'll be right back," he ordered while going out of the room.
"Wait! What will happen with our conversation?"
"Stay… here!" he said before closing the door.
She blew away a strand of hair from her face in frustration and wondered why in the world it was taking so long to get an answer. Well, guess that's what happens when you want to join a two millennia global organization that dedicates itself to protect the world through murder…
Half an hour later…
She had decided to look around the room to find anything interesting, and she even hoped to find something relevant to her mission, but discarded the idea when realizing they wouldn't leave her to look around on her own with any important documents in the same room.
Guess I'll have to wait a little longer…
Suddenly, the door knob's mechanism started making noise, along with the screeching sound of the wooden door moving.
"Ichigo, what happened?" she asked.
"Come with me Rukia, there's someone you should meet."
He signaled her to follow him, and so she did. They walked across three long hallways before reaching a big, wooden door in the middle of the hallway, and she supposed it leaded to the office of the current leader of Florence, Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici.
They entered the room, and near a desk there was a very young man around Ichigo's age staring at a painting near one of the windows. He was wearing a vey expensive-looking outfit, expected from a nobleman, a golden colored shirt surrounded by a light-brown cape, and brown pants and boots, all seemed to be out of the normal peasant's hopes.
"Mr. Lorenzo, sir," called Ichigo, while bowing in one knee.
The man quickly turned around and directed his eyes to both him and Rukia. She decided she would bow when it was her turn to talk.
"Ah, Ichigo," called the man, "and you must be Rukia," he said while turning to see her again.
"E 'un onore signore," she said while bowing.
"Ichigo here speaks quite highly of you, and believe me when I say that it really surprised me when I heard him praising someone." He said it in such a way, that Ichigo couldn't help to blush slightly, and it even made Rukia giggle a little bit, though she did her best not to make it too notorious…
"But young lady," he said with a more serious tone, "our Order is not a place for the weak, I've seen many of my best men die in the hands of Templars. My family has long served this organization, my own grandfather was saved by an assassin once, and our union with them grew even stronger, but the battles we still fight have become no less difficult…"
"I am well aware of the danger that comes with being part of the Order, but my conviction, determination, and hope for a better and peaceful world are no less with or without the danger that comes with it."
She knew those words were mostly for entering the organization to complete her mission, but another part of her really meant it, she hoped that anything she would do while being in the organization would be for a good reason.
"Certainly it seems you have good intentions, and it seems you don't lack the courage and the talent needed, as Ichigo tells me."
"What did he said exactly?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, he told how he was about to save a young woman from the hands of a group of abusive guards, when a petite and beautiful woman won him the chance to do so," he said while moving his hands, like mocking the way Ichigo had told him the story…
"Wha-What?! I didn't say that!!" interrupted Ichigo, but the ruler of Florence seemed to be enjoying the teasing. What was happening in Rukia's face? Oh nothing, it was just turning redder and redder by the second.
"He also told me how he lost his temper when seeing how your life would be threatened by the, guard bastards, and he couldn't help to intervene."
"Lorenzoooooo," menaced Ichigo angrily, though it seemed like when you menaced a mocking friend.
"…and how he was lost your pair of violet eyes when he saved you from a horrible death in the chapel."
"If you weren't the ruler of Florence I would…" But the comment only made Lorenzo start laughing.
This two are like brothers…
"Ahh, excuse me?" she called after realizing the meeting was getting a little too awkward.
Both of them quickly turned to her and regained their composure after clearing their throats.
"Oh, sorry about that young lady," said Lorenzo, "I just couldn't help to do it after the story Ichigo told me about you."
"Yeah, remember me never to tell you another story, you might as well turn it to a book and publish it," said Ichigo.
"Don't give me ideas Ichigo," he answered back. "Now, on to our main theme," he said more seriously.
"Kuchiki Rukia, from both of our eyes, you seem to be a trustworthy, strong woman with a lot of courage. Up to this point, we see no reason for not letting you in our Order."
This was enough to free her from a huge weight, for now, the trust seemed not to be a problem between this people, as long as you deserved it…
"But be warned Rukia," said Ichigo, which made her heart skip a beat, "treason in our order is punished with total prosecution and death. We have been betrayed many times before, and we have survived all of them. So be warned, shall you betray the order in any way, we will follow you into the end of the world if necessary, to keep you from talking."
She gulped to his words, and she had already practiced for when the time to hear this conversation came, but it seemed it didn't surprise them at all.
"Well," continued Lorenzo while clapping his hands, "for now young lady, Ichigo will continue the introduction to our Order, I wish you good luck, and hope that we shall meet again someday."
"So do I your Majesty," she said while bowing.
"Oh, leave the formalities, call me Lorenzo please..."
"Ok, sir, I will."
Suddenly, Ichigo quickly started running and grabbed her without a warning, "come with me Rukia," said Ichigo while grabbing her hand.
"Wha-?!" was the only thing she could say before he took them both out of the room, leaving the young ruler alone.
Those two will become a hell of a couple, I'm sure of it… he thought while getting back to what he was doing…
"Ichigo! Where are we going?" she asked while trying to keep up with him.
"You'll see."
They ran outside of the palace and went to a nearby chapel, whose campanile was one of the tallest in Florence.
"Follow me," he said before starting to climb the tower.
She felt a little scared, considering she had no practice in free-running.
"What is it midget?" mocked Ichigo, "scared of heights?"
Ok, that's it…
As soon as he finished, she quickly started following him to the top of the chapel's campanile, it was like a competition, though it was a little unfair, since Ichigo had a lot more years practicing…
"What is it? You're staying behind!"
"Oh, shut up and continue!" she shouted.
When she finally reached the top, Ichigo was already there offering his hand to help her. She accepted without discussion, since she was already very tired from the running and climbing.
"I am… going to need… a lot of practice," she said while catching up her air.
"Look over there Rukia," he said while pointing his finger to the sun.
She slowly turned her head to where he was pointing at, and she was delighted with a very beautiful scene of a Florentine sunset in the horizon, the reddish-orange sun beams across the clouds were a scenery worthy of painting…
"We Assassins…" he started, catching Rukia's attention, "we have existed for a very long time, Rukia… In this modern age, we are not as literal as our ancestors; but our seal is no less permanent…"
Surprised by his deep words, her opinion of the assassins went up when realizing she's only met good people until now, people that care for other people, and that have the courage to fight for what they believe…
"The fight is tough, and as much as we don't like it, innocents will die, allies will die… but… I give you my word… that it's worth it…"
He extended his arm to her and said, "Let's make this a better world together shall we?"
"I promise I will do everything I can… Ichigo," she answered while taking his hand too.
In the small time they shook hands; Ichigo was caught with a scene more beautiful than heaven itself. With the sun against her face, Rukia seemed to be a fallen angel from heaven, her lips tenting him up to the point to loose control.
WAIT! THE HELL WAS THAT?! YOU JUST MET HER! He thought while shaking his thoughts out of his head. He decided it was best for both of them to leave now before he lost control of himself…
"Lets go Rukia, you'll stay at the Palazzo tonight," he said before jumping out the tower and into a stack of straw at the bottom of the chapel without even a small warning.
But… she quickly realized something was very wrong… Shit! That idiot!
"WAIT! ICHIGO YOU IDIOT! I CAN'T DO THAT YET!"
To be continued…
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(A/N): Infiltrazione Nella Fraternità = Infiltration in the Brotherhood