A Heart's Melody
Summary: How does death change our lives? What do we live for? How strong are
the human's heart and soul? A young girl will try to find the answers to
those questions but she's gonna need a little help, especially from a boy
who'll turn her life around.
Third Chapter: The Midget and The Strawberry
After Rukia exited the bathroom she made her way towards the room where the orange-head boy was probably waiting or maybe he was even asleep again. The girl was dressed in a knee-length baby blue dress. It had thin straps and was held right under her chest leaving the rest of the dress "floating" freely with every move Rukia made.
Once more, as Ichigo looked at the raven-haired girl in front of him, she resembled an angel to him. So petite, gentle and delicate. It was strange that he was having these thoughts, they had only just met and there was something about her that intrigued him, made him want to know more.
He only realized he had been staring at her for too long when a voice brought him away from his thoughts:
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Rukia asked with a frown.
"Like what?" Ichigo answered with a question.
"Like you know something I don't know about." She said, frown deepening.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Ichigo watched as she knitted her eyebrows even more, if that was possible, so he decided to continue teasing her, "It's just that…"
Rukia encouraged him to go on.
"Just that…" Ichigo's smirk grew, "I didn't know you were that short when I was you in bed last night."
With that said his smirk turned into a grin as he saw her reaction. Her eyes grew a little wide before she gritted her teeth and knitted her eyebrows more than before. But before he could laugh at his triumph, he felt a sharp pain in his shin.
Rukia had planted her foot in his body part. The boy instantly crouched down and held his injured shin.
"How dare you call me short?" Rukia yelled.
"Why the hell did you kick me?" Ichigo also yelled.
"Oh please, you totally deserved it and you know it!" the girl retorted.
"Well it's not like I lied!" his voice was getting normal.
"Do you want me to hit you again?" Rukia glared at him.
"Fine, fine! I'll stop!" the boy said while rubbing his shin. "Damn, she's strong… for such a short person." he almost smirked at that but decided against it since he didn't know what she would take it like.
*Knock! Knock!*
Both occupants of the room turned their eyes towards the door as they heard the sound of someone knocking.
"Come in!" Ichigo said rubbing his foot one last time before getting up.
Once the door opened Rukia saw a young girl, a little younger than herself, stand in the threshold. She had a gentle smile on her face and jugging by her hair color, which was orange, she had something to do with the orange-head idiot in the room. "Probably his sister… poor girl!" Rukia thought as she watched the girl and offered a small smile too.
"Oh good, you're awake!" the girl said with cheerful voice. "First of all good morning and it's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Kurosaki Yuzu, I'm Ichigo's sister!" and with that she bowed.
Rukia bowed back impressed by the politeness this girl showed and wondered how the two siblings could be related.
"Good morning to you too, Kurosaki-san and the pleasure is all mine!" Rukia said just like she was thought, her bow was deep and her voice was clear from all the anger she felt only seconds ago. She had learned how to bottle up her feelings and how to react in every situation, something she was glad of sometimes. "My name is Rukia, Kuchiki Rukia."
"Oh please, call me Yuzu and maybe I can do the same?" the smile on her face fell off and she looked a little worried.
"Of course you can… Yuzu-Chan." Rukia smiled at her gently.
"Great!" Yuzu's face beamed again.
"Sorry to interrupt this touching moment but Yuzu, was there something you wanted?" asked Ichigo who had watched both girls intently ever since they started talking.
"Oh that's right, thanks Ichi-nii! Breakfast is ready and we'll be waiting you downstairs." she turned to Rukia and added, "Hisana-san is already downstairs and she helped me get everything done!"
"So that's where she was!" Rukia thought, "Is that so?"
"Oh yes and she is really good at cooking!"
"She is, isn't she?" the young Kuchiki said more than asked as she looked at the floor with a small smile.
"Okay Yuzu, thanks! We'll be down in a few seconds." Ichigo interrupted again. "You should probably go and wake Karin and the old man up. But wait until we go down before waking him."
"Okay, Ichi-nii, just don't take too long or the food will get cold and it's better to eat now. Even if we heat it later, the taste still won't be the same." Yuzu said and turned to exit the room. "See you downstairs, Rukia-Chan!"
"Alright." and with that Yuzu left and closed the door behind her.
Rukia started at the door for awhile before a voice brought her back to reality.
"Come on, let's go downstairs!" it was Ichigo and he was already walking towards the door.
The girl blinked once, then twice and turned to the bed to take her phone and headphones as he exited the room.
"Come on, midget! Move those short legs of yours!"
Rukia was sure he was smiling, more like smirking outside in the corridor as he said that. She was going to yell at him when she realized that was probably what he wanted her to do and decided for the next better thing. "He wants to play, huh? I'll show him! No one can call Kuchiki Rukia short and live peacefully after that!" She grabbed her phone along with her headphones and followed him out of the room. Rukia was right, the boy was leaning on the wall and there was that smirk she started disliking only after the few hours they spent together. But she was so not letting it pass that easy.
With her head up high Rukia quickly passed him and headed to the stairs which obviously led to the lower part of the house. As she was at the stairs, Rukia turned to look at the boy who had just started walking towards her. The smirk was still present on his face but that wasn't going to last long.
"Looks like your looong legs aren't making you any faster than me…Strawberry."
Rukia watched as his smirk died and that scowl of his returned again. But before he could say or do anything, the raven head ran down the stairs with a smirk of her own.
"Hey, wait up! I told you last night, it's not that!" Ichigo yelled and stormed after the girl.
# # # # # #
"I knew they would get along perfectly!" Kurosaki Isshin said cheerfully.
"But Ichi-nii insulted her! He really needs to learn how to act around people!" Kurosaki Yuzu frowned at her brother.
"Can you guys let me go to the bathroom now?" another voice sounded in the room.
Kurosaki Isshin and his two daughters were currently in his room, the door opened slightly only enough for him and Yuzu to be able to peep out an eye to watch the situation playing in the corridor.
"Oh my sweet daughter still has a lot to learn about boys!" Isshin said with the same cheerful voice as he hugged Yuzu tightly.
"Oi, old goat, let go of Yuzu and let me pass! I'm hungry and I want breakfast!" and with that said Isshin was off of his daughter and rubbing his head.
"Ouch! Karin-Chan is so mean today! What did I ever do to deserve this?" the man said with teary eyes.
"Oh shut up already and hurry up! I'm gonna wash up and I'm going downstairs to eat!"
"Okay, Karin-Chan! We'll see you there!" Yuzu answered.
"Okay." and with that the only ones left in the room were Yuzu and Isshin who was still rubbing his head.
# # # # # #
In another room on the same floor, Kuchiki Byakuya was gathering his stuff to go and wash up.
"So that is Ichigo. Kurosaki Ichigo."
# # # # # #
"Nee-san! Good morning!" Rukia greeted a smiling Hisana.
"Good morning, sweetie! How did you sleep?" her sister greeted back.
"Okay, I guess."
"Hey!" Ichigo's voice sounded from outside the room and in the next moment he was right behind Rukia. "I told you to–"
Kurosaki Ichigo couldn't say a word. Rukia had somehow found the way to the kitchen, probably because of the wonderful aroma coming from it, and he had followed her quickly but the moment he entered it was like he was in one of those rooms filled with mirrors in the circus. In his kitchen were now standing not one but two raven-haired females. For Ichigo it felt like he was looking at a copy of the girl he had met just a few hours ago, an older version of Rukia. It was almost impossible for people to think of them as twins because there was an obvious age difference and they also weren't a mother and a daughter so that didn't leave many options.
"Oh, good morning!" Hisana greeted immediately after the boy showed up behind her sister. "I see you've already met my sister, Rukia. I'm Kuchiki Hisana, it's a pleasure." and she bowed.
"Kurosaki Ichigo, pleased to meet you." the boy bowed back and added to himself "So they're sisters? They look almost the same."
"We should probably wait for the others and then we can start the breakfast!" Hisana made her way to the table, "Yuzu-Chan went upstairs to you wake you guys up."
"Yeah, she came but we were already awake." Ichigo informed.
"What's for breakfast, nee-san, it smells lovely!" asked Rukia sniffing the air.
"Pancakes!" Hisana answered with a smile.
But before her sister could say anything a happy Isshin flied in the room with two girls after him, Yuzu being one as Rukia noticed.
"Pancakes! My dear Yuzu makes the best pancakes in the world!" he yelled. "Good morning Hisana-san, you look wonderful today."
"Why thank you, Isshin-san, that's very kind of you." Hisana greeted back with her smile.
"It's the truth," turning to Rukia he said, "And good morning to you to Rukia-chan, our first meeting last night wasn't so pleasant, thanks to someone" glancing at Ichigo who just glared at his dad, "but I hope we can forget about that?" he finished.
It instantly hit Rukia:
"Oh, you're the person with the bear pajamas!"
Everyone was quiet before Yuzu started giggling and Ichigo and the other girl just shacked their heads.
"Yes, that was me!" Isshin beamed and hugged Rukia tightly, "Please call me Isshin, no call me daddy and you can be my third daughter… and who knows maybe later even my daughter-in-law!" he said cheerfully while almost suffocating a now embarrassed Rukia.
"Shut up, you goat and let her go, she can't breathe!" Ichigo yelled and detached his father from the raven-haired girl. There was a small tinge of red visible on his face, "And stop scaring our guests!"
"I'm not scaring them! I'm just sharing my dreams with them!" he said to his son with a childish pout on his face which turned into a silly grin when he looked at the still blushing Rukia.
"Well keep your dreams to yourself!" Ichigo yelled again.
He didn't bother glancing at Rukia, she was probably still blushing and he was sure he was quite red himself. Damn his father and his crazy behavior.
"Well anyway" the dark-haired girl broke the awkward silence, "I think we still haven't met. My name is Kurosaki Karin."
"Oh that's right, we were never really introduced!" Hisana answered, "Nice to meet you Karin-chan, if I may? I'm Kuchiki Hisana and this is my sister, Rukia." she said nodding her head towards Rukia.
Rukia, glad that the team of the conversation was changed, bowed slightly and greeted the girl:
"It's a pleasure to meet you… Karin-chan…" and as the other girl nodded lightly she continued, "I'm Kuchiki Rukia."
"Well, now that we've all been introduced, how about we got eat that breakfast? I'm starving!" Isshin asked with his cheerful voice once more, "And maybe my precious third daughter and her loving sister can sit next to me?" and in an instant he was between Rukia and Hisana and had taken both their hands in his.
Before Ichigo could try and remove his father from the two slightly surprised now siblings, Yuzu interrupted:
"But daddy, you said we were going to have three guests? Where is the third one?" she looked around.
"Oh, that would be Byakuya but he is still asleep, we can start without him." Hisana answered.
"Great! Let's g–" but Isshin never had the chance to finish.
"Now that won't be very polite, now would it, Hisana?" a cold, mind freezing voice came from the other room.
A gasp came from Yuzu's mouth, Karin's face was as bored as ever, Isshin frowned, Hisana's and Rukia's eyes went to the direction of the voice, Rukia had a strange look on her face, but Ichigo decided to ignore it and he himself looked at the same direction with narrowed eyes.
A man dressed in a white shirt and black dress pants entered the kitchen. "Dress pants? Where is he going?" Ichigo thought before looking at the man closely.
He had long black hair, going a little beneath his shoulders with cold grey eyes. His gaze was piercing and his face was clear of any emotion what so ever. His aura emitted confidence, superiority and power. Something in him could make you shiver just from his presence without even looking in his eyes.
Ichigo regarded the man as he got further in the room and went to Hisana's side. On the way his eyes met Ichigo's and the boy was almost absolutely sure that he saw hostility in them, no idea why though, and the orange-head frowned deeper, his blush long gone.
"I would appreciate it if you let go my wife's and my sister's arm now, Kurosaki!" Byakuya's voice was demanding and something like venom could be detected in his speech.
"And there goes our peaceful, happy breakfast!" Isshin sulked. "Couldn't you have slept a little more Byakuya? Why do you want to ruin our fun?"
"I highly doubt that your definition of fun matches everyone else's'." Byakuya said nonchalantly. "And your hands seam to not have moved." he lowered his eyes to where the oldest Kurosaki was still holding onto Rukia's and Hisana's hands.
"I'm not letting go!" Isshin screeched. "These lovely ladies promised they'll sit next me!"
"No we didn't." the passed through Rukia's head and she looked back at her brother since she had averted her gaze to the man holding her arm tighter now the moment he yelled.
Byakuya's face was still emotionless but it was clear to the wife and sister that if something wasn't done soon, this could end badly. Byakuya was a scary man when he got mad not that they had seen him like that very often… or at all. Maybe just a few times.
Hisana was the first to speak next:
"Well, a promise is a promise and we should better get to the table before the food gets cold!"
The silly grin was back on Isshin's face when he heard her words.
"Oh yes! It won't be as yummy!" Yuzu suddenly said, "Come on daddy, let's go eat breakfast!"
"Right! Let's go, Yuzu-chan! Karin-chan!" added Hisana.
Isshin's grin just grew wider and he looked at Byakuya with a glint in his eyes that said "Ha! I win!" After that he tugged Rukia and Hisana towards the table, Yuzu and Karin following suit.
Ichigo hadn't moved and nor had Byakuya. The boy was still looking at the black-haired man who was silently observing the rest of the people in the kitchen or more specifically the man who was now sitted between the two Kuchiki sisters.
Suddenly Ichigo's eyes met the cold grey ones of the person in front of him.
"Man, this guy is creepy!" thankfully he didn't say that out loud.
"Kurosaki Ichigo." it seemed as Byakuya's voice was even colder than before but Ichigo wasn't one to who could get scared that easily. He kept his stance while answering.
"That's me. Welcome to our home." he gave a barely visible nod to the man.
"I can't say it's a pleasure to be here and I will make sure we don't stay too long but, all I can say is – I'm watching you… Kurosaki Ichigo!"
That sounded awfully like a threat to Ichigo but he really had no idea what the man meant by those words. What had he done wrong? They had just met, Ichigo hadn't said anything to insult him yet or his family and he hadn't started a fight or broken anything so why was that man talking to him like that.
He wasn't given the chance to answer when Hisana's voice interrupted them:
"Byakuya, don't be mean to the boy. He hasn't done anything–"
"Yet." Her husband put in simply.
"Just come here to eat, we're all waiting for you two, you know." Her voice hadn't lost its gentleness at all.
Byakuya kept his eyes at Ichigo for a few moments longer before sighing lightly and making his way to the table.
Yuzu had sit on Hisana's other side, Isshin still being between her and Rukia, and Karin was next to her sister. There were two more free chairs – one beside Rukia and the other opposite Isshin. Byakuya was determined to sit next to the young girl but was stopped when Isshin finally had his attention on his friend.
"Ah, Byakuya, I saved you the place opposite me! Only the heads of the families get to sit there!" he wiggled his brows and had an inviting grin on his face.
"I'm not interested the slightest about what you have or what you are doing. I'll sit next to Rukia." his cold voice answered.
"Byakuya, let the kids sit together… to get to know each other better…" Hisana's pleading eyes always made her husband back off. He could never say "no" to her. There were probably a few occasions when those eyes wouldn't work on him but they could easily be counted on the fingers… of only one of your hands.
"I don't see why they have to get to know each other…" he sighed "but I'll do it anyway."
Hisana smiled at her husband and Isshin grinned.
"Come on son! Sit to the lovely Rukia-chan! We're all waiting for you, you know!" he called.
"No one asked you to wait!" Ichigo said back as he came to the table and sat next to Rukia.
"Okay, now that we're all here, let's begin breakfast!" Yuzu cheered and any attempts of her father to say anything back to the orange-head teen.
# # # # # #
Breakfast had gone less boring and awkward than Rukia thought it would. Normally she didn't like to talk much to people she didn't know and wasn't really a very sociable person. She had her goals in life, her understandings and she didn't like people going through her life, jugging her, trying to tutor her how to live.
Rukia had a little world of her own where she could go whenever she sad, angry, devastated or even happy. She didn't have many friends in school, not only because they moved a lot, but also because she didn't feel it was needed. All the school she had been to where the same. The kids only cared about looks and money. The girls interested more on their clothing than what they had in their heads and the boys also interested in the girls' clothes… or exactly how short and skimpy they were.
It wasn't that Rukia had something against dressing well, on the contrary, she approved people who knew how to dress and weren't only trying to look like the models in magazines… or like strippers.
Rukia had her own style – she wore whatever she liked and felt comfortable in. She was quite pleased whenever people were looking at her and what she wore, not that it was provocative and extravagant but because it was unique, fresh and totally her.
But despite everything mentioned above, Rukia actually enjoyed breakfast with the Kurosaki family. Something that rarely or should she say never happened when she was just with her sister and brother. Byakuya was always silent while eating his meals and no matter how hard his wife tried to start a conversation all his answers were short. The two sisters eventually stopped trying to make him speak and talked only between themselves but the conversations were never as lively as they were now.
Isshin was asking so many questions – random questions – that Rukia was amazed how he could have eaten so much when he hardly stopped talking. He had asked about their last house – where it was, did they like it, did Hisana have a job, what they thought about the town, were their neighbors nice, how old Rukia was, did she miss her friends, did she have a boyfriend… Most or all of the questions concerned the two black-haired sisters, like Isshin was not at all interested in Byakuya but the head of the Kuchiki family didn't seem to mind. His eyes had just narrowed the slightest when Isshin asked Rukia the boyfriend question.
When Yuzu listed all the things they could eat their breakfast with Rukia decided it was time to irritate the orange-head next to her.
"Yuzu-chan, could you please pass me the strawberry jam?" she asked in her sweet voice.
"Of course!" Yuzu handed her the jar, a smile on her face, "You like strawberries? So do I!"
"Oh, I love strawberries!" she stretched out the words as she felt the boy's hands next to her grip his utensils. She fought back a smirk.
"So Rukia-chan, how old are you? You seem to be around my son's age…" even though he already knew the answer Isshin hadn't forgotten his promise to the older Kuchiki sister.
"Oh, I'm 17." Rukia answered after swallowing a small cut piece of her strawberry pancake.
"She just turned them this February." Hisana added.
"Oh that means you're just one year younger than Ichigo! He'll be 18 in July!" Isshin beamed for an unknown reason to Rukia. "You probably miss your friends, don't you?" he asked next.
"Oh…" that was always a hard question for her but with the time she learned to ignore the feeling which bugged her in the beginning, "We weren't really that close for me to really miss them."
"Well I'm sure you'll make a lot of new friends here!" he cheered. "My son has really nice friends… though I always wonder how they still stand him."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ichigo barked from next to Rukia but his father ignored him.
"So Rukia-chan… do you have any boyfriend you left behind?"
"Ah…" that one she really didn't expect, "ah… well… not really… I-I'm not… not really interested in that." she kept her eyes at the plate in front of her and the food inside it.
"Perfect!" all eyes were suddenly on Isshin. "That you don't have a boyfriend, that is! You want feel bad for leaving him behind." he answered while looking at her slightly wide eyes.
"I guess you're right." the girl mumbled quietly and left her fork and knife neatly in the dish noting she was finished.
Seeing that, Isshin turned his eyes towards his son.
"Ichigo, my boy, since you've finished eating why don't you take Rukia-chan and show her around town?" his smirk was right there again.
"Who said I was finish–"
"That's a great idea, daddy!" Yuzu interrupted her brother. "Rukia-chan, you're absolutely going to love Karakura town!" turning to Ichigo, "Come on brother, hurry up! Don't waste any time! You have so much to show to Rukia-chan!"
Ichigo just looked at his sister for a moment, snorted, dropped his utensils in his empty dish and rose from his chair.
"Alright. Come on then… midget." he flashed Rukia a grin as he began to walk out of the kitchen.
Yuzu had awed, Karin remained bored though she did glance at Rukia; Byakuya had his emotionless face as always… and Hisana and Isshin were looking at the small girl.
Rukia was annoyed but knew better. She shouldn't let her anger get the best of her, especially when her brother was in the same room.
She took a deep breath and also rose walking after the orange-head.
"Coming… strawberry." she spat the word but was still careful with Byakuya's presence.
Hisana smiled and Isshin and Karin grinned when they heard a grumble come from Ichigo who had stopped little after exiting the kitchen.
"Thank you for the breakfast, Yuzu-chan! It was delicious!" Rukia bowed her head lightly and exited.
"Ah, you're welcome!" Yuzu called back, a small blush visible on her face.
Rukia and Ichigo just glared at each other before walking to the front door.
"I think I might be sharing your dreams, Isshin-san." Hisana said with a smile on her face while watching the two teens walk away.
"Great!" Isshin cheered happily. "I already have an idea!"
"What dreams?" Byakuya questioned calmly but was completely ignored by his wife as she was now feverishly conversing with Isshin. He decided to let it slip, after all, Isshin dreams couldn't be that interesting… right?
A/N: Ah, finally! I didn't want this to take so long but there were a few days… I took a break from writing. Hehe *sweatdrop*
But this chapter is supposed to be the longest so far. ^_^
Anyways, I hope you guys like, this chapter is was kind of hard because I don't really like introductions and I felt like I have so many things to put in but didn't want to make it too long and boring.
I'll try to update faster… or… maybe I won't update at all… I'm not really sure… there's a lot of things I want to think over.
Rukes: Glad to hear you like it.
Anna Haruno: Aww! Thank you! Readers like are so awesome, I'm really glad you're interested in my story. ^_^
KuroKuchiki: Thanks! I'm glad you like it and you're actually continuing to read it.
I would only like to say once more that English isn't my native language and I hope the mistakes aren't severe.
Enjoy! ^_^
03.07 – 18.07.2010
SakuraNoKaze