Previously on Bridge the Gap, Kyoukan!
Tatsuki storms off in anger. Jesa starts berating herself for causing the stress, but is told not to be ridiculous by a clear, but seemingly distant, voice. Ichigo, Rukia, Sado, Orihime, and Ishida dash off to take care of a hollow. Meanwhile, now back in the classroom, Jesa is about to tell Mizuiro and Keigo what has been going on with Ichigo, when Tatsuki shows up at the door. Tatsuki and Jesa clear things up between them, and Jesa tells the other three about shinigami, hollows, the Gotei 13, etc. Jesa is about to show them the manga, using Mizuiro's phone, when class is started up again. After school, Jesa asks Ichigo to walk her home, since she's still trying to learn her way around, and Rukia gets a message from Urahara, requesting that Jesa come to his shop for training with her new powers.
Chapter 7: A Brother and a Brat
"Hey, Mom, I'm home!" I called as I opened the front door. At a normal volume, I asked Ichigo and Rukia, "Well? Coming in or not?"
"Oh, I just couldn't intrude..." Rukia said, all sweetly.
I sighed exasperatedly. "Cut it out, Rukia. You're not fooling me. Come on. You can stick your stuff on the steps if you want," I said, gesturing in the general direction of the front staircase. "I'll be right back. I have to make sure Mom's okay with me going to Urahara's. You can come and meet my mom, or you can wait here. Either way's fine."
"I'll wait here," Ichigo said, sounding a bit worried for some reason.
"That's fine." I shrugged. "Rukia?"
She smiled. "I'll come. She's gotta be saner than Ichigo's dad."
I laughed. "Definitely saner."
"Mom, is it okay if I go hang out with some new friends for the afternoon?" I asked, knocking on the open doorway of what would become her craft room.
Mom paused in unpacking the various craft supplies from one of the boxes. "Promise me you'll spend some time organizing your room later, and I'll let you go."
"Thanks," I said, hugging her. "Oh, by the way, Mom, remember the dream I was telling you about this morning? How I came across Ichigo and Rukia and the other Bleach characters?" I started bouncing a bit in my excitement. "And my necklace turned into their swords?"
"Yes, why?" she asked, a bit amused.
"'Cause it wasn't a dream!" I nearly shouted in my excitement, grinning widely. "Mom, this is Rukia." Rukia came up and bowed. "Rukia-chan, my mom."
"Pleasure to meet you, ma'am," Rukia said.
Mom nodded back. As Rukia and I turned to go, Mom called my name. As I turned back towards her, I felt a mix of concern and pride coming from her. "Be careful, Jesa. Call me if you aren't going to be home for dinner."
"Okey-doke. Love ya," I said, hugging her again. I was so caught up in the excitement of the last couple of days that I didn't stop to think about why she'd believe that my "dream" had actually happened.
"I love you more," she answered with a smile.
I chuckled as Rukia and I went back to the living room, to find Ichigo having a staring contest with a boy. The kid had short brown hair, brown eyes, a scowl that could almost rival Ichigo's, and the local middle school uniform.
"Ichigo, Jensen! What's the problem?" I asked my friend and my brother.
"You know this guy, Jesa?!" Jensen asked.
"Uh, yeah. Duh! He's in my class. And he lives next door. And didn't you hear what I called him? How many guys do you know of with the name 'Ichigo'?" I answered, flicking my brother on the arm in annoyance.
Jensen looked at Ichigo. "It's real?" he asked, shocked more than he was letting on. I could tell. I have empathy.
"Oi, I'm not an 'it'!" Ichigo said, annoyance not hidden. "That's Kon!"
I may not like Kon, but still... "Ichigo! Just because Kon's in the body of a stuffed lion usually, that doesn't make him an 'it'!" I scolded. "And I don't think my brother was referring to you as an it. He meant your anime and manga." I clarified. "Right, Jensen?"
"This guy's your brother?" Ichigo asked, pointing a thumb at Jensen.
"Yes, Ichigo, Jensen is my brother. And, yes, he knows about Bleach."
Jensen spoke up, arms crossed in front of him. "I'm not as obsessed with it as Jesa, though. Man, she's crazy."
"Jensen~!" I whined. "I'm not crazy about it!"
"Yeah, at least not as much as some of your friends back home," he conceded, rolling his eyes. "I think some of them even had an exact duplicate of the girl's sword!"
Rukia had decided to stay out of it so far, but when she was mentioned, she jumped in. "You mean this?" She manifested Sode no Shirayuki, despite being in her gigai.
Jensen merely nodded, speechless.
After a whole five minutes of silence, Rukia's phone buzzing startled all four of us. She dematerialized her zanpakuto, pulled the phone from her pocket, and pouted as she read the text. "Jesa-chan, Urahara-dono is wondering where we are. We'd better go."
"Yeah, you're right," I said to Rukia. I lazily waved to my brother and said, "See ya later, kiddo." After checking to make sure I still had my necklace with me, I followed Ichigo and Rukia out the door.
"Hey, Ichigo, Rukia-chan, wanna help me prank Jensen later?" I asked with a smirk, a few minutes into our walk. Ichigo tensed. "N-nothing dangerous, I wouldn't hurt my little brother, no matter how much he annoys me," I quickly added in what I hoped was a reassuring tone, shaking my head.
"What would it involve?" he asked, relieved I wasn't going against his older-sibling-protects-the-younger-ones code.
"I dunno. That's part of why I wanted help... To get some good ideas." I shrugged. "So, any suggestions?"
"I'm not much of a prankster, usually," Ichigo said, rubbing the back of his head. "Rukia, think Renji might have some good ideas?"
Somehow, even with her eyes closed in thought, Rukia could still avoid tripping over bumps in the sidewalk and other obstacles. "Hm, he might. No harm asking, right?"
"Ha, I can't wait to meet the pineapple!" I cheered.
The rest of the walk passed in comfortable silence. When we arrived at Urahara's shop, Jinta, that brat... He was pulling on Ururu's bangs! I didn't have to ask to know that Ichigo and Rukia were less than happy about it, too. I snuck up behind Jinta and whispered, "Boo!"
"Yaaaaaaahhh! Who's there?!" he shrieked. He did let go of Ururu's bangs, at least.
"Ouch, quiet down! I have sensitive ears!" I moaned. "Jinta, I'm a friend of Ichigo and Rukia's. Urahara wanted me to stop by after school today."
"Oh. Whatever." His attempt at acting cool made me chuckle.
"Ururu-chan, are you okay?" I asked, crouching down to her level. "I saw what he did to you. He's so mean, isn't he?" I frowned in Jinta's direction.
"Oh, don't worry about me. I'll be fine, Onee-san," Ururu replied politely.
"I'm Jesa. Use the honorifics if you want, but I'm not really used to them." I smiled. "You're a really sweet kid, ya know that?" My smile turned to a grin when she blushed a bit.
"Jesa-chan," Rukia said. "Urahara's waiting for us in the basement."
"Oh, right." I stood up. "Nice to meet you, Ururu-chan," I said as I tousled her hair a bit, and then entered the shop.
A/N: Thanks to Apocalyxtic98 for beta reading.
Reviews are always appreciated, but I won't beg for them.
