Ichigo and Rukia walk back from school in a bearable silence. Ichigo sighs and throws his bag over his shoulder, angry and upset that his personal hell has restarted for the year. Rukia, on the other hand, smiles to herself as she walks next to Ichigo with her bag behind her back.
"When do you have gym next, Ichigo?"
Ichigo looks over to Rukia, "Uh…it's every other day, so Wednesday. Why? What's up?"
Rukia smirks, "Nothing, nothing…just curious. It was…good reading time."
Ichigo rolls his eyes and thinks nothing of it, continuing the walk to his house with an empty mind. Rukia, in contrast, muses on her only real excitement of the day.
"You like school so far?"
"Yes, it's very enjoyable."
"Really…I think it's a bore. That's why I skip."
"What is skipping, Abarai-kun?"
Renji sighs loudly, obviously annoyed, "I can tell if you're acting or not. Get serious with me or I'll leave you alone here."
Rukia looks at him nervously but then takes a breath, "All right, baka, what does skipping class mean?"
"There you go," Renji leans back,crossing his arms, "It's when you leave class without permission and don't come back."
"Why do you do that?"
"Cuz I'm bored…" Renji says bluntly, "School's a drag. Who wants to deal with it? But anyway, why are you skipping if you don't know what it is?"
"I'm not skipping, I'm just not taking gym," Rukia says, sitting across from Renji, "Some requirement I don't have."
Renji nods silently. Rukia joins the silence, until her patience is gone.
"How did you know about me?"
"Everyone knows about you. It's not every day someone's in the same situation as you."
Rukia nods and turns her gaze to the wall.
"They call me weird?"
"Ah, no, no, uh…well…" Renji stutters in a panic, realizing the situation, "they just think that…um…you're different I guess."
"Everyone thinks that…"
Renji gulps, "Rukia…"
"Don't worry, Renji," she looks up smiling, "I really don't care what people say about me either way…"
Renji sighs in relief and chuckles. "I like you Rukia…" he says. The two of them look up when they hear the bell ring. "Crap, I gotta go. I'll meet you here next time, okay Rukia?"
"All right, see ya Renji," she says as he gets up and walks out of the room.
"Rukia…Rukia…Rukia!!!"
Rukia is pushed out her thoughts when she hears Ichigo's voice, and see his face right in front of her. Rukia slaps him.
"Baka! What do you think you're doing?!"
"Ow! Tryin' to get your damn attention!! We're here!" he yells, gripping his face. Rukia looks up and sees their house.
"Oh…all right…"
Rukia nonchalantly walks into the house with a slouching Strawberry following behind her. They kick off their shoes at the door and walk into the surprisingly noisy kitchen.
"Ichi-nii, Rukia-chan…how was your day at school?" Yuzu asks, half her body in the refrigerator.
"Eh, same thing as last year…" Ichigo replies unenthusiastically, plopping down on a chair.
"Well, it wasn't for Rukia-chan!" Yuzu responds, waving her wooden spoon, "How was yourday Rukia-chan?"
"It was very interesting. I learned a lot and met very…interesting people."
"If you're talkin' about Keigo, sorry 'bout that. He's an ass…but you sorta just learn how to live with it."
Rukia laughs as Yuzu walks over with a platter of food.
"I made you guys some cookies for your first day of school. I hope you like them."
"Thank you Yuzu-chan," Rukia smiles.
"Yeah thanks. You finished your homework, right?" Yuzu nods, "Fine then," Ichigo sighs, "You're good."
Yuzu smiles and runs into the back yard, joining Karin. Rukia grins.
"You have such a nice family, Ichigo."
Ichigo shrugs, "I guess…"
They sit in silence and eat the cookies until Rukia opens her mouth.
"Do you know a person name Renji Abarai?" Rukia asks, wiping her face with a napkin.
Ichigo looks up from his plate, "Yeah. Same age as us but in a different class, right? Why do you care?"
"N-no reason…some of the girls were talking about him. Heard he has some crazy tattoos…"
Ichigo rolls his eyes, "He's just another thug in another gang. He's just trouble. And who the hell gets tattoos in high school anyway? He's crazy."
"Doesn't Chad-san have tattoos?"
Ichigo looks away, "Chad's different…" he mumbles.
"If you say so baka," Rukia stands up, smoothing out her skirt, "Come on…we have to do our homework."
Ichigo and Rukia find themselves walking to school again, the same as they did the day before. Rukia stares up at all the trees and looks at all the people, as if she hadn't done it the day before. Ichigo sighs at this, still not totally understanding her.
Renji looks over from the side of the building to see Ichigo and Rukia standing in front of the school. He didn't really notice Ichigo however; his eyes were focused on the shorter, violet eyed girl next to him. Renji quickly looks himself over, pulling at his shirt and smoothing his pants before starting to walk over.
"Hahahah, look at this! Renji's trying to impress a girl!"
Renji quickly turns around, his face red in embarrassment, "Oi Ikkaku, what the hell're you saying?! I'm not doing anything!!"
"Yeah, yeah, that's why you're staring at a girl and makin' yourself look nice," Ikkaku grins, walking out of the shadows of the building with a group of people. He's holding a wooden sword, "Don't get any ideas Renji…"
The group looks over to see who Renji was looking at. One boy starts laughing hysterically.
"It's the Kuchiki!! The crazy Kuchiki girl!!" Unbelievable Renji! Unbelievable!!" Yumichika laughs, holding his stomach.
Renji grabs his collar and holds him against the wall, "She's not crazy. She's perfectly fine!"
"Now, now everyone. I think it's great that our little Renji's in love…go for it Renji," Matsumoto says, giving him the thumbs up. Renji drops Yumichika, who's still laughing.
"Rangiku!! Shut up!!"
"Yeah guys, just stop," Ikkaku says, facing Renji, "Go over to her Renji…let's see what you can do…"
Renji sighs, glares at his so-called 'friends', and walks over to where Rukia is. He comes up next to her.
"Hey Rukia," he says coolly. He can still hear Yumichika laughing behind him.
"Oh, hi Renji…ah, wait there…" she says and runs away for a moment. Renji starts to sweat.
"Great job. Ya scared her away!!" Ikkaku yells from the back. Renji doesn't turn around but waits for Rukia to come back, dragging a tall man behind her.
"Ichigo…this is my new friend Renji. Renji," she looks over to him, "This is Ichigo Kurosaki…"
The boys stand there in silence for a moment staring, to be exact glaring, at each other. Ichigo's wearing an intensified version of his average scowl while Renji just stares back, trying to beat his. And after a few seconds…
"Hey, name's Renji."
Ichigo wins.
"Ichigo. Nice ta meet ya," Ichigo says, stuffing his hands in his pockets. They stand there in an awkward silence until Rukia sighs.
"My mother was right…men really are buffoons, aren't they?"
They both look down at her, surprised at her talking about her mother in public. She rolls her eyes.
"Come on Ichigo, we'll be late…I'll see you around, Renji," she waves as she walks towards the school. Ichigo stays in front of Renji for another moment, not following Rukia.
"Watch out, Abarai…"
Renji scowls, "And I'd watch out if I were you too, Strawberry."
Ichigo doesn't look back as he turns around and follows Rukia. Renji keeps his feet planted and furrows his brow.
"Wow…our Renji's got some competition…" Matsumoto comments, patting Renji on the shoulder.
Yumichika walks up next to him as well, "This should be fun to watch, right Ikkaku…"
Ikakku sighs, "Not really…I don't care about this crap…Renji. Don't drag us down with ya, got it?" Ikakku says, not looking at Renji as he passes, "Let's get goin'…the bell's gonna ring."
The group walks into the school, leaving Renji outside. After minutes of silence, Renji grins and stuffs his hands into his pockets, walking towards the building just when the bell rings. He walks through the school doors with the same grin on his face.
"Bring it."
This chapter was a pain. I just got back from vacation and was like oh I have to write. Attempt at character development=fail. I thought the whole Ikkaku Yunichika Matsumoto Renji thing was funny tho. All and all, boring chapter...I'll try to think of something better.