A/N: Okay, plot thickens.
It's summer, so lots of free time, but can't guarantee frequent updates. Up to a certain point, writing becomes an involuntary act, the characters suddenly come alive and act with a will of their own. The Ichigo/Rukia pair especially gives me quite a head ache.
With that, I also begin to realize that none of these characters are quite the forces of pure goodness and righteousness that I'd like to believe. So, the story quite likely will start to take a turn toward the darker side of human nature.
But again, it's a pleasure to write and hear your feedbacks.
Please enjoy and review.
Not quite living the same love story.
When Rukia got into the car that afternoon, she could tell something was not right by Ichigo's face, whose jaw was tensely set. She shut the door and closed the two of them off in the unnerving silence inside the car.
"How was school?"
Even though the words were addressed to her, Ichigo's eyes were fixed directly ahead.
"It was fine." She answered slowly, pacing herself so that he would not hear the slight waver in her voice. It was no use, she could never say what he would not allow her to say or do what he would not let her do, not even dying.
"That's not what your teacher told me." Ichigo suddenly whipped around to face her. "What were you doing outside of school? Where were you?"
Rukia was taken aback by the edge in his voice, finding her back literally backed against the car door. She could only look at him with panic, not only because she could not find a suitable cover story, but also because she could feel her tongue suddenly seized, unable to utter a single sound. Once again she was reminded that she was merely a puppet in that man's hand, the strings that pulled her along creating a crude semblance of life.
"I came by this morning to drop off your ID card, and the office told me that you miss class at least once a week. I can't say for before I met you, but since you started living with me I thought you went to school every day. I-" Ichigo paused to reflect what he really wanted to say, "I don't know how to protect you this way."
It suddenly occurred to him how naked the words sounded, so he added with a cough, "I am responsible for you now."
Rukia's body could not move, so she could only look out the window in desperate wait for Ichigo to drop the subject. The sudden shake of the car a while later told her that he had started the engine and felt him turn onto the road, meaning that he must have taken her silence to be cold refusal. Why not, she thought, why not let him think that if she was simply a ward of his.
Ichigo felt very old and very young at the same time. With a dread he feared what Ishida said might be coming true before his very eyes, that he was becoming a tyrannical father of hers. But again, it was as if life had not prepared him well enough nor had given him time to learn enough tact to handle a situation of such.
He wished that he could look past his reason and trust her, since she was after all only a child. But the strip of paper that he had found underneath the desk in the apartment made him unsettled. On it was an address, one that he remembered on one of the files that he had just laid out that morning for Urahara and Ishida. Miyako Fujisawa was found there last week.
It was not hard telling himself that it was only a coincidence though, as the address pointed to a residential street that could easily have been where a classmate lived and invited her to visit. To further reassure himself, he pointed out in his mind that it was inconsistent with the body of evidence that Rukia might be involved in the attacks as it was becoming clear that she herself was the target.
At that thought, whatever was boiling to the brim inside of him subsided to make way for the familiar thought.
I have to protect her.
"I'm afraid that we won't be able to count on Kurosaki much in the days to come." Ishida sighed as he sat with Urahara at a makeshift bar outside the train station.
"It wouldn't do any of us any good to force anything on him at the moment. But between the two of us, I've heard of some peculiar maneuvers on the Soul Society's part recently."
Ishida gave him a look that signaled him to continue.
"Central Room 46 has undergone a massive shuffle. The most senior members like Tsukinoe, Sawatari and Itoh were pulled out to make place for some new recruits. The official line is that there needs to be some new blood to prevent what had happened last time, but the rule changes and sealing off the central library were completely unnecessary. Communications between squads and stationing of shinigami in the real world now require permission of Central Room 46."
"Sounds like they are trying to keep people in the dark."
"Yep. With communications between squads are sealed off, mostly importantly that of Squad 4, as they keep an eye on the operations of Soul Society, there's very little I can know for sure."
"So Soul Society can have no idea of what's going on here in the real world?"
"Probably not, and maybe someone wants to keep it that way."
"How much could Aizen have recovered in these fifteen years?" Ishida suddenly asked, remembering the conversation between him and Ichigo.
Urahara shot him a stern glance, as if by just bringing up his name Ishida was disturbing the fragile peace bought with blood.
"I wouldn't know, maybe a lot, maybe not at all. There's not enough signs to point it toward him as of yet. It's too easy to blame an enemy we already know. The better question at the moment is who is this Rukia and where did she come from. That might better help to shine some light on the matter."
"We all saw her die all those years ago – "
"But her zanpakuto didn't disappear."
"It was shattered in two."
"That was merely its physical form, the fact that it didn't entirely disappear meant something was still there. Byakuya was the one who salvaged the pieces in the end."
"What's so special about her that you chose her to be Hougyoku's vessel back then?" Ishida asked the persistent question.
"No reason, it was an accident." Urahara downed whatever was left in his cup and stood up from the stool. "I'll try to keep Inoue-chan in the wraps."
And with that he walked away into the night.
It is not just the bad guys that have something to hide, you know.
A distant howl roused Shirayuki from her sleep. Opening her eyes to the not yet white horizon, she heard a bustle around the house that was alien to the heavy night before dawn. Bursting out of the door, she stopped a frantic servant and got the news that demons were trying to break the seal on Hakuyama.
A shiver caught her, realizing that the fated day was coming far too soon.
Tearing past all the people trying to stop her, Shirayuki barely had time to catch sight of her father in the courtyard, shrouded in gears that would prove to be insubstantial before Zangetsu. It was her father after all, who was able to pull her to a reluctant stop with one swipe of his arm.
"Where are you going."
"Stopping him."
"Are you out of your mind? I allowed you to play around with him, but never thought you're serious enough to actually take his word to heart. Do you really think that he was training you to make you stronger?"
"I will be the one to kill him, I don't know how, but I will. He gave me his word."
Shirayuki knew she could not make her father understand. She could not even convince herself at that moment that she was in any position to say these words. But she could not let her father die there, where the snow never melts and the wind never stops. So with a jerk, her father was forced to release her arm and watch pensively at the storm that soon swallowed her figure.
What she arrived at the mouth of the cave, she was taken aback by the dense cloud of demons that hovered above. Zangetsu's lone figure was standing on the cliff, unmoving. With a clench of her teeth, Shirayuki drew her sword and shot down toward him. But Zangetsu was unfazed by the cold blade that rested on his neck.
Some demons made moves to attack Shirayuki, but retreated with a wave of Zangetsu's hand.
"What are you doing here?" He asked her plainly.
"To kill you."
"I don't have time to play with you right now." At that, Zangetsu made a move to take her sword from his neck. But before he could, Shirayuki jumped away and stood with her sword ready in front of him.
"You know I can't let you leave."
He studied her for a few moments, ignoring the eager demons above them. Zangetsu took a few steps forward and closed the distance between him and Shirayuki.
"I have to go somewhere. I'm sorry."
There was a visible quiver in her hand now, her sword only steadied when it was pressed against Zangetsu's chest and drawing blood. He could see a glisten in her eyes.
"I can't let you leave."
Hearing a sigh escape from Zangetsu's mouth and feeling something taking a hold of her sword, Shirayuki suddenly found herself in an embrace made warm by the liquid that was flowing endlessly from the chest that she was pressed up against.
"Zangetsu – "
"My life is yours for the taking. Not today, but I will come back to you one day. You can kill me then. I hope you do."
That was all she could remember before a thud on the back of her head made her sink into darkness. Suddenly the smell of the air and the movement of the fading stars across the lightening sky became painfully clear to her.
So this was the task that she was born to complete. Shirayuki could only laugh.
