And I've lost who I am
And I can't understand
Why my heart is so broken
Rejecting your love...There's a light
There's a sun, taking all the shattered ones
To the place, we belong…
~Shattered by Trading Yesterday
VII. Interwoven Pasts
"Times like this really make me wish I was more accustom to carrying around a camera," Rukia said with a slight smirk. Ichigo threw her a quick glare, but bit back his answer, not wanting to wake the sleeping boy he was currently carrying on his back. Hinamori was watching them with a wide smile.
"I think it's cute. I'm just glad we didn't have to wake him up, he's so grouchy when somebody makes him wake up—"
"Yeah, but you're just a little ball of sunshine, right Momo-san?"
Momo stuck her tongue out at Rukia, who laughed. "It's true," Yukiko piped up. She was giggling. "Whenever she wakes up fro school in the morning she's always really mean and she growls at us when we try to talk to her—"
"Hey Yukiko?"
"Yeah Nee-san?"
"Shut up."
Yukiko giggled, clearly pleased with herself.
They walked to Momo's house, still teasing the girl in the question. By the time they were standing on Momo's front step, said girl was blushing deep red and muttering about how everyone was against her. "Thank you so much for carrying him home, Kurosaki-kun," Momo said as she led Ichigo inside. Ichigo carefully laid Makoto on the couch.
"Sure, no problem." Ichigo paused for a moment, hesitating. "Thanks for…letting me tag along today."
"Any time." Momo grinned. "And that may come up a lot sooner than you expect, Makoto really likes you, next time we do an outing he'll probably be begging you to come along."
Ichigo's lips twitched into a small smile. "Hey, you two wanna be alone?" Rukia spoke up suddenly; she was leaning against the frame of the front door, watching them. "Because you know, I can leave…"
"Rukia-san," Momo rolled her eyes, smiling. Rukia smirked, clearly amused. "See you guys Monday."
"See ya," Rukia said as Ichigo muttered something of an assent. Momo was grinning as she watched the two leave. She had to admit, the two of them were kind of cute together…
"So you have to admit, today was pretty fun."
"Eh," Ichigo shrugged. He wasn't about to give Rukia the satisfaction of knowing she was right. Not that he really needed to.
"Fine, I'm right. I know I'm right. I don't need you to tell me."
"Well aren't we just full of ourselves?"
"Is it really considered being full of yourself if you are right?" Ichigo considered this for a minute.
"I think so," he said finally. "I mean, even if you're right, you have no proof, you're just assuming, and you're so confident in your answer…yeah, I think it's still considered being full of yourself."
Rukia considered this for a moment. "Hmn. Yeah, I suppose so. I'll have to look into that some time…"
Hisana peaked out the window as she sat down with her book, quite pleased to see her sister and their houseguest walking up the driveway, chatting quite animatedly. It was nice to see the two of them talking without yelling at each other.
I knew Rukia could be a good friend to him.
Hisana would be the first to admit that she'd brought Ichigo into the house for more than just getting a good mark on his record. She knew Ichigo, and she knew he didn't connect well with people. It was one of the many reasons he'd been ousted from so many foster homes. Rukia, on the other hand, was quite good at connecting with people (though her methods were admittedly questionable), and if she ever decided to be forthcoming about her own time spent in the system, Hisana knew her sister would be able to get Ichigo to trust her. It was impossible not to.
"Hey you two." Hisana put on a smile as Ichigo and Rukia walked into the house. "How was the lake? Momo-san's siblings drive you crazy, Kurosaki-kun?"
"Actually they really liked him," Rukia spoke up before Ichigo could answer. "Makoto's probably going to ask his parents tonight if they can adopt Ichigo, kid loved him that much."
"Ha. Ha," Ichigo grumbled sarcastically, rolling his eyes. Hisana was pleased to see a small smile pulling at his lips though. She couldn't remember the last time she'd seen the boy smile even a little.
Rukia was definitely doing him some good. Hisana was glad.
"So what do you guys want for supper, I was thinking pizza…"
"Nee-san you're going to turn into piece of pepperoni," Rukia informed her sister with a smirk as she started up the stairs to change.
"I'll be the smartest piece of pepperoni in the bunch then, won't I?"
"Is that really something to brag about?"
Ichigo rolled his eyes again as he headed into his own room. He'd never admit, not even on his deathbed, that he sometimes found it amusing to listen to the sisters bicker. The Hisana he knew as his social worker and the Hisana who was Rukia's older sister were two very different people. The contrast was stunning, but enjoyable. But even with the bickering, it was obvious Hisana cared a great deal for her little sister, and vice-versa. It was the kind of bond one didn't see often in siblings.
"I was eight, I was the perfect candidate for adoption. But Nee-san had promised she would get me out, and we could live together, and she would be my guardian."
Ichigo sighed as he fell down on his bed, staring at the ceiling. Rukia'd had so much faith in her sister, even when she'd been little. Ichigo couldn't even remember what it was like to believe in someone that much. But seeing the way Rukia and Hisana acted with each other, he almost understood.
"The only person I wanted to live with was my sister. I knew eventually she would come for me. It was just a matter of getting through the system."
Insane.
Hisana got her wish for pizza. Supper was mostly quiet, save for Hisana's and Rukia's little snipes back and forth to each other. Ichigo ate his slice in silence before excusing himself and disappearing back into his room.
Rukia waited until Ichigo's door was closed and she was sure he was sitting on his bed occupying himself with something to turn to Hisana and ask the question that had been burning in her mind all day.
"What are Ichigo's sisters like?"
Hisana looked a bit surprised by the question. "He told you about them?" Rukia nodded silently. "Wow. He doesn't usually talk about his family that much. In eight foster homes I think he's talked about to maybe two foster parents. How'd you get him to open up so much?"
Rukia half considered explaining to her sister the conversation she and Ichigo had held on the roof the night before. But Hisana didn't know about her sister's nighttime adventures, and Rukia would really rather keep it that way. "You know me," she said instead, waving Hisana off. Hisana nodded. Yeah. She knew Rukia all right.
"I haven't seen Yuzu and Karin in over a year, so they could have changed. But last I knew Karin was a tough-acting 'nothing can hurt me' girl and Yuzu was a timid, sensitive little thing that loved taking care of people. They don't always act it, but they're incredibly close. Karin's gotten into more trouble than even she can remember defending Yuzu from bullies at school, and Yuzu is always following Karin everywhere she goes. They're inseparable. It's always a pleasant treat to see that the terrible things that have happened in their lives haven't gotten them down."
"More than Ichigo can say," Rukia muttered, setting down her half-eaten pizza slice, her eyes on her plate. Hisana smiled sadly.
"Too many foster homes have been bad to him. He's just coping with it the best way he knows how."
Rukia raised her eyes, one pair of similar orbs meeting another, and Hisana saw a world of hurt in her sister's violet gaze. "Coping. Right." With that she stood up, abandoning her food and heading into the living room. Hisana sighed as the front door opened and closed with more force than what was probably necessary. She cursed herself for mentioning bad foster homes.
Rukia made her way slowly down the street, kicking a rock as she walked. It wasn't that she was mad. She really wasn't. She just didn't feel like talking to Hisana anymore. When the word coping came up, the topic inevitably turned to Rukia, no matter what the original discussion had been. And Rukia really wasn't in the mood for that. Not tonight. Not after she'd had such a great day.
She didn't feel like dredging up that past.
"Why do I have to go Nee-san?" Rukia asked, tilting her head up to look at her sister through tear-filled eyes. Hisana swallowed hard, wrapping her arms around the girl's tiny body and holding her tightly. "I don't want to go," Rukia mumbled, burying her face in Hisana's shirt.
"I don't want you to go," Hisana murmured, smoothing back Rukia's hair. "It's only going to be for a little while though, all right? I'm going to get you back as soon as I can, and we'll live together, and I'll take care of you,, I promise. We'll be a family again. But for now…you have to go."
Rukia looked back at the woman standing in the door of the house — their home. She frowned and looked back at her sister, who smiled the best she could. "It'll be okay, Rukia. I promise. I'm going to come for you as soon as I can."
Rukia nodded slowly. She trusted Hisana, who had never broken a promise to her before.
Everything would be okay.
Ichigo tossed the rubber ball at the wall; it hit with a satisfyingly loud smack before flying back to Ichigo's outstretched hand. He'd been doing this for almost twenty minutes, and still no interruption from Rukia. Maybe — hopefully — she'd found a way to block it out. Ichigo hoped so. He was getting tired of Rukia confiscating the thing.
The tossing of the ball was a mindless thing; Ichigo's mind was still mostly on the earlier part of the day, at the lake. Talking with Rukia.
When was the last time he'd disclosed so much of his life to a person? He'd told Rukia about his sisters, his parents' deaths…since when did he talk so much? Especially to a person who had, within only a couple days, won the title of the most freakin' annoying person he'd ever met. So what was this strange, other-worldly ability she had to make him talk about things he just wanted to bury inside him forever?
"Hi Ichi-nii!" Yuzu chirped happily as she ran out of the house, throwing herself into her brother's outstretched arms and hugging him as tightly as she could.
"Hey Yuzu." Ichigo smiled the best he could as he held his sister. It was the first time he'd come to see his sisters in almost six months. He was definitely expecting questions as to why.
"Aw come on Karin, what's wrong? Don't want to give your big brother a hug?"
The raven-haired girl was standing a few feet away from her embracing siblings. Ichigo knew she'd be the one to question him. Yuzu wouldn't care about the reasons. As long as she got to see her brother.
After a hesitant moment Karin stepped forward as well, just enough for Ichigo to stretch out an arm and wrap it around her as well. His sisters were tiny, especially compared to him; they easily fit in his grip.
He decided to beat Karin to the chase. "I'm sorry I haven't come to visit. Things have been really crazy lately."
"Yeah, you spend so much time bouncing from foster home to foster home and causing trouble, you just don't have time to come see us, right?" Karin's voice was sarcastic, but gentle enough that Ichigo knew she was just kidding with him. He chuckled dryly.
"You caught me."
"Ichi-nii when are you going to stop causing so much trouble?"
That disapproving question was in Yuzu's voice. Ichigo just smiled, pulling away from the girls and patting Yuzu's straw-colored hair. He didn't have an answer, and he didn't want to lie.
So he said nothing.
Rukia's head snapped up as the streetlight directly over her clicked on. She probably should have headed home. Hisana was probably going to start worrying. But she really just wanted to keep walking. The longer she put off going home, the sooner she could just go to her room and go to bed when she finally did return. She wasn't sure if Hisana would try to pursue any topics. She didn't want to find out the hard way that her sister was actually in a chatty mood, though.
So instead she kept walking.
Rukia looked down at her feet, which were dangling about a foot off the ground, kicking back and forth of their own accord. She was waiting for a social worker to come. The mean woman who had picked her up at her house hadn't allowed Hisana to come with them, saying it would be better if they "said their goodbyes now." And now Rukia was alone. Waiting.
A pair of beat up sneakers walked into Rukia's line of vision. She didn't look up to see the person attached to the feet stuff into the sneakers, even when a friendly male voice said, "Hey there, kiddo." When Rukia didn't look, the man knelt down, draping his arms under his knees and moving so his face was in Rukia's sight. He looked nice, she supposed; his lips were quirked into a smile, and his black eyes were brimming with happiness, though Rukia didn't really get what he was so happy about. "Are you Rukia?" She nodded, barely raising her head to meet his eyes.
"Who're you?" She whispered. The man's smile widened.
"I'm Shiba Kaien. I'm going to help you find a new place to live."
Author's Note: This isn't really meant to be cliff-hanger-ly or anything, it just sort of happened that way. This chapter turned into more filler than anything, though we got some more of Rukia's past, which I know people have been wanting. And there's still more to come, trust me. Moving on to the part where I shamelessly beg for reviews though…today's the day I like to call my birthday =D You know what a great present would be? Reviews. Lots and lots of reviews. You don't want to deny me such an amazing gift, do you? PS, I have no shame. Review please! — Sam
