Another update! It is a little short compared with previous chapters, but that is only because I've been spoiling you all with 20-page updates ; ) This is 8 pages.
No Uryu or Ichigo this time. But I promise I'll be nice to them in the next chapter. I think they need a break. :D In the meantime, I'm determined to make a character out of Chad.
Thank you everyone for over 5000 hits to this story! Big thanks to all the regular reviewers - apologies for not replying to everyone yet :(
"Well... that didn't go very well," Urahara muttered.
Urahara, Chad, Rukia and Orihime were back in the lounge and light of the Urahara Shop; hands wrapped tensely around warm mugs but nobody making a move to drink. The strengthening rain thundered against the roof, emphasising the silence inside.
For a long time they'd stood outside in the rain staring at where Ichigo and Uryu had been. Shock and realisation sinking into damp skin. Eventually Urahara had bustled them inside, muttered a lot about the broken door as they all boarded it up together, and then giving everyone yukata to wear while their clothes dried by the fireplace in one of the back rooms.
Why didn't we keep an eye on Ishida? The same question going round and round Chad's head.
He wanted to punch something, but that wasn't the way to react. Let the passion that drives you to over-react flow out. That's what Abuelo had always said. Rage was powerful, true. But more power could be gained by controlling and understanding your situation so that you could choose the best way forward, which didn't always involve fists.
What had happened was his fault. He'd known something was wrong with Ichigo, but he hadn't faced it. How typical of him. Always wanting to believe in the best of others. Uryu was right; it was a weakness.
It's how Ginjo and the others tricked me.
And if ever there was something that made him want to use his fists again to pound the world, that was it. Ginjo and the fact that Chad had placed Ichigo and Uryu in danger back then. Uryu was lucky not to have been killed by Tsukishima and Ginjo's double attack.
And now Uryu was in trouble again because of Chad's oversight.
Ichigo didn't look at girls. Chad had noticed that long before any vampires appeared. Last night, when he'd sensed Uryu outside Orihime's apartment, Chad had taken up a watchful post outside of Tatsuki's since she was Ichigo's other close female friend. But really, why would Ichigo be interested in girls as a vampire when he'd never looked at them before? But Uryu? Chad hadn't seen that one coming.
And I should have.
Out of everyone, Uryu arguably provoked the most emotional response from Ichigo.
They squabble like an old married couple.
And they were happy when they argued.
But still... Ichigo and Uryu?
Chad wasn't homophobic. He knew a couple of guys who liked guys, but Ichigo and Uryu? His two closest friends?
Sucking each other's blood...?
Stop right there, he told himself, quickly forcing an image from his mind that he really didn't want to see.
"I don't believe it," Rukia murmured, her hands tightening around her tea. "Ichigo bit him."
"Ishida-kun was crying," Orihime added softly.
"He actually bit him."
"We made him cry."
"He bit him!" Rukia slammed her palms against the table, hard enough to send pale spots of tea across the wood. "When the hell did this happen!"
"Ichigo was late to school and Ishida didn't turn up at all," said Chad. "It was probably this morning."
And I should have gone to check on Ishida.
Because he had wondered. Wondered, but been too afraid to face it.
Rukia balled her hand into a fist. "Well, I'm not going to sit around. We have to speak with them and make them realise that-"
"No." Chad grabbed her arm as she stood.
"Sado! We-"
"No."
"Ishida-kun was crying..." Orihime murmured.
Silence. The roar of the rain battering the roof and windows, echoing throughout the shop. Slowly Rukia sat.
Chad didn't like to see people upset. Life was too short for tears. Uryu was never upset. Though often he seemed down for one reason or another that Chad had never been sure about, but Uryu didn't show it. And because Chad knew Uryu didn't like people to know what he was feeling, Chad never let on when he knew something was bothering him. Instead, he'd just buy him a drink from the vending machine and maybe sit with him silently or talk about the colour of the sky. Uryu seemed to appreciate that.
But seeing Uryu with tears streaming down his face was upsetting. Uryu was used to being upset or worried and not showing it.
So whatever he is feeling must really be hurting him.
"We've done too much tonight and everyone got a little carried away," said Urahara. "We need to relax and approach this situation in a more delicate manner. In addition, it's worth bearing in mind that Kurosaki-san and Ishida-san make for a slightly frightening combination. Pure strength and high intellect. We don't want them to panic."
"We attacked Ishida-kun," said Orihime.
"No, all we did was try to restrain him. Nobody had any intention of harming him," said Chad. "Whatever he is feeling now, deep down he knows we were only trying to do the right thing. Urahara tried to talk to him. I don't think anything was going to calm him down. For now, we should let Ichigo take care of him."
Ichigo, it's not your fault. I don't know what happened, but I know you would never have wanted to hurt Ishida, and you would have resisted losing control with everything you had. I should have watched you more carefully and I apologise for letting you down again. I haven't lost faith in you. I know you'll look after Ishida throughout this.
And if he didn't...
I'll knock more than enough sense into you.
"But Ishida-kun must hate us..." Orihime murmured.
Inoue...
Truthfully, Chad hadn't worried or dwelt too much on Uryu being ill today because he'd been too busy worrying about Orihime. Because Ichigo was her whole world. And him with someone else...
Him choosing a boy over you...
Would be soul destroying.
And yet all she was worried about was Uryu because he'd been crying. And like Chad she knew it was because he was hurting unlike anything ever before.
But it must be hurting you too Inoue because, as silly as you can be, you know what this means. You and Ichigo would never work.
And on top of that to have Uryu shout at her...
Because he knows he's taken something from you.
Rukia seemed to know what to do better than Chad (because although Chad could comfort Uryu, girls were different, especially because he knew what Orihime's problem was and that there was nothing he could do). Rukia smiled as she turned to Orihime sitting beside her and clutched her hands. It was the kind of reassuring smile that Ichigo would give someone. "Inoue, don't worry. We'll have them back to normal soon. And you know, Ishida isn't himself right now. Him being upset and saying those things to you... he won't have meant any of them."
Actually I think he did.
Those were the things that Uryu had been keeping locked up for a long time. Everybody had their dark thoughts, but most people could control them.
Though at the moment, Uryu would not be in control of any part of himself.
Because he's drowning in something he's not used to.
Orihime smiled. "I know. And it's fine. This makes things easier for us, doesn't it? We know that Kurosaki-kun won't bite anyone else, and him and Ishida-kun will take good care of each other until they can be cured."
Chad watched her carefully. Orihime was similar to Uryu in a weird way. Uryu didn't let people know what he was thinking. And neither did Orihime. If she was sad, she tried to smile. If she was worried, she tried to laugh. She never wanted anybody to know that anything was wrong.
She just wasn't nearly as good at it as Uryu.
But actually she seemed... OK. Shocked, definitely. But not distressed. A smile with no sign of a quiver or tears.
Because she knows that Ishida was close to the mark. But it's OK because it's something she'd already recognised and come to terms with herself a long time ago.
And Chad knew because she'd turned up at his apartment one day with some bean paste to share. Though all the time she'd been telling him about the paste her fingers had been entwining about one another in an endless knot until the words had come out amid a nervous smile.
"Sado-kun, can I talk to you about something? Something happened in Hueco Mundo and I can't seem to talk to Kurosaki-kun or Ishida-kun, even though I know I should be talking to Ishida-kun. Will you listen? I think I'm a terrible person."
She wasn't a terrible person at all. And Chad knew that Uryu wouldn't think she was.
"They looked cute together," Orihime murmured, her voice so quiet that Chad wasn't sure he'd heard it (and actually he wasn't sure he wanted to hear it since there was an odd, red flush to Orihime's cheeks that suggested she was enjoying a little picture in her mind that Chad really, really didn't want to contemplate).
Maybe it's fortunate that it was Ishida Ichigo chose and not a girl.
And that was a really weird thought too.
"How do you think Ishida-kun was bitten?" said Orihime. "Maybe he... he offered himself to Kurosaki-kun as a sacrifice so that no one else had to be a victim. Yes! I bet that's what happened!"
That image in Chad's head again...
Beside him, Rukia was spluttering into her tea. Her cheeks had turned as red as Orihime's.
Girls.
They read far too much of that kind of manga.
"Um... well..." Urahara scratched his head a little. He didn't seem to know where to look as Rukia and Orihime stared at each other with wide, wide eyes.
"Urahara-san, we need to know more about vampires," said Chad, quickly changing the subject. "No, we need to know everything. You originally said that vampires depend on a partner for their blood supply. Is this an absolute fact? Do we know with absolute certainty that Ichigo and Ishida won't target others?"
"Vampires are rare. I'm not sure we can say anything with absolute certainty."
"But it is unlikely," said Rukia. "I've studied records of vampires - what little we have in Soul Society anyway. The only dreadful incident recorded was when a serial killer became a vampire. He used his new abilities to kill more people. I've never read anything else. Vampires tend to keep to themselves."
"But what if they want children?" Orihime said softly. "Kurosaki-kun has always been really good with children."
"I don't think that'll be the case for a while," said Rukia. "They're in their honeymoon period afterall."
Orihime's face was bright red again. "Honeymoon... Kurosaki-kun and Ishida-kun on-"
"We need to know how much they've changed," said Chad.
Especially Uryu. Ichigo was not acting like himself, but at the same time he wasn't far from his normal character. But Uryu... the things he said. The way he acted. It wasn't like him at all.
Chad wasn't afraid to admit that Hollows fazed him. Everything about this new spirit world fazed him. And he panicked. He tried to stay calm, like Ichigo and Uryu, but sometimes he would find himself standing there. Unable to do anything but watch because his body wouldn't move.
Uryu never panicked (unless Ichigo was involved). But that quiet calmness was a facade. Chad saw the way his fingers tensed at times. And the way he'd crush a can from the vending machine in his hand without seeming to be aware of his actions. Uryu was an angrier person than he let on.
"Urahara-san, you said that partner vampires rely on each other emotionally. What does that mean?" asked Chad.
"They are highly emotional creatures. They need someone to lean on as it were. Someone to receive their emotions and to return them."
"Ichigo picked the worst person."
"Why?"
"Because out of all us, Ishida is the most complicated. And complicated things are often fragile."
It wasn't that Uryu didn't have emotions. He was just very good at hiding them, to the point that he probably wasn't even aware of them himself.
What happens when someone like that becomes a vampire?
"I blame myself for this," Urahara muttered. "I failed to take into account that Kurosaki-san was a teenage boy with complex desires that I have long since forgotten about. I will go to Soul Society myself and work with Squad Twelve on a cure." Urahara's pale eyes met Chad's for a moment.
Urahara, we both know that this could do a lot of damage to Ishida.
"They did look happy... didn't they?" said Orihime suddenly. "Kurosaki-kun put his arm around Ishida-kun and looked at him... I think Kurosaki-kun must have been very worried about Ishida-kun coming here by himself. And Ishida-kun, I did notice there was something different when he arrived. Ishida-kun is so calm and quiet. And sometimes I don't even notice he's there. When he arrived here, he looked so... alive. I think they're really happy together. And I think Kurosaki-kun is the happiest he's ever been."
Orihime was so like Ichigo. Chad had always thought (and hoped) they'd make a good couple.
And just like Ichigo she could surprise him. Orihime. Sometimes so daft that Chad wanted to bang his head against a wall (and only avoided it because there was something very sweet about it too). And yet oddly intuitive at others. And surprisingly mature.
And this is exactly why me you, Ichigo and Ishida are such good friends.
And even if things hadn't worked out with Ichigo, there had been Uryu. Uryu could be as daft as Orihime. And Chad had noticed Uryu's eyes lingering on her more than once. And yet Uryu would have given his blessing a million times to Ichigo and Orihime (and Chad knew that for certain since he'd talked about it with Uryu).
Ichigo and Orihime. Or Orihime and Uryu.
Chad had expected one of those outcomes. Not Ichigo and Uryu.
But Orihime was right. There had been a different light in Ichigo's eyes when he'd looked at Ishida. Something Chad had never seen before and yet it didn't seem unnatural in the slightest.
Ichigo and Uryu worried about each other. Indeed, the only time you saw Uryu worried was when he was worrying about Ichigo. And the only time you truly saw his anger was when he was angry at Ichigo.
And Ichigo was always talking about Uryu.
"What the hell is his problem?"
"Why does Ishida never look happy?"
"Why didn't Ishida come cinema with us?"
"How come so many girls at school like Ishida?"
"Seriously, what is his problem?"
Pieces were starting to connect.
Ichigo... you liked him before all this, didn't you?
But still...
"It doesn't matter what they feel now," said Chad. "None of it's real. Ichigo didn't ask to be a vampire. And I bet Ishida didn't either."
"I know," Orihime murmured sadly. "For Ishida-kun's sake, we have to make sure we find a cure for them."
And Chad was concerned. Ichigo could deal with stressful situations. So could Uryu. But could Uryu deal with emotions?
Emotions can break the strongest of people.
And if you weren't used to them, you'd have no idea how painful they could be.
