Disclaimer: If I ever own Bleach or Naruto, Rukia and Ichigo will be together and Orihime wouldn't even exist LOL :D And, Aizen would be the matchmaker of Rukia and Ichigo and Naruto would have been together with Sasuke. *Shrugs* Warning: OOC-ness, angst, mystery, slight romance
A/N: This is the ninth chapter of 'Healing One's Heart'. It includes mostly about Rukia and Ichigo's thoughts, and a little about Karin.
Aizawa Ayumu: Sorry that I took so long, hehe... Writer's block just catch you off guar sometimes.
Special Thanks To:
U-teru: Added 'Healing Your Hearts' to Story Alerts' SubScription List
Rukia's parents were nowhere to be found. Dead bodies laid everywhere, blood were spluttered everywhere, and even the walls were cracked a little. Rukia clamped her hands around her mouth and tears began to flow. What… What exactly happened…? As Rukia ran along the streets, she suddenly halted and looked back. She had sworn… She had seen somebody. But, as she looked behind, there was nobody. Deciding that this wasn't the moment to ponder on it, she resumed running street after street, seeing bodies after bodies as she clamped her mouth tightly to stifle a scream. As she reached her own house, she pushed open the door violently. The house was engulfed in darkness.
"Mom…? Dad…?" Taking off her shoes, she desperately wished that the reason that the house was engulfed in darkness was because they are asleep.
Yet, as Rukia checked room after room, there was no sight of her parents, not even her brother was found. Just as Fate has planned it, a movement alerted Rukia as she turned towards the sound. Storeroom… The sound was coming from the storeroom… As Rukia ran towards the storeroom and was about to open the door, her whole body refused to move. She was afraid of what she would find inside.
"Move, move, move…!" Rukia shouted to herself as she raised her trembling hands and opened the door.
Rukia snapped open her eyes and sat panted. She closed her eyes, a tear trickling down as she realized these kind of dreams came out more frequently to her. Shifting her gaze to the football, she mentally reminded herself that she had a training to go to although it's just morning. Reaching out to pick the football, she realized her hands trembled. Staring wide-eyed, she realized it was the after-effects of the dream. After her parents' death, 13 years had gone. But, why was she unable to forget the incident? Hugging her knees to herself, she allowed her body to lean onto the wall and slide itself down while she, in 13 years, cried without caring whether or not Youruichi and Urahara heard it.
"All right, today's homework would be Page 11, 12 and 13 of the textbook!" Ichigo announced.
Immediately switching to silent mode, the whole class began working on the schoolwork given to them while Ichigo sighed. He had found himself several times thinking of Rukia, or rather, he caught his mind thinking of Rukia. A few times, he had to ask Tatsuki for help because his mind backfired on him.
"Ichigo, what's with you today? You seem awfully distracted." Tatsuki said when the school day was officially over and they were going back home.
"No, just… Too many things were on my mind." Ichigo said before leaving the classroom and set off on his journey home.
On the way to the journey home, Ichigo saw Rukia with her football on the football field once again. Thinking nothing of it, Ichigo proceeded on his journey back home but he halted once he took another glance at his homeroom teacher. At the point of seeing her, he knew something was terribly wrong. The aura which was radiating from Rukia was not his homeroom teacher, but… A person with much hatred would be the best phrase for it. Remembering the conversation which Urahara had with him yesterday, he forced his worries for his homeroom teacher out of his head and continued the long journey back home.
He swore to find out the answer on her next training session since he would be watching her practice the next session.
Sunset was quickly approaching and Rukia made her way to the training location. "How long have you been here?"
Karin shrugged. "Since this morning. You are late, though."
It was Rukia's turn to shrug. "Had a lot of things to handle."
Karin seemed to take the explanations as she shrugged once more. "Let's begin."
It appeared, from that moment onwards, it became the worst training Rukia had in 13 years. For the next few hours, each began on their individual training. Rukia, working on her instincts, which wasn't helping much, and Karin, working on her kicks on the ball, which, on the contrary, was improving much better than she had expected. Rukia closed her eyes tightly and gazed at the 10 poles, panting heavily. The talk with Karin yesterday hadn't helped her much. As Rukia gained more bruises today than yesterday, she simply could not understand why she can't go through a mere 10 poles. It should as easy as pie when she was in her normal condition. She was snapped out of her thoughts when she was called by Karin.
"I realized I haven't got your name after 2 days, you know…" Karin started.
Rukia smiled then took out her hand. "Rukia Kuchiki, a teacher of Karakura High."
Karin's eyes seem to go wide before she called. "Can I call you… Rukia-nee?"
It was Rukia's turn to widen her eyes as she softened her tone. "Of course, Karin."
"I seem to have got better. Why not we try again?" Karin offered.
Rukia got the signal as she took up the stance. "Let's try it."
Karin positioned the ball just below her own feet before gazing at Rukia and making her way towards her, with the ball. Yet, as Karin spun one round to get past Rukia, Rukia was fast enough to block her way. Karin, seeing this, halted her movements as she looked at Rukia. Seeing this action, Rukia sighed. "Karin, you said before, to leave it to instincts. First step of leaving it to instincts is to have no hesitation."
When Karin looked confused at Rukia, Rukia took the ball and placed it at the starting point, determined to make it to the goalpost this time. Positioning the ball, she left it to her instincts once again and sped towards the first pole. Guiding the ball by using her foot to slide the ball, she spun around pole after pole, dodging each and every one of the 10 poles. When she had came out of the 'maze' if you could call it, 20 seconds later, Karin stared at awe at Rukia. Never had Karin once seen Rukia came out of that 'maze' before, and, the first time she came out, it was a mere 20 seconds? How amazing was that?
"How… Did you…?" Karin, for once in her life, stuttered.
"I left it to my instincts and just sped off, that's all." Rukia shrugged.
Little did 10-year-old Karin know that the turmoil happening within Rukia at that time. "If you keep going at me with such strength, you won't even gain a chance of winning me, Rukia."
At that time, Rukia was of a young age to differentiate between tones. At that time, she innocently believed Byakuya was just playful and challenging her to a friendly football match. And, Byakuya, in the childhood days of Rukia Kuchiki, had been a person which Rukia secretly admired and hated at the same time. Closing her eyes, Rukia let the ball drop onto the ground as a tear trickled down her cheeks. Being into contact with football had made her think about her past more. In addition, the dreams that were constantly occurring weren't helping at all.
"Rukia-nee, what's wrong?" Karin asked seeing that Rukia was in her own little world.
Rukia silently thanked the night sky. If that wasn't the case, perhaps, Karin would have seen her tears by now. "Let's call it a day, shall we, Karin?"
Karin pouted. "I was just enjoying myself."
Rukia laughed at Karin's reaction. "You would need time to think about the information I just told you, Karin. In addition, you told me yourself that you can't actually train yourself when you are tired, didn't you? I can practically see your eye bags showing under your eyes."
Karin pouted. "Hmph, fine. I will see you tomorrow then?"
Rukia smiled lightly while nodding; reassuring Karin that she won't miss a single football training for the world. Watching as Karin Kurosaki practically ran back home, she smiled softly at her newfound sister. Sister… Rukia never had a sister before, but, she knew it was a nostalgic word to her. Because in her childhood days, she had this girl she acknowledged as her sister, Kuchiki Hisana.
"Byakuya Nii-san… Why do you haunt me so even when I tried my best to forget about you…?"
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"What's wrong, Kuchiki? You don't look to good." Kaien commented.
"That's what I said. Tears doesn't suit you." Then, a grin plastered on his face. "Moreover, we wont want a pretty lady like Kuchiki to get stained by wrinkles, will we?"
Byakuya, who was watching them from behind a tree, smiled to himself and walked away. No matter what was Rukia's mood was, Byakuya knew that, Kaien will be there to help her when the need arises.
"Mother, you were wrong…"
Ichigo can just imagine Renji's blushing face. I SO DO NOT HAVE A FREAKING CRUSH on Tatsuki! We are just plainly the relationship between coach and Captain!
Watch your language, Kurosaki. You are talking to a teacher here.
Touché, Kurosaki.
His homeroom teacher was certainly improving as the second went by, but, something stirred within Ichigo and he knew something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong. Rukia had made through the 10 poles once, but, why was she going through them again. Wouldn't it be the same result?
"Rukia-nee…" Karin muttered.
"Please, Ichi-nii, help Rukia-nee. Please."
Take care of her, Kurosaki.
A/N: How was that as a chapter and review? Good? Bad? :)