Finally my holidays have started ^^, seems like everyone had broke up, except our school/ college. ^^" okay on the bad note, it took me a little longer to update. On a slightly better note, this chapter is a little longer than usual. I had a bit of trouble trying to write down the middle part of this chapter, but after I got that down, everything else just flowed. So I hope its not too bad, I've also re-read my story, and have edited my chapters slightly, which includes my misuse of the "Off" and "of" ^^". so I hope that's fixed, if you see any errors, feel free to point them out.
BLEACH would never realistically belong to me, only in my dreams XD.
Thankfully now, the pain in Ichigo's head had disappeared. Yuzu had just finished washing the bowl, that she thought only Rukia had eaten from. She even went further to ask if Rukia wanted some more, to which she straight out refused, as she couldn't stomach another spoonful, and Ichigo was out of the question, as he was stupid enough to get brain-freeze, from his previous 'help'. Yuzu seemed to finally give up the idea, of stuffing Rukia with her food until she exploded from overload, to which she was thankful.
"Why don't we move this little get together, into the living room?" Isshin suggested in his not so goofy voice, obviously showing concern over his wife.
"Whatever" Karin muttered, not at all caring as she left, to the suggested area. Yuzu followed her sister soon after, not before drying her hands, on a cloth. Isshin reached down to pick his wife up, much to her protest, he said he didn't want her to strain herself. All that was left now were the seated Ichigo and Rukia, rising to his feet, Ichigo let out a big stretch, lifting his arms in the air. Rukia silently watched him, as his shirt rose a bit, showing off his six pack, it brought colour back into her face, after her face that had turned pale after tonight's dinner, as she saw him staring at her.
"So are you coming or not?" Ichigo asked, as he saw no movement to move, coming from the smaller woman.
"Err you go ahead, I'll be along in a minute" Rukia smiled nervously, not wanting to admit, that if she moved, she felt like she would throw up. Seeming to understand her predicament, he lifted her up without question, to head towards where his family were. "Ichigo... what are you...?" her comment was cut short, as she slammed her mouth shut, with her hand, trying to stop the nauseating feeling down her throat. "Don't squeeze me so much, you'll learn to regret it soon" she groaned, resting her head upon his shoulder, after he held a firmer grip around her, which tightened briefly after, to wind her up. Feeling the horrible feeling again after he squeezed her again, she punched him in the face, to which he stopped squeezing her after.
"You idiot, you know I could of dropped you... and how much do you weigh? Yuzu's cooking must have really done a number on you" Ichigo acted as if he would drop Rukia any moment as he wobbled on his feet, with shaking hands.
"PIG!...Well maybe I should hold on in case you drop me" Rukia smirked evilly, grabbing a hold of two big handfuls, of Ichigo's hair. His wobbly feet managed to drop her slightly, causing a small yelp from Ichigo, as his hair was pulled in the process, the smirk of Rukia's face only increased. "If your having trouble carrying me, maybe I have been going to easy on you, perhaps I should be making you run more" Rukia threatened, as Ichigo stopped his act, and obediently carried into the room.
"You know what you feel so much lighter now" Ichigo smiled, lifting her up and down, as if she was some sort of dumbbell.
"Put me down, you moron" Rukia rolled her eyes, feeling sicker, as he kept moving her up and down, grabbing onto his hair even tighter, if that was possible. Feeling the tug on his hair, he resulted to pull Rukia closer to his face, to lesson the tension on his hair, unless he wanted to lose most of his hair, and look crazier than his father.
"How adorable" came a delighted voice, halting the twos bickering. Right next to them was Masaki and Isshin watching the two interact, the voice had come from Masaki. Glancing at each other, the two could easily see how their position could easily be mistaken, for someone about to kiss, as their faces were only inches away from each other. A loud click and a flash was heard as Ichigo turned to face his dad, holding a camera in his hands, while smiling goofily. Shock and anger overwhelmed Ichigo, causing him to drop the shocked and embarrassed Rukia. Fortunately for Rukia, Ichigo was holding her over the sofa his mother was sat on, when she fell. Unfortunately for Ichigo, she was still gripping, really tightly his hair, so when she fell a loud ripping noise entered the room. As Ichigo howled in pain, Rukia was too shocked to mutter a word, as she noticed the feeling of something in her hand, she slowly hid the two tufts of hair, she now had in her possession, behind her back. The impact with the sofa caused whatever to come up her throat, to go forcefully back down. Not wanting to alert the slightly less of an orange head, of his loss, Rukia remained with her hands behind her back, as she had no idea what to do with the hair in her hands, she wore no pockets, and she did not have her bag with her. Fiddling behind her back, she tied a knot with his hair, before pretending to adjust her shoe, as she slipped the knot of hair in her shoe, then straightening herself up, as much as her stomach would allow her. Hesitantly, after a while, Rukia glanced up to the male clutching his head, and patting it slightly, she looked in horror, at the two bold patches, only she seemed to notice, seeing his gaze start to turn her way, she quickly looked the opposite direction, pretending to be in pain from the fall, to lessen the guilt. Turning his pain, into anger towards his dad, who still held the camera in his hands, that had caused him to drop Rukia, in the first place; Ichigo stormed over to his father slapping the camera, out of his hands onto the floor, and shoved him onto the floor, not wanting to hit him, in front of his mother.
"Nice hair style my son, your looking more and more like your old man, every day" Isshin wailed, hearing this Ichigo froze remembering a previous conversation with Rukia.
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"You know what they say, like father, like son" she smirked.
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"Shut up" he shouted as his mind kept repeating 'You know what they say like father like s...' the thought kept on repeating in his brain, making him want to tear out more of his hair, which was not a good idea. He stormed out of the room, in order to calm down, not very helpful, that his father started following him. Karin had turned on the soccer game, trying to drown out the males voices Yuzu finding nothing else to do, joined her on the floor.
"Rukia?" Said woman, was brought out of her thoughts, at the sound of the older woman, seated beside her.
"Huh?" she questioned, not knowing what the woman wanted from her. She turned her head towards the woman, as she was previously watching the two girls on the floor.
"I just wanted to thank you again... for looking after my family... when I couldn't" Masaki glanced down, upset when she couldn't be there for her family, not with her illness.
"Don't thank me, I've done nothing, nothing other than be myself, there's no need to be so harsh on yourself" Rukia insisted, raising her hand in the air, her voice was firm but not cold, not taking no for an answer. Masaki seemed to have got the point, as an uneasy silence entered the room, the only noise emitted was from the soccer game on the TV. The two girls on the floor seemed oblivious to the two women's conversation, the soccer match blocked out the sound, from them hearing them both.
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"So why did you do it?" Masaki said hesitantly, after a long pause, neither one of them had uttered a word now, for quite some time, and she thought it was best to switch the topic.
"Huh? Do what?" Rukia questioned, not having a clue to what the older woman was referring to.
"Give up ice skating" the woman replied. Any colour that remained in Rukia's face vanished in an instant, as she looked at the woman in question.
"I don't know what your talking about" she answered in denial, turning away from the woman.
"It was you, wasn't it?" Masaki turned her body towards Rukia, lifting her chin, so that she could see her face properly, she didn't manage to see, the look of horror on the woman's face. "Your hair, was a lot shorter back then... but I remember those eyes, I've seen nothing like them before, it must have been you. You were referred to as "Dance of the white moon and snow"... right?" Masaki felt Rukia had instantly removed her face, away from her hand, and glanced up to actually see the woman's face, and immediately regretted speaking, at the look at her face. She seemed as if she was in some sort of daze, her eyes were out of focus, and looked dead. "Rukia?"
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"Good afternoon, my name is Kaien Shiba, its nice to meet you" a tall man, with a black mop of spiky hair on top of his head greeted, with a big grin on his face. He was sticking his hand out for a shake, as he waited patiently, for a response.
"Nice to meet you, my name is Sode no Shirayuki, but you can just call me Shirayuki" a young woman, bowed before the young man, wearing nothing, other than pure white or a pale blue.
"I see, yes sir" an ebony haired woman, replied at the same time. His face turned into a small frown, hearing the informal greeting, as he slammed his hand on top of the woman's head.
"Is that any way to speak to your new teacher? You should say "its a pleasure to meet you" and state your name" he informed and he ruffled her hair some more.
"Yes, sorry, my name is Rukia Kuchiki" she panicked seeing his head draw closer to her "Oh and its a pleasure to meet you" she finished, glancing up at Kaien, he seemed pleased with her introduction, and that grin was back on his face again. Looking towards her friend, she could see, she was smiling towards her, at how nervous she was acting.
"You girls are alright, lets do our best and have fun, while learning" Kaien stated proudly.
"Yes we will" came the excited voices, of the two woman.
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Rukia rose to her feet instantly, clutching her head with one hand, the sudden memory, had caused her a headache.
"Nothing" she said a bit too loudly, looking at the worried woman, then glancing to the side to make sure the girls didn't hear her outburst. "Nothings wrong, you must be mistaking me for someone else" she said quieter than before, but still louder than normal.
"I'm so sorry Rukia, I didn't mean to upset you" Masaki pleaded, raising herself from her seat, stepping closer towards the panicked woman, who was retreating dazzlingly away from the sofa.
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"Rukia sama, we should be going, plus you know what Byakuya dono is like" Shirayuki suggested. Hearing this, Rukia huffed at the thought, her brother had insisted she'd return home, wayyy before sunset.
"Yea Nii sama, he acts like he has a stick up his a.."
"Is that anyway to talk about your brother, you girls should be off, I'll see you tomorrow" Kaien, suddenly appeared behind the two, startling them both.
"Kaien San, must you jump out at us like that, you nearly gave me a heart attack" she shouted in surprise.
"Gee whats got into you" he sweatdropped.
"Rukia San, we really should be going" Shirayuki started tugging on Rukia's arm.
"Alright... Goodbye Kaien San" Rukia allowed herself to be pulled away.
"Heyy your acting like this is the end, we'll see each other again, its I'll see you later, not goodbye" he offered with a wide smirk.
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.)/... (/
Rukia's eyes which at first seemed lifeless, and dull, cleared suddenly, she was knocked out of her state, and nearly onto the floor, after feeling the weight of something crash onto her. Blinking twice to clear her vision, she notice the feeling of something warm trickle down the back of her hair, and onto her back.
"Oh my god" Rukia whispered, glancing down resting near her shoulder was a baby blue blanket. Whatever was in her arms had seized any movement, and was now hanging limp onto her like dead weight. "Masaki" Rukia tried to shake the woman, but with no luck, the limp body remained still, in her arms, apart from the slight movement made by her shaking. Rukia shivered, starting to panic, she could not lay the woman down, as the weight of the woman was too much for her to handle, as she was not prepared when she unconsciously caught her. The two girls on the floor, had still not noticed the commotion, happening right before them, which Rukia, was sort of glad the two did not have to witness, their mother fall. She had to think fast, would it be best to tell the two girls, however she did not want them to panic, but if she called out to either Ichigo or Isshin, then the girls would hear her anyway. She also couldn't just say or do nothing, there could be seriously something wrong with Masaki. "Ichigo" she whispered, at a loss of words, hoping by some chance, he would come in.
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(=x=)
By now Ichigo had calmed down, without the unhelpful help of his dad, who had followed him after he stormed out, to get away from him in the first place. All of a sudden he had this strange feeling, the one that you get when you know something is wrong.
"Ichigo, where are you going?" Isshin asked his son.
"I'm going to go and check on Rukia... and the girls" Ichigo added, to wipe the smirk of his fathers face, after it appeared at the mention of Rukia's name.
"Can't get away from Rukia San for too long, huh? Arghh I sense wedding bells already, how lucky my son is to get a wife as lovely as Rukia San, even though he is ugly" Isshin wailed, raising his arms in the air in praise.
"Shut up, old man" Ichigo shoved his father into the wall, as his mother was not around, there was no need to hold back. Walking into the living room, he spotted his little sisters glued to the TV, it looked like nothing could catch their attention. Turning his attention to Rukia, who appeared to be hugging his mother. However his peaceful expression changed to one of worry after he glanced at the look on her face, she looked frightened. "Rukia... Rukia, what's wrong?
"Ichigo?" she slowly adjusted herself, so that she could see the orange head. Ichigo rushed closer seeing as Rukia appeared as if she was about to collapse. Looking at Rukia's face, his attention was brought up to the flower that remained in her hair, the sight of it made his heart stop a beat.
"Rukia... your bleeding" Ichigo asked in shock.
"What?" Rukia barely whispered, to which Ichigo slowly removes the once white cosmos, in her hair, it was now stained blood red.
"Ichigo its not me, its your..." Rukia tried to tell Ichigo, but her throat seemed to close up, at the sight of Masaki's blood, the blood answered her question of that warm substance she felt.
"What, Rukia I can't hear you" Ichigo appeared beside her, the TV didn't help Rukia at all, when trying to communicate. Rukia seemed to be getting a little frustrated, as she for once in her life, seemed to be loosing her voice, at the one time she needed it. And the moron in front of her clearly couldn't see what was wrong.
"It's your Okasan" she finally managed to squeeze out, nearly dropping said woman.
"Okasan?" Ichigo started to panic again, lifting his mothers head, that was resting near Rukia's. His face paled at the sight of his mothers mouth, that was leaking blood. "Okasan... OKASAN" Ichigo's voice rose, shaking the woman, as like Rukia had done earlier. Any bit of common sense, seemed to fly right out of his mind, exactly the reason why doctors are not aloud to perform on family members.
"Ichigo, quiet, your sisters" she hushed, turning his commotion, into an inner turmoil. Ichigo turned his back towards his sisters, so that they couldn't see Masaki. "Ichigo get your dad" Rukia said harshly, seeing the man not move.
"There may be a bit of a problem with that, c'mon, we have to get her to a hospital" Ichigo carefully started to lift his mother from Rukia's arms.
"Ichi nil, what are you doing" a small girls voice came from behind him, Ichigo froze in shock, accidentally dropping his mother in the process.
"Whoa" Rukia managed to catch Masaki, at the price of falling onto the floor.
"Was that Rukia San?" Yuzu questioned, hearing a small grunt, and a thumping noise, as she hit the floor.
"No its nothing, I want you two girls to go in and help dad" Ichigo pleaded, blocking the two woman from view.
"What did you do, this time Ichigo?" Karin snorted, at her brother.
"WILL YOU JUST GO?" Ichigo shouted, watching as his sisters faces turned upset, as they left for the kitchen. "OWW" he yelped in pain, as he looked down, to see Rukia kick his ankle.
"Moron" Rukia hissed, laying under the unconscious woman.
"Sorry... lets just hurry up and get her to the car... do you need any help?" Ichigo asked, glancing down at the woman.
"Do ya think?" Rukia retorted, with sarcasm etched across every word she hissed, she still hadn't recovered from eating so much food earlier. Ichigo quickly lifted his mother up off of Rukia, and managed to pull Rukia onto her feet. Rukia opened the doors, for Ichigo to pass.
"Keys?" Rukia raised her hand to him, seeing his blank face, she continued, "you car keys"
"They're in my pocket" Ichigo answered.
"Fine" Rukia, reached into Ichigo's front pocket, reaching around to only find nothing, reaching into his other front pocket, she still couldn't find his keys. "Not in those" Ichigo blushed, turning his back to her. Rukia's face also turned a bright pink, seeing a lump in the back of his pants, in the shape of a set of keys.
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"I mean seriously, who stuffs their keys in their back pocket" Rukia mumbled, underneath her breath, a blush still covering her face.
"Well I'm sorry, next time I know this is gonna happen, I'll make sure I put them in the front huh?" Ichigo argued, whilst in the driving seat on the way to the hospital. "What were you doing before anyway?" he asked, referring to when Rukia had went into the kitchen to where his father, and two sisters were.
"Unlike you, I was smart enough to leave a note for Isshin, when he wakes up, thanks to you, to let him know where we are...Don't worry, I wrote it, so that only he understood." she said, after seeing the expression, on his face. Ichigo was not paying much attention to the road, had to make a quick turn, to make sure he was going the right direction, "Hmmph... Ichigo you moron, watch where your going" Rukia shouted, while trying to keep everything in her mouth, down.
"You two argue like a married couple" a weak voice mumbled.
"Okasan" Ichigo called, not focusing on the road, once more, but he soon did once Rukia slapped him upside the head.
"Masaki, how are you feeling?" Rukia asked the woman, who was resting her head on her lap.
"Me I'm fine, sorry for worrying you both" she glanced up in appreciation to the two.
"Well good, cause the sooner we get the ok, after you get checked up, the sooner we can leave... I don't think I am in the right state of mind right now to be making, the right judgments. Ichigo finally was able to pay attention to the road, seeing his mother was awake, and hopefully okay.
"Alright, lets just get this nonsense over with" Masaki sighed weakly.
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Masaki woke up to see nothing but white, she must have fallen asleep, on the way to the hospital. Glancing to her right, she could see Rukia, resting on a chair, looking as if she was drifting in and out of consciousness.
"Rukia? Wheres my son?" the young woman jumped slightly, before turning her attention to the woman laying in bed.
"He's on the phone with your husband" she answered, while a nurse came in to check up on Masaki.
"Are you okay Rukia?" the woman asked concerned.
"Yea, I'm fine, just a little dizzy I guess" she laughed at the situation, and that Masaki was the one concerned. The quick flash of light in her eye, brought her attention to the nurse in front her.
"Have you sustained any sort of trauma, to your head?" the nurse asked her.
"...Yea, I think I might of banged my head, when Ichigo dropped Masaki on me" Rukia sweatdropped at the thought.
"Let me patch that up for you, its nothing serious, but its gonna leave a bruise, and I wouldn't suggest you get up for awhile" the nurse explained, wrapping a bandage around her head, as well as cleaning off, any sigh of blood from both Masaki and Rukia. By now Ichigo had gotten off of the phone with Isshin, after letting him know, that everything was okay, as he came to check up on the two girls.
"Rukia, what happened to you?" he wondered, seeing the bandage wrapped around her head.
"Don't even go there" she muttered, glancing up at him she could see he was standing awkwardly, not having a place to sit. "Ichigo come sit with me, there is plenty of space, on here" she gestured, to the space beside her, she was sitting on a comfy chair, along with two small pillows at the side. Finding no choice in the matter, Ichigo slowly lowered himself into the chair, along with Rukia. "Ichigo, will you just relax? Your as stiff as a board." Ichigo huffed, as the wind was knocked from him, from Rukia punching the orange head, to relax.
"Okasannn" Ichigo whined like a little kid, a little startled when he heard his mother laugh at him.
"Kurosaki San, Kuchiki San, visiting hours are closed now, I'm going to have to ask you to leave" the nurse looking after Masaki, requested.
"Please, let me stay with my mother, its only one night" Ichigo pleaded from the nurse.
"Well alright, but your friend..." the nurse took pity on the young man, but hesitated at the sight of Rukia.
"No... er... shes family" Ichigo said without thinking, looking at the nurse, you could see the disbelieve in her eyes. "Shes my... fiance, if she will have me... I was err... proposing to her, and I think it was all too much for her, so she fainted and must have hit her head, it would not be wise to let her go home alone right?" he lied placing an arm around her arms, bringing her now still body close into his chest. "Right Rukia?" he shakes her shoulder slightly.
"Err right" Rukia plastered on a fake smile. To tell you the truth, both of them wore similar smiles plastered on their faces, that the nurse got freaked and left.
"Okasan you need your rest, we'll look after you, don't worry we'll get you through this illness... somehow" Ichigo glanced at his mother, with determination written all over his face.
"I know you will Ichigo" Masaki smiled back at her son, who was still hugging the smaller woman. Rukia silently watched, as both mother and son interacted, you could see just how close they were.
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By now all lights were out, and it was going on midnight, Instead of sitting straight in the chair, the two had opted to slouching into the chair. Ichigo was slightly rubbing Rukia's shoulders comfortably, cause although she didn't say it, he could tell she was in pain from her head injury.
"Hey Rukia, hows your head?" he asked quietly, not to cause her more of a headache, as well as not to wake his mother. He had asked her, if she wished to go home, but she had refused, and told him she wished to stay with Masaki, Ichigo believed that she partly blamed herself for the incident earlier.
"I-I'm fine, just a little headache" she insisted, but her painful grunt gave it away.
"You are stubborn aren't you?" he sighed, rubbing her shoulder some more. "Just relax for right now, it will go away before you know it" he assured her. He heard what could be described as a small laugh, but it was blocked by the grunt escaping from her mouth. Soon after he felt her body go limp from exhaustion, not soon after did he follow her in slumber, after all the pain he suffered throughout the day, he could not keep his eyes open a second longer. The two slept peacefully, throughout the night, and even through to the morning, to where Masaki would wake to find Rukia resting her head on her her sons chest while, Ichigo head rested upon hers.
Thanks for all of your feedback, last chapter was the best yet, I think ^^.
A big thanks to:
Rukes
KuroKuchiki
Kawaii-Berry
v - thanks for your review, I could'nt send you a private msg, so heres my thanks ^^
Dan M.000- were my "Offs" ok, this time? XD
Aizawa Ayumu
falconrukichi
lilly the .banshee
darkness surrounds me
smrtangel
And to you guys for reading ^^.