Chapter 10: I Was Your Friend

Close your eyes, calm you soul, listen to your heartbeat . . . be enveloped in the memory. Don't let it consume you . . . don't let it rip your sanity to shreds . . . these are such innocent recollections . . . but would you survive the pain of what still lies dormant. Deep inside your mind, feel the flow of your life . . . the first of the frozen thoughts are breaking free.

Are you ready?


Rukia walked along the side of the road, peering half-heartedly into shop windows and listening to the not so quiet roar of traffic as the cars shot passed, some coughing black smoke, others screeching as they vanished around bends. She was, once again, without anything to do so, on recalling the last time she'd gone into town, she'd decided to do so again.

Although the probability of such an event occurring was ridiculously slim, Rukia still found that she half hoped Kurosaki Ichigo might, just by chance, walk by in the busy bustle of people. She wasn't sure if it was just because he reminded her of Kaien, or if she actually might want to get to know him because she . . . she what? Sensed something about him that made her think he'd be a good friend? What the hell . . . that was such a ridiculous suggestion. It was probably more like her just wanting to meet more people since she'd always been so isolated, not that she'd minded until Kaien had left.

Wouldn't it be cliché if I turn this corner, indigo eyes locked on the nearest bend, And I ran into Kurosaki. If I do, I'll laugh and die happy. Not that that makes any sense . . . maybe my sanity left when Kaien did. Anyhow, if I do run into him, then I will laugh, I mean-

'Oomf!'

Looking up, Rukia almost laughed anyway when it turned out to be someone she didn't recognise at all. Still, the fact that she'd hit anyone at all was funny. However, the glare in the punk-like man's eyes and the posture of his body suggested that he wasn't too happy and was probably about to beat her until she was paper thin and spread out on the ground.

But it wasn't like she was going down without a fight.

Now I'm thinking it would be cliché if Kurosaki appeared to beat this jerk up before I can, wondering why in the world she kept thinking about things that were cliché and Kurosaki Ichigo as well, Rukia got ready to defend herself, I think I'm suffering from withdrawal and that anyone who reminds me of Kaien is going to stick in my head. How annoying . . . having the original taking up my thoughts is bad enough, let alone a lookalike!

The big man looked like he was about to lash out, but then he saw something behind her and ran forwards, pushing her aside and charging off. Whirling around, Rukia saw that the object in the man's new path was none other than Kurosaki Ichigo.

This is unbelievable! Why is my life so pathetic that things like this have to happen? At the very least, I could have saved him from gangsters instead! But now what . . . should I go and say hello? I don't really feel like it and that could be interpreted as strange behaviour. After all, we only met once before, and it's not like we're friends. But how do you get to know someone if you don't talk to them? Why do I even want to get to know him? Surely not just because of Kaien, , she trailed off, watching as the orange haired teenager easily dispatched the big man, sending him flying down the street, Oh well, I'll just keep going. I'm sure he wouldn't want to be bothered again, last time was bad enough.

Turning, she began to wander along the footpath again, eyes roaming aimlessly over faces and shopfronts. There wasn't any real reason for her decision to not go and say hello to Kurosaki, but still, she wasn't sure what 'normal' behaviour in such a situation would be and, as such, she avoided it completely. Just in case.

'Hey you! Rukia!'

The aforementioned teenager spun around, eyes widening slightly. She silently cursed herself for not getting further away, because now she had no idea what to do or say. then again, if she hadn't turned, she could've just pretended not to notice . . . or something.

'You,' coming to a stop at the less crowded end of the street, Rukia waited for the orange haired teenager to get his breath back, having apparently sprinted through the crowd just to say . . . whatever he was about to say.

'Er, should I interpret that in a positive or negative way?' straightening, Kurosaki raised an eyebrow questioningly, leaning back a bit so that his shoulder blades rested against the building.

'Neither, it was a neutral statement,' Rukia sighed deeply, wondering why someone couldn't just appear to remove her from this confusing situation, 'Anyway, what do you want?'

Ichigo seemed a little taken aback, but since he'd already figured out from before that her 'people skills' weren't that great, it didn't bother him much, 'Just to say hello, I guess,'

'Well . . .' feeling way out of her depth, she just stared at him blankly, 'Aren't you going to say it then?'

'What?' realising that she'd taken the 'hello' part literally, Ichigo rubbed the back of his head in an attempt to hide his amusement, which he predicted wouldn't go down well with her, 'Oh, right . . . hello,' it made him feel understandably awkward.

Rukia continued to gaze at him expressionlessly for a moment longer before saying, 'Hello,' in what could only be described as a 'completely and utterly deadpan' tone.

'Is there something you were supposed to be doing in town today?' trying to lighten the situation, Ichigo supplied a conversation starter. He almost regretted coming over to say hello now, but his upbringing had taught him to be polite and greet people when he saw them around, even if he'd only met them once. It was good manners, his mother had said.

'No,' Rukia was staring past him in the direction she wanted to go: home. It wasn't helping that he seemed to be wanting to talk, or at least he felt inclined to since she wasn't saying anything. Why couldn't she just converse easily with this boy, like she had with Kaien?

'SON!'

'Eek!' jumping about a foot into the air, Ichigo whirled around to face her, reaching out to grasp her shoulders, 'Hide! I'm telling you . . . HIDE!'

'Huh? Wha-?' as she found herself being shoved around the corner of the building and into some bushes, Rukia thought she should protest. But still, he seemed to be wanting to 'protect' her from something. Looking about in her new leafy hideout, she sighed, before deciding to peer out and see what was going on.

'What are you doing, my boy?' a man who might somehow resemble Kurosaki Ichigo shouted at the orange haired teenager in a loud and cheerful voice, 'Lurking around such empty streets, I'm very suspicious. Tell me all about whatever's going on here-,'

There was a thud sound and Rukia blinked in mild surprise as Ichigo knocked who she supposed was his father, down to the ground.

'Just shut up and go away! I thought you were supposed to be grocery shopping with Yuzu!' the teenager was shouting too as he hauled his father to his feet again and began pushing him in the direction of wherever he was supposed to be. There was a pause and then Ichigo shouted out again, 'Don't move until chaos has been removed, I'm warning you!'

'Are you talking to me?' the man blinked, not understanding how those words applied to him since Ichigo was actually in the process of moving him, 'Ichigo?'

Rukia sighed again, Is that the best way of sending a coded message that he can think of?

Peeking out again and seeing that both father and son had disappeared, she straightened and dusted off her clothes. It seemed like she had been saved, albeit in the most unlikely of ways, but now she realised that it really hadn't been so bad talking to Ichigo.

Wondering how she could continue to both contradict herself and keep on pondering the orange haired teenager when really she had nothing to do with him, Rukia began walking in the direction of the Estate again.


Finding herself in a pale darkness all of a sudden, and assuming that meant she was no longer in a memory, but not in reality either, Rukia blinked a little. It still didn't make sense how she'd felt such a connection with Kurosaki even before getting to know him, which is what she guessed had happened.

Chuckling tonelessly, she began speaking to herself, 'Well, if it's like,' she paused for a moment before continuing with a twitch above her eye, 'Destiny or something paranormal like that, then I'm going to start laughing and never stop. How can something so strange happen to people like this?' she scowled deeply, 'And why does it have to be me? This linking of lives is a little too out there for my complete liking,'

She was about to continue her little thought process, when suddenly she was wrenched from the white black and into another memory.


'My, my, what have we here?' Ukitake blinked as he watched Rukia walking along the side of the street, seemingly in conversation with someone who had shockingly bright orange hair, 'Kuchiki,' there was a happy tear in his eye, 'I'm so glad you made a friend who isn't Kaien. People need lots of friends, or at least most seem to, so I'm happy that you're making new acquaintances. And here I was thinking your reserved personality would prevent anything like this from happening,' suddenly realising what he'd said, he quickly amended himself, not that anyone heard, 'No! I never doubted your ability to open up! Never!'

There was a moment when Jūshirō continued his happy tear session, and then he heard something that made him look up, 'Oops,'

'Ukitake,' Rukia seemed to be trying not to laugh, or was she just controlling her anger, it was hard to tell, 'You're in the middle of the footpath and speaking very loudly to yourself, people will think you're not alright here,' she tapped her head, trying not to think about what she'd heard him saying. She knew she had a difficult personality, at least for some people, but it was the fact that he'd noticed and been worried that concerned her.

'Sorry, sorry,' looking up at the other teenager, Ukitake blinked in surprise, 'Ooh! It's Kaien!'

Ichigo wondered just who this man was. The white hair, floral handkerchief, and his apparent relation to Rukia was all very confusing. Not to mention the fact that he'd just been called 'Kaien', whoever that was.

'Excuse me? I'm Kurosaki Ichigo,' not sure what exactly what to say, he just introduced himself in a basic, simple way. Beside him, Rukia was stifling chuckles, and he wondered why.

'No, no,' she bit back the laughter with an effort, 'Ukitake's just saying that you look like his ward, or at least,' peering at the man and noting how he seemed to be wanting to hug Ichigo, she added quickly, 'That's what I think, but I don't know if it's true,'

'His ward?' having heard the word 'ward' in relation to hospitals, Ichigo was now very confused, 'Wait, does that mean someone he-,'

Rukia cut him off, 'Ukitake is Kaien's official guardian. Or he was until Kaien turned eighteen,'

'Oh,' feeling a little stupid, Ichigo nodded, 'Right,'

'Come over,' Ukitake still seemed in a state on intense emotional excitement, 'Come over to the Kuchiki Estate! I'm sure Kuchiki won't mind,'

'Kuchiki?' feeling even more confused, the orange haired teenager just echoed the name.

'Not that Kuchiki,' pointing to Rukia, Ukitake smiled, 'Her older brother, Kuchiki Byakuya,'

Thinking the name sounded familiar, Ichigo tried to process everything that was going on, 'Are you sure you're alright inviting someone random over to your house?'

'I'm sure you're not just someone if Kuchiki here is talking to you,' Jūshirō turned and led the way to the car, not waiting to see if they'd follow, but knowing both would, 'And it's fine,'

'Alright then, okay,' still not certain about the whole situation, Ichigo just wandered after him, 'And who's Kaien?' he still wasn't totally sure.

'Someone who looks almost exactly like you,' Rukia answered as she slid into the back seats of the oddly designed car.

'I wonder how he'd react if he met you,' Ukitake hummed as he started the ignition, 'I think it would be most interesting,'

'Er, okay,' as he sat down, Ichigo couldn't help but think this was the start of something that would affect him very deeply in the coming years.


'Are you alright?' the words sounded like echoes and they were all distorted. Rukia wondered what was going on, until she realised that she was back in the present, and that Ichigo was talking to her in a concerned way. She briefly thought that she wanted to know how long she'd been in her memories for, but a more important question took over.

'How old was I when I met you?' she still didn't want to accept that they'd become friends, but the evidence was right there, in her head, 'Kurosaki?' since her vision was slightly out of focus, all she could see was a blur.

'You were fifteen and a half, or something like that,' Ichigo watched as she blinked, bringing more and more of herself back into consciousness, 'Why do you ask?'

'And those paintings,' ignoring him, the petite teenager continued, standing with a little unsteadiness before turning and moving towards the stairs, intent on getting to Ukitake's study, 'I really painted them?'

Ichigo stood too and wandered over to stand beside her, 'Yeah, you were a really good artist,' he paused before continuing, 'You've seen the paintings, they're so realistic, kind of like photos, but with something fantasy about them, that tells people that they're not photos, and that someone really did have the skill to paint so well,'

Rukia listened as she walked towards the half open door of the study, 'I can't imagine myself as an artist,' she entered the room, hearing Kurosaki follow quietly.

Once again, the artwork on the walls made her head spin slightly, but this time she focused on only one out of all the frames that covered the walls. It was a portrait of Kaien, and he was smiling as he looked up from reading some thick study textbook. The realistic quality was only broken by the fact that, in the background, there was a pattern in black spread out across the wall. It was swirling and distinctive, but she couldn't guess why she would've added such a thing.

'Can you remember painting any of these?' Ichigo's voice broke the quiet, and she heard him move to lean against Ukitake's desk, 'You used to say they all had stories behind them, but that you'd only see those tales if you looked hard enough and in the right way,' he laughed lightly, 'But I don't think I ever really believed you,'

Rukia moved back to let her eyes pass over every single one, and she thought she could almost hear herself saying something, but the words were too faint to distinguish. As her gaze flowed over each carefully painted face, she realised something, coming to a stop on one of Kurosaki, To have done this, when it was obvious there was so much effort involved . . . the fist she didn't realise she'd clenched relaxed suddenly, I really must've liked him, and known him well. Because to paint a friend . . . you have to know them so closely that you can almost see their soul.

The last thought surprised her, and it seemed both exaggeratedly poetic and almost untrue. She'd heard of famous artists who could paint almost anyone they'd met really well, so what was that little phrase trying to say. That the works of those people weren't good, or something? It didn't make sense and that was annoying.

'Rukia-,' Ichigo wondered why she was just standing there with such a complex expression showing clearly on her face, 'Do you want to leave this room?'

'No,' her tone was completely calm and even, and then she blinked and seem to return to her normal self, 'Hey you,' the question had popped up in her head so suddenly that she just had to ask it, 'You seem to know a lot about both me, and Kaien too. Did you ever meet him?'

'I never met him,' there was a pause, 'But you told me a lot about the things you two used to do, so it's almost like I know him, in a way,'

'Oh, I see,' turning to the door, she wandered out, 'Come again tomorrow, if you're going to skip school, I still have questions,'

Ichigo hid his amused grin, 'Alright, see you then,'

'Whatever,' not bothering to see the other teenager to the door, Rukia disappeared in the direction of her bedroom, 'Later, Kurosaki,'

As she said his name, she wondered if, in that time she couldn't recall, they'd become good enough friends that she'd called him 'Ichigo', just like she referred to Kaien. It was an almost frightening thought.


Author's Note:

Firstly I'll apologise for not getting around to putting this chapter up sooner, I'm really very sorry.

And secondly . . . Ichigo and Rukia's first steps on the path to becoming friends have apparently been taken, although that was just a memory, so technically it already happened . . . anyway, more interactions in the present, next chapter.