OnigiriKami: Ahahaha... I'm back again... somehow I've been refreshed from my writer's block, but it still doesn't mean I'm gonna update fast.. I have a lot of school work.. and my mom's pissed that I'm a computer-holic. Yeah... and I got a Droid Incredible (BATTERY LIFE SUCKS), but it sucks how I can't write chapters in their. Oh yeah, and these ads on fanfic are as annoying as hell! Like "please support blah blah blah" and I'm like, "Dude, back off, I'm only stalking a profile." LOL jk jk... or maybe not O.O
Well, thanks for staying with this story, I'm not good with high vocabulary (I'm an average student) but it'll be worth it, cause this story has a lot in store... A lot of drama... which I hate in real life =.= And reviews, and you guys keep me going :) so thanks you guys :DD
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Bleach
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Last Chapter...
"You know, you've been munching off of me for a long time! I'm tired of how you don't do anything around here!" Ishida paused in his little lecture. He was like a mom. "I-If you don't get a job right now, I'm going to seriously kick you out of my house!" Ishida threatened. He was the only person who could talk so harshly with Ichigo.
".. Fine..."
"What?..- I mean... GOOD!" Ishida said, bewildered by Ichigo's agreement. "I'll find and do everything for you, but you better not screw up the interview! I want you to get a job in one shot! Got it?"
"Whatever, just leave me alone!" Ichigo yelled, then tossed and turned a little before falling back asleep.
"Hey, Kurosaki!" called out the bespectacled man. Ishida had just came back from shopping for his knitting tools. He held about three fliers in one hand, the other holding the shopping bag.
"What do you want?" Ichigo said on the couch. He was watching some kind of ghost show that was playing.
"I got you some fliers for jobs. Here they are.. Mochilato!"
"No."
"Um.. Wacdonald's?"
"Hell no."
"What about this restaurant Dancing Moon?" Ishida suggested. It was the last flier suggestion.
"What type of restaurant?"
"It's those fancy ones."
"Alright then, that's fine." Ichigo decided, it was the only best option: a frozen yogurt place, a fast food restaurant, or a high class restaurant. "When do I start working?"
"Well you'll have to first fill out your application, then you do an interview... it's closed today, so tomorrow we'll do the application and interview and then start working once the manager calls you." Ishida said, then pushed his glasses up more. "If you fail this, you'll die, Kurosaki!"
"Whatever." Ichigo said plainly, then turned back to the television and flipped the channel. "Stupid show.."
"Well.. Im going to be upstairs Kurosaki, if you need anything you know where to find me." Ishida said, then went upstairs and went into his room.
Ichigo stared at Ishida's leaving figure. He slowly slouched and then laid on the couch, his eyes still on the television, but his mind slowly drifting to something else. When he was alone like this, just laying down and staring into nothingness made him think about everything. The television noise slowly faded away and he remembered something from a long time ago... He was remembering his mother.. the person he couldn't protect on that day..
On that day he couldn't do anything.
"Mom!" Ichigo yelled to his mother, Masaki. He was a young boy, and he had a huge smile drawn on his face. His orange hair was a little wet from the rain, but he was now holding an blue umbrella. Ichigo's mother was right besides him, smiling back.
"What is it, Ichigo?" Masaki said gently to her son.
"I heard from Tatsuki that whenever it rains, it means the sky's crying!" Ichigo said amazingly, "Mom, why's the sky so sad?"
"No, Ichigo, Tatsuki-chan got it all wrong. The sky cries because it's soooo happy that it starts crying!" Masaki said, then started laughing at her statement.
"Really? So then the sky get's happy a lot!"
"Mhmm, the sky is always happy. Now hold my hand, it's not safe walking near the street." Masaki said and Ichigo held her hand right away. "Hmm, once we get home, what should we eat? Karashi mentaiko* with rice?"
"YAY! I love karashi mentaiko Mom." Ichigo yelled happily. Then they got silent and was walking on their way home. But Ichigo could sense something behind them, the faintest noise of footsteps. He could distinguish this one from the rest because him and his mother were the only ones walking on the sidewalk.. there wouldn't be a third person that just popped out. "Mom, I know a shortcut!" Ichigo said, yanking his mother to a curve that was totally opposite from their home, this creepy feeling had overwhelmed him so he wanted to test something out. He curved towards an alleyway.
"Ichigo! What are you doing? This isn't the way home."
"No, this is a shortcut!" Ichigo said, he then quickly turned around to see a shaggy looking man, his face was slightly covered with his hood, but he could see the creepy smile on his face. The man made eye contact with Ichigo, his smile stretched more, and he started skipping. He slowly pulled out a kitchen knife and started singing a lullaby.
"Hush little baby... don't say a word..." Then he put his index finger next to his mouth as if he was hushing Ichigo. He flipped the knife and then caught it, he did it again in a repetition manner. He calmly skipped to Ichigo and Masaki.
"Ichigo, run." Masaki ordered Ichigo. She had finally seen who was tailing them, and why Ichigo was doing so many unnecessary things.
"But Mom!" Ichigo shouted back at his mother. How could he abandon his own flesh and blood. Whoever could do such a thing was a extremely cold-hearted person.
"I said ru-" Masaki was cut off as she was struck with the knife in her back. She was too into Ichigo's safety that she didn't focus on the psychotic man that was behind her. "Ichi-" she said, then slowly went to Ichigo. Her legs started wobbling and she tried to grab for Ichigo. But then another strike came to her back.
"Ahahaha!" The killer said, he started to laugh and although it was covered in the rain, he was crying. "So this is how it felt like! This is how Mom was killed!"
Ichigo stared into nothingness. He just saw a slow movement of his mother falling down to the ground. He couldn't hear anything, it felt as if the world had stopped. He couldn't move his body, all he felt was his own trembling... he only felt his fear and the rain.
"It's your turn kid." The man turned to Ichigo and slowly dragged his feets. It was as if his energy was drained from killing Masaki. "I would've let you go if you didn't saw what happened..."
"No... no..." Ichigo muttered, his eyes widened and never losing sight of the man's face. But he jolted in surprise, the man was being tripped over by something grabbing onto his right leg. It was the hand of his mother. The man tipped over and started screaming, he thrashed around and revealed that his own knife had stabbed his chest. His screaming was heard all over the streets and he did it for a long time. Then finally, his screaming had died, and his movements became slow.
He was dead.
Ichigo's body relaxed instantly when he sensed no danger and his eyes went white. He dropped to the floor and passed out...
Ichigo could here the rain pounding outside. The season was the beginning of winter, but the weather was still autumn like. His memory was the same, it would never change. Only his memory would be more vivid on the exact date that she had died. But today, he was just reminiscing. He closed his eyes and his mind slowly went back to what had happened next..
"Where am I?" Ichigo asked himself slowly, his eyes droopy and his head hurting for some reason. He looked around him to spot two people laying on the ground. He walked towards them and turned around the woman's body first. He then screamed when he saw the lifeless face of his mother who was looking aimlessly at the sky. He remembered now, the event came back to him like a huge wave. He remembered that the other body was the one that had killed his mother. He remembered that he was almost killed... He remembered that he couldn't do anything.
"Th-This isn't real!" Ichigo said to himself with a shaky voice. He shook his head violently at started to laugh hysterically, "If I just wake up, then we'll be home eating karashi mentaiko!"
But nothing happened.
"AHHHHHHHH!" he shrieked and grabbed tufts of his hair, he made himself into a secure ball. "WHY! WHY COULDN'T I DO ANYTHING!" He blamed himself, his tears coming out. "I PROMISED TO DAD! I WAS THE NUMBER ONE GUARDIAN! BUT WHY DID I JUST STOOD THERE WATCHING!" This horrible feeling was to much for him. It churned in his belly, making him want to puke.
The person who made his world into a lively color was gone. His world was now black and white.
Everything was nothing now.
There was silence, only the sound of the rain pounding the streets.
"Liar... I hate myself."
"Kurosaki... Are you.. crying?" The familiar voice of Ishida asked awkwardly. He had came downstairs and saw a slid of wet substance that looked like a tear falling off of Ichigo's face.
Ichigo woke up abruptly from his doze and stared at the ceiling, not making eye contact with Ishida. He gave a long pause before he spoke, "You better fix your roof, it's leaking." Ichigo said, then got off the couch and went upstairs to his room.
"But... this is the first floor..." Ishida said to himself.
"Renji! Can I have some money for the movies so I could go with Arisawa and Inoue?" Rukia asked Renji who was cooking in the kitchen. He was like a single mom.. but he had his dad moments.
"No." He said.
"Why? Stop being so uptight about money." Rukia complained. "I just need about 1500 yen, I'll eat at home."
Renji stopped cooking. He thought about it. Rukia had not asked for much and they had been through so many tough times. It was his fault that everything ended like this. If he hadn't taken her away from that orphanage...
"Hey, I'm Renji!" yelled the pineapple head triumphantly. He was wearing worn out clothing and had a dirty, uncleaned face. "Why're you here?"
"My.. my guardian abandoned me when I was a baby.." Rukia whispered. This subject was a little personal to her, and she didn't like thinking much about it. "And you?" Rukia asked back. Since he asked her, she asked him. She purposely made her voice tough and deep, she was like a young tomboy.
"Me? I got in here because I was found stealing bread."
"And your parents?"
"I donno, maybe dead." Renji shrugged and said carelessly. "I've been in this foster home for a week."
"I've been in here for nine years." Rukia replied back, "So I guess I'm your senior here!" She smirked.
"No! I'm older than you, I'm ten!" The red head protested.
"But I'm your senior beca-" Rukia was interrupted by the guardian.
"Rukia Kuchiki, please come here." Rukia turned her body toward the direction on the voice and walked to the woman that called her.
"Yes, Yoshino-san?" Rukia asked. Renji stared at the two people talking together but couldn't hear the rest of what they were saying, and brushed it off. He walked away toward a ball in the crummy looking playground. He kicked the ball many times while waiting for the couple to finish their talk. He was waiting for Rukia because of all the people he had talked to in the orphanage, somehow just talking to her for the first time drawed his attention to her...
"Hey Renji! Sorry for making you wait long." Rukia shouted to Renji. "Oh! You wanna play a game with that ball?"
"... Sure." Renji said, his cheeks slightly red.
(1 month later)
"HEY RENJIIIIII! WAKE UP!" Rukia shouted, then gave Renji a mighty punch to his cheek.
"OWWWWW! WHAT WAS THAT FOR!" Renji shouted, instantly awoken by Rukia's power punch. "Why do you have to wake me up like that?"
"You told me to, remember? You always sleep like a dog, that's why you never get the best food." Rukia said, "Well.. they already did take all the good stuff..."
"WHY DIDN'T YOU WAKE ME UP!"
"Shut up. You're lucky you have me..." Rukia smiled.
"What the hell is that supposed to-" Renji was cut off when he saw that Rukia took out a tiny bag from her pocket pants. She opened it and grabbed Renji's hand. She poured out the thing that was inside of it. It was konpeito*.
"Here.. I saved some for you." Rukia mumbled, her eyes not meeting his. Renji blushed a little and stared at the konpeitos in his hand. "What are you doing? Not gonna eat these?" Rukia said after realizing he was just staring at the star shaped candies.
"Shut up!" Renji moved his hands away from Rukia's direction. "Of course I'm having it, idiot!"
"You're welcome idiot." she said then gave a small smile. She then went out of the boy's room and went back into the girl's room.
While Rukia exit the room, Renji's eyes focused on her back. He saw her open the door and closed it shut. There was a moment of silence and Renji stared at the konpeito in his hands a little longer before he spoke, "This is bad.." He didn't want to get close to anyone, because he knew that one day his dear friends would leave him and get adopted. The many interviews Renji had, and he always got a displeasing reception. But a girl like Rukia... so many would be pleased with her. Renji was even shocked that she hadnt gotten adopted into a foster family yet.
"This is bad."
"Alright then, I'll give you the damn money." Renji said, he rummaged through his pockets for his wallet and took out the paper money and handed it to her. "But you better not come late! If you do, I'm not letting you in the house!"
"Thanks Renji! And alright!" Rukia said, and smiled at him.
"So Rukia... that's your name right?"
Rukia was sitting on an end of a table and on the other end was a chubby, greasy looking old man. He gave the creepiest looks and smiles toward her direction and it might have been Rukia hallucinating, but every now and then he would glance at her chest and her legs. The thought of that made shivers go up Rukia's back, so she shook it off. "YEAH, THAT'S MY NAME! NOW WHAT DO YOU WANT?" Rukia shouted with attitude.
"RUKIA!" yelled out the guardian. "I told you to stop being so rude!- I'm sorry, she's not usually this disrespectful..." Yoshino-san lectured Rukia and then averted her attention from the old man. She pushed down the top of Rukia's head and forced her to bow down, "Say sorry!"
"No, no, it's alright!" The old man said, shaking his hand to stop Yoshino-san's actions. "Maybe we just need some time alone to talk."
"But... I can't leave her alone..."
"No, it's fine, this'll let us know each other better and besides, you're pressuring her."
"A-Alright then... I'll leave you two alone for about 15 minutes." Yoshino-san agreed hesitantly, then left the room.
The two people sitting in the room were very quiet, Rukia trying to not make eye contact with the old man and him looking at her body from top to bottom.
"How old are you, Rukia-chan?" Just that way he called her name creeped Rukia out. She could feel goosebumps on her skin and sweat slowly forming on her forehead. Rukia woudn't speak, not one answer will come out of her mouth to him. "I said how old are you?" he repeated.
"..."
"Not answering huh?"
"..."
The man suddenly got out of his chair and walked over to Rukia. He stared at her again. Eyeing her with a disgusting hungry, he slowly slid his hand on Rukia's shouders and then stroked her hair roughly. He bent down to her height and whispered in her ear: "I really like girls like you."
"THAT'S IT! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!" Rukia shouted. She was surpressing her defiance until it bursted out. "DISGUSTING! DISGUSTING! DISGUSTING!" Rukia repeated, then kicked the man away from her, she started to rub her shoulders and hair as if she was wiping away the dirty touch that the man had left. "Don't touch me, you nasty perverted old man!" Rukia shouted.
The man got up from where he had been thrown and grunted a little. "You fucking brat." His back had been cracked and he strided to Rukia, about to hit her...
"Is everything alright?" Yoshino-san asked, barging into the room. A few seconds before she could see what the man was doing, he stopped and smiled at her.
"No. nothings wrong, everythings alright."
"Oh.. I see... How was she?"
"She was wonderful, I want to welcome her into the family right away!"
"NOO! I don't want to go!" Rukia shrieked. No matter what, no matter what she would never won't to go to that vile disgusting man. Death would be better than going to him.
"Rukia! Don't you want a family? Everyone else will be adopted!" Yoshino-san shouted back. She wasn't doing this to get rid of her, but for a better future for her.
"Hahaha, it's alright, I think she needs a little time before she leaves. I'll come pick her up tomorrow." The old man said, then he bent down to Rukia until he was an inch from her ear and whispered, "Once I have you, I'm gonna do so many things too you..." he then chuckled in a high pitched voice. He rose up and then left the room with Yoshino-san tailing behind him.
Rukia froze in her place, all these years she had avoided being adopted. All these years she had rejected those nice people and now she got the worst scumbag. Once she goes in his hand, she would be a toy, a toy that would be used and used until it was broken... She wasn't one to cry, but somehow, just sitting their, being able to do nothing about this wanted to make her cry so badly. Being able to do nothing to control her own fate. She rolled her fist to a ball, she was trying so hard not to cry. The tears slowly started to slide out until she heard the door open and the voice of Yoshino-san.
"Why were you like that, Rukia?" Yoshina-san asked.
"... I.." Rukia hesitated. Her throat clenching because she was holding in the cry that she was muffling with sheer force. But when she spoke again, she yelled it out and bursted. "I DON'T WANT TO GO WITH THAT MAN!"
"What are you talking about? You have to go with him! You don't want to live here! Don't you want a better life? Instead of staying in this dump? You've already caused me enough trouble, making everything so troublesome, chasing away people!" Yoshino-san shouted, and complained. "... I'm sick and tired of you! If you don't want to go with him, your out of this place!" Yoshino-san said these cruel words not out of hatred but love. She didnt want Rukia to live in this trash. It would be better if she just lived a better life... Yoshino-san had gotten very attached to the childrens that lived here. She was like a real mom to these childrens here. She cared for them.. maybe enough to sacrafice for them.
"I HATE YOU!" Rukia shouted back, then ran out of the door. Rukia started to cry and was blinded by her tears, only her legs carried her to wherever she was going. The woman who was like her mother figure was disowning her. It hurted, it hurted so much, and this made Rukia wonder... was her parents like this when they abandonned her? She shook this off of her mind, everytime she thought about that topic, it would always give her headaches.
"OUCH!"
Rukia had collided with another person. She was flung down to the floor because of the strong impact. She looked up to see who it was that she had bumped into..
It was Renji.
"Oi Rukia!... What's wrong?" Renji first addressed her then saw that she was crying. He wasn't one to wait for answers, so he grabbed her shoulders and shook her furiously, "Who made you cry?" Renji started to freak out because for the past month he had never once seen Rukia cry and the way she broke down made him very insecure. "Tell me who did this to you?"
"Nobody..." Rukia said then sobbed some more, covering her face so that Renji couldn't see her cry.
"Tell me! You think you can solve anything just by crying? If you tell me..." Renji said then changed to a softer tone, "I can help you..."
Maybe those words were what Rukia wanted to hear. That someone could help her, even if it was the slightest chance... Rukia took her hands away from her face and wiped away the tears quickly, she sniffed her nose and then she began to explain what happened.
"So now I'm going to get adopted to this dirty old pervert.." Rukia ended.
"... Let's run away together." Renji blurted out. He didn't have a second to think at all.
"What? Are you crazy?"
"Well it's better than going to that pervert!"
"What about food, money?"
"We can go to the main kitchen and steal some food... and for the money... we're gonna have to sneak it from Yoshino's safe."
"... How do you know where the safe is?"
"Eh, I saw her opening it. She's pretty careless when it comes to those things."
"You know the combination number too?"
"08-18-05."
"... Alright.." Rukia thought, the plan was reasonable now, "But we have to do this tonight! I'm getting picked up by that pedofile tomorrow.. And anyways... Yoshino-san wouldn't care..."
"Okay then, meet up in the hallway between the girls' and boys' room! You'll get the food, while I hack the safe." Renji said, then made a fist for Rukia to pound. She pounded back and smiled.
"Thanks Renji."
"No prob." Renji answered back. He wasn't doing this just for Rukia's sake... it was for him too. He would call himself selfish because of these reasons. He didn't want to hand over Rukia to anyone. If they both ran away, then him and her will be together longer. Instead of him waiting each day that Rukia would be taken away from him, she would be right besides him. This was how he wanted it to be. This way... he could be happy.
That day, Renji and Rukia did not meet after they discussed their plan. They didn't blink to each other's direction or talked to each other. While the afternoon passed by, it was finally time for their curfew, and everyone was put into their rooms. The boys were playing around for a while and after that, they finally fell asleep, same went for the girls' room. Renji and Rukia's plan were finally set into action. Renji rose from his bunkbed and opened the door slightly only to come to a halt. The door made a loud noise.
"Crap." Renji whispered. Then he turned around to see if the boys were still sleeping. They were snoring and drooling. "Boys will be boys.." Renji said then shrugged his shoulder and opened the door all the way. He crept out of the room and closed it gently. "Step one, success." Renji said in triumph. He ran through the corridoor and went to a big picture frame, he took out a stool that was lying around the room and stepped on top of it. He put down the heavy picture frame slowly so that it wouldn't make a loud thud. After putting down the frame, he saw the safetly box combination lock and twisted the knob to '08-18-05' then a click noise could be heard. He pulled open the box to see the money and grabbed a load of it in his hands. "Sorry Yoshino... hope you can forgive me..." He then ran to the designated place to meet up with Rukia. As he reached the hallway, he saw her clenching on a bag. "Is that the food?"
"Yeah... and other handy things..." Rukia replied.
"Then let's go." Renji lead the way to the front door and Rukia followed, he unlocked the handle and opened it. He was the first to come out, while Rukia was still inside. She looked around the house and then a tear dropped from her eye.
"This was my home..."
"... Yeah, mine too." Renji whispered back. Then they both were outside, Renji relocked the door and shut it. They looked at the smoky sky and walked along the road. They got to the crosswalk and crossed the street, but before they could even touch the road, a car sped up almost hitting Renji. "Crazy drunk!" Renji yelled at the car that kept driving forward.
"Renji... what do we do now?" Rukia asked with a shaky voice. This outside world which Yoshino-san had hid from them was now seen with these two's innocent eyes.
"..I don't know... "
Welcome to Inuzuri.
"You dumbass!" A punch went straight at Ganju's big face. The punch had great force and tumbled him to the other side of the wall. He was in an old fashioned Japanese traditional house. There was a table in the middle of the room, Ganju on one side and the other side was his older sister, Kuukaku.
"OWW! Nee-san! What was that for?" Ganju yelled.
"You idiot! You fucking idiot! You got the wrong guy!" Kuukaku screamed.
"What the hell? I got the right guy! Wasn't he an orange head!"
"Well, did you ever thought of the guy's age?" Kuukaku finally said. After just seeing Ichigo's face she knew it wasn't him. When Ganju brought her to the school, she had first that he was a teacher working there but when she saw that it was a student, she knew Ganju had gotten the wrong guy.
"You got the fucking wrong guy!"
OnigiriKami: Yeap... well that's it for now, next chapter will be good. I think the past chapter and this one was just a filler for the weekends, but the real deal will come in the next chapter. These were flashbacks so you guys coud get more background on the characters... Sorry for spelling errors and anything weird. :P
Have you guys realized... I like borrowing characters from animes... but I like making their own personalities O.o so some of the characters will be OOC... sorry if you don't like that :/
Ganju got the wrong guy! Cause he's an idiot...
*Karashi mentaiko: Pollack eggs
*Konpeito: Japanese star shaped candy
Next chapter:
A tall toned man came into the restuarant door. He was in a business suit but he quickly loosened the tie on him. He had black hair, gray eyes and a 69 tactoo on one of his cheek.
'He's good looking...' Rukia thought.
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