Chapter 13

Ichigo followed Rukia on the way to 'her place', like she called it. He was curious what kind of place it was. He couldn't imagine anything. He also felt quite stupid about his blow up in the garage, but he definitely didn't need such an intimate friendship. Yeah, and that's why you took her on a ride. You're so stupid, Kurosaki.

Everything he felt was like two people were fighting inside of him: one wanted to get close to Rukia, goof around with her, protect her, simply be with her, but the second one warned him, that if he gets close, she'll want something in return. That one adviced him to keep distance, stay cold as he always was. So far he lived without it and it wasn't that bad, right?

What if it could be better? Suddenly the thought entered his mind. He did his best to push it away, yet it was constantly coming back.

He won't do anything. He'll just let things go their own way and see what are more important things to worry about.

Ichigo turned left, hedging in the narrow alleys, not taking his eyes off of Rukia. She was driving with confidence, just like she did when he thought she was Chappy. It didn't seem she had any problems, but he observed her, just in case. Her small figure receded a little, so he speeded. He was responsible for her now, he broke the prohibition settled by the gang- it was one of the biggest crimes in their group. It meant they didn't trust each other. Yet this time, it was about something so trivial like driving a few blocks. He could understand that she wanted her bike for herself, even if it was for a short amount of time. She had tough day and definitely deserved something to chill out.

It seemed they finally arrived, because Rukia stopped the machine in front of one small building, he assumed to be a garage.

She reached underneath the mat and found the key, which opened large door. Afterwards, she waved to him to hurry up. She and her motorcycle disappeared inside and Ichigo did the same, without thinking. It was freezing outside. After he had entered she closed the door at once.

'It has got a lot colder don't you think?' she swiveled the key and made her way to the red couch. 'Make yourself comfortable. You can put your bike next to mine. I'm afraid there is no heating so I'll just pick up a few blankets.'

Ichigo was totally surprised. It looked like a small flat connected with garage. There was a place for bikes, tools and that kind of things in the left, but in the right there was a couch and furniture. He liked that a lot. It was cosy and there wasn't anything unnecessary around.

'You want some tea? We have here even an old teapot.' She grinned as she pointed really old object, reminding a little bit a teapot.

'You sure it won't blow up?' Ichigo asked uncertainly, taking a closer look at it.

'Absolutely. I have done it before.' She prepared two big cups and started to bustle a little. 'I'm sorry but I didn't have the chance to clean it up so far, as you see there is a lot of dust, but I think we'll manage somehow.'

'We will.' Ichigo smiled and helped her to tidy a little bit the couch. He sat comfortably watching two helmets hanging in front of him. One was violet and the second one was black with something blue scratched on it. He wondered who they belonged to, but he guessed he'll find out. If not tonight, then some other day.

'Here you are.' Rukia gave him blankets, a cup of tea and settled herself on the other side of the couch, wrapped up into the checked material.

'So first, tell me about New Year's Party.' She felt so at ease here, he could notice it. It was like she had a guest in her own apartment. Ichigo smiled at the comparision.

'Well, there's really nothing special about it. We just gather all in one place, without our racing clothes or equipment and have fun.' He took a sip of the tea. It was good, and quite comforting, because even tough they were inside they could almost feel the cold wind against their clothes. Rukia was all covered with blankets, but Ichigo only covered his back and chest, leaving two other blankets untouched next to him.

'Should I bring someone or there are just members of the gang?' Ichigo choked on with his tea.

'You want to bring that tattooed freak there?' Ichigo felt like throwing the cup with the tea onto the wall.

'Why would I do that? I am not…in the best connections with him. I've been thinking about someone else, but is it necessary?' Someone else? How many guys she had up in her sleeve? Wasn't she crying an hour today because of a man? Wasn't she enough? He definitely won't be there to comfort her again.

'Well, it's not. We are usually only in our own company.' He replied with voice cold as a stone. 'But there is a possibility you can bring…someone. Do I know him?' He asked the last question before biting his tongue.

'Yeah, but if it's not necessary then I'll pass. I probably won't be in mood to take care of anybody, when there are so many things to settle between me and the rest.' Ichigo wanted to ask who was she thinking about, so he could find the guy and… stop it right there. You. Are. Not. Her. Fuckin'. Boyfriend. He repeated himself this phrase a couple of times but he was still curious as hell. He knew the guy!

'Well, you've got the point. But you know everyone, so it should be easy, right?' changing topic seemed to be a good option. Rukia was deep in thought, her eyes were absent.

'Wanna play a game, Ichigo?' She asked all of sudden, piercing him with her intense sapphire eyes. And it felt like she was forcing him to say 'yes'. Her thoughts were far away from the party.

'What kind of game?' he asked gingerly.

'Secret for secret.' She was still drilling into his mind with those goddamn eyes.

'I don't really like that kind of games.' She sent him sharp look and with voice rejecting any further objections, she snapped. 'I'll start.'

She dug herself deeper into the blankets and rolled the cup in her hands. It was like she was clearing her mind, preparing. She had focused expression mixed with determination; like she was taking all her courage.

'I'll start from the beginning. This is going to be a very long story, so keep focused and don't try to fall asleep, because I will kill you. I haven't told anyone all of it, so you can feel special.' Ichigo wanted to make some ironical comment, but held himself back.

'So why are you telling this to me?' Of all people. Something warm appeared in his chest. But that's just probably because he touched his cup, nothing more.

'Frstly, I've been keeping it too myself for too long. Secondly, people talk about that kind of things to their family, and technically, you are my family now. Thirdly, people also talk about that kind of things to their friends, and well, I do consider you as friend if you like it or not.' She mumbled it all so fastly, he needed to exert his ears to understand everything. Wait, was she blushing? In the state he was due to what she said it was better to stay quiet, since like hell, he had no idea how to react. So he assumed it would be best to let her talk.

'When I was 14 my older sister met a boy. She has totally fallen for him and he loved her back. They were inseparable since the day they became a couple. The boy, his name was Byakuya.'

'You are not speaking of that Byakuya? Byakuya Kuchiki? Shit! He had your name! But how…? I don't get it. Your sister…?' Ichigo jumped on the couch, almost falling from it. She knew Byakuya Kuchiki? Sweet Jesus, how could he not relate her name with Byakuya's?

'Just shut up Ichigo. I'll explain everything. You just listen.' He couldn't calm down. Byakuya Kuchiki! The guy was a legend! He didn't loose a single race, he always won. He never shared technique with anyone, but was famous in the whole town even before Ichigo started his interest in bikes. Too bad he disappeared a few years ago, and nobody knew what happened to him. And he was her sister's boyfriend, he had her name. It was too weird for him to figure it out, so he tried not to seem too overactive, but he just couldn't sit in one place, when she was telling him that kind of news.

'So. About the name. It was a coincidence. Simple coincidence we had the same. You probably know Byakuya was noble. We were nowhere near him. We were from suburbs of Karakura, living meager, but happy life. It was also because of the name Byakuya met Hisana. Someone called "Kuchiki!" at the lawyer's office and they both raised. Byakuya, being proud noble didn't even think about letting her go in before him, but well, Hisana was Hisana, and told him he was a jerk who did not let the ladies go first. Of course she had no idea who he was, she wouldn't react like that if she knew, but that way she got his attention. Anyway, that story is not that important. The thing is Byakuya rode motorcycles.'

'Hell yes he did.' Ichigo mumbled but shut himself immediately after noticing Rukia's angred expression.

'That's how I was gotten into it. Me, Hisana, Renji- yeah, that Renji' she added after his questioning gaze 'and one more guy, Kaien.' There was deep and vibrating pause after this name. Rukia glanced at the black Helmet hanging on the wall. So this one was his. Ichigo also took a closer look, but didn't dare to hustle her, even though his internals were twisting with curiosity. Rukia took a deep breath and continued.

'Me, Renji and Kaien were friends from the beginning. When I look back I don't remember times they were not there with me. They just always goofed around and made me crazy with pulling my hair and so on.' She smiled at the memories, looking a little bit absent again, but still very happy. Ichigo has never seen her that happy before. He had seen her in many moods, but never that simply happy.

'They were older, but you know it felt good to have two older chums, that always kept you safe and did so many crazy things, none girl would ever do? You know, Hisana liked them but she preferred girls' talks and that kind of stuff. I was more like climbing on the trees and go to doujo to train martial arts. I had really fine life, you know?' that was the first time she actually looked at him. Exactly into his eyes, while he was imagining her smaller version – if that was even possible- climbing on the trees. There was something between them, definitely. But he wasn't sure how to name that thing.

'When we started training with motorcycles, it was really hard, but we all loved it. Byakuya was great teacher, he borrowed us his old ones, he didn't use anymore. He was the best rider I've ever seen. No offence, but no Death God can be compared to him. I owe him everything I learned. Each of us saved money, because, like I said, we were not very rich. We picked up occasional jobs, made shopping for elderly, that kind of things and after year we had all machines on our own. Second hand, but still, the most beautiful in the world in our eyes.' She paused again and Ichigo had a feeling, this story did not have a good ending.

'You know, we were training next to Death Gods. They were doing their thing and we did ours, sometimes we hanged around together, but it didn't happen often. That's how I knew Urahara when I came first time to you on October. Actually, I knew also Yoruichi, Ikkaku, Yumichika, Kukkaku, which is Kaien's sister by the way, Kenpachi… the whole old crew. You probably wonder why we simply didn't join them. There were two reasons: first, Byakuya was noble, it was against his rules to become a part of the gang, second, we were too young, Byakuya told us we were not ready, it was too dangerous. It was indeed. We didn't want it ourselves, because we were aware how many times Death Gods fought Espadas not only in racings. So we sneaked out from the base when we heard the intruders came in. To be honest I have no idea when that war between those two gangs started. But I lost my track again.'

'One night, after that kind of sneaking out, I was heading home with Kaien only. Byakuya and Hisana rode alone, probably on some randez-vous, and Renji had to visit his school mate. I rode with Kaien here. We sat here talking, similar like we do now, when I came up with fantastic idea to have a ride on his motorbike. He resisted, he didn't want to go out. But I was so obtrusive, he finally weakened.' She gulped quietly and fixed her eyes on the black helmet. 'He was sitting behind me, while I was playing like a little, stupid kid, enjoying it definitely too much. Kaien didn't want to go further than just this neighbourhood, but I was so stubborn…' pause again. Ichigo could figure out the rest on his own but she kept talking. 'I had rode further, without even bothering about his warnings. And when I saw them it was too late. Three white helmets at the end of the street. They noticed us too and decided to play their favourite game with us- I guess that didn't change. To go at full speed and check, who will "crack" first. Of course we wanted to hide somewhere, but there was nowhere to go. It was straight street, only with trees and ditches at the sides. So we only kept appropriate speed, praying there wasn't an suicidial automotive fanatic among them, who wanted to end his life on his beloved bike. Two of them decided to test us. First went smoothly, but the second…we lost control over the machine. As it was the two of us, it was even more difficult to hold on. Since Kaien was more skilled and knew his motorbike better, he was the one contorlling the handlebar, and well… he turned the machine that way… he hit the tree.'

It was like throwing up. Speaking about everything from the beginning. It was like she was getting rid of everything she had inside. But once she had gone so far, she couldn't finish.

'After that accident, everything changed. My parents forbid Hisana to date Byakuya and didn't let us go out after the twilight. Fortunately, they didn't know we had the bikes on our own- we kept them here- so they were not confiscated. Of course Hisana was still seeing Byakuya, with my little help, I might add, but it was extremely hard for all of us. Nobody blamed me, but I know it was only my fault and I have to live with it till the end of my days. We were all scared, started arguing about little things, it was too much. After a month or so, Renji's parents decided to move out. They wanted him to change environment, and that served him I guess' yeah, she thought bitterly, served him pretty well. 'We were writing to each other, you know, e-mails, letters, phone calls. Occasionally we arranged meetings. It was even worse without him here. Hisana had Byakuya and I had noone to talk to, which only reminded me of what I did.' Ichigo tried to say something but she silenced him with one look. 'Don't you dare to say it wasn't my fault. 'she said strongly and continued 'Like I said we kept in touch with Renji for about six months, but there came a time when he just stopped writing. At first I thought something horrible happened and I waited. I waited patiently. Days passed. Weeks. Months. And there was no sign of him, he didn't reply at all. So I stopped. I had no idea what happened, even Hisana tried to get to know something but it didn't work out. So the only support I had was my family. Not that I appreciated it. I was rude, awful to them. I often went out somewhere and didn't come back for many hours. If you asked me where I was, I can honestly say I have no idea. I was just walking around the city without any purpose. There was nothing left to do. I argued with my parents, even Hisana became a stranger to me. You know what was the worst thing?' geez, she definitely won't cry this time. But the picture of her family was so livid in her mind... Ichigo only denied with slow move of his head.

'That they still were there for me. They endured every bitter word I said, every low thing I did and, gave everything they could. Finally I understood that. Sounds familiar, what do you say?' she made her lips to form a smile, but she could bet she managed to do only a grimace. Ichigo now wasn't looking at her, he turned his head to the side and his frown deepened .

'I understood it after they died in the car accident. At the time, when I was thinking there was nothing left to loose, they died in the car accident. They were simply going shopping, there was nothing special about it. I wasn't at home so they went without me. And it's like the fate told me: "See? There was something more." Byakuya left, he was like a dead man after loosing Hisana. He was always quite stiff, yet I really liked him. After that accident, he became cold as ice. Or maybe it was only towards me, because I was younger copy of his beloved one. I can understand that he couldn't look at me and broke the connection. It was natural. From that day I spent some time in foster families, and well, there's nothing to talk about. All I can say it was terrible. Yours was the first normal family I had met. If I can call Isshin normal, of course.' she chuckled lightly and could see Ichigo's gloomy mood brightened a bit too.

'And it is great, it truly is. I still think you're cocky asshole, but that's not the point.' she stuck out her tongue, well aware, that will irritate him. To her surprise he only smirked. 'And now, who's the cocky one, huh? Is that the end of your story? Because I'm a little sleepy…' he threw his head onto the back of the couch and pretended he was snoring. 'You jackass! I told you I'm gonna kill you if you do that.' She kicked him on his tibia, and he hissed in pain. 'That hurts, midget.' She kicked him again. 'And now, what was that for?' he massaged his leg underneath the blankets. 'You should never scoff about my height! Don't you know that so far?' she raised one eyebrow.

'Why not? It's true.'

'Wanna get another one?'

'Ok! There's nothing strange about your height. Nothing at all.' He rolled up his eyes, like he was saying 'Whatever, I will still call you as I want.'

'I didn't like that irony, but I'll work on it. Later. Because the story isn't obviously finished.' Rukia couldn't believe that she has just told him the story of her life, with all painful details and after all of this she was able to joke with him. Her past always made her miserable, joking was like destroying something sacred. 'I didn't tell you about today-Renji-part. If you want to know of course, I'll continue, but I heard you felt sleepy, so…' now she was teasing him. Where did her mental breakdown go?

'If I endured that much, I'll endure five more minutes too.' There was a spark of interest in his eyes.

'Well, I don't know…' she knew he was curious. But he looked so good when he was angry…

'Just tell that goddamn story.' She had to stop herself from grinning. His frown became incredibly deep and look in his eyes so determined, she felt it was impossible to say 'no'.

'Oh, it's not that long. He just came because he wanted to get back his friend.' Rukia said nonchalantly observing Ichigo's reaction.

'The guy has a nerve.' He murmured.

'That's exactly what I thought.'

'Did he say why he broke the contact?'

'Yes, he did.' Rukia made a pause, because suddenly she felt it was really funny. She had no idea what was happening to her, but she started to laugh. 'I'm sorry, but now I think about it, it's so preposterous. You know, he said he met a girl.' And a giggle escaped her mouth. 'I'm really sorry, I don't know why it's so funny all of sudden…' and she laughed, without holding back anymore. The strangest thing was that after she had finished the sentence, she heard Ichigo's laugh.

'What a jerk.' He commented simply and after she looked at him, they both burst into laughing again.

'You must have put something in that tea, there's no other way.' He finally said when they calmed down.

'It better was not true, because that would mean, we are supposed to spend the night here. And it's freezing!' She pulled up a blanket.

'It's not that bad. However you look like Rudolph, Red-Nosed Reindeer.' He smirked like 1000th time today and she wanted to punch him directly into his face, but that would be to complicated to get rid of those blankets.

'You'll regret this later.' She only hissed with gritted teeth.

The cups were empty, it got freezing inside of the garage, but they still sat and talked about silly things, arguing and threatening each other, not able to do anything particular, because it was a little bit warmer underneath the fabrics. Until the moment, when Rukia lost feeling in her fingers. She concluded it was time to go. They had no idea what time it was, the truth was they didn't care. When Ichigo took the motorbike outside, causing the creacking of the fresh snow with its weight, Rukia asked quietly

'So you are not gonna play the game, aren't you?' Ichigo understood what it was about. He started the engine as she sat behind him. 'Another time.'

'You promise?' she encircled his waist with her slim, but strong arms. Well, he could particularly say she hugged him.

'I promise.' They did their helmets up and headed home.

~ So this is all Rukia's past. I hope there aren't any holes in the plot, if you noticed anything, please let me know. I tried really hard. Of course I'm also curious what you think of that kind of events in her life.

If you noticed I changed the rating. So far there was no thing that would need it. I'm still wondering if to make this story more spicy or not. Thanks to Aizawa Ayumu who let me know about it :)

A little preview for next chapter: The Death God's New Year's Party. Ichigo's determination ^^ I leave it to your fantasy for now what that could mean ;)

I also noticed in some fanfics, that authors reply to anonymus reviews in here. So I will do it too ;)

Shenhui- thank you very much, I'm glad you liked the plot. And I must admit that comment about style also flattered me a little, because well, that means I have style and I didn't know about it :)

XconfusedchanX - thanks :) Nice to hear that you liked it :) And about length... I think about 20-25 chapters, but it could take longer if I get some idea. That's not settled yet, but it won't reach 100 I promise XD

If I missed somebody I'm sorry but I really need sleep.

And last thing, I intentionally write it on the lowest part of this chapter. It's just… my university classes start. You know what that means, right? End of holidays, end of unlimited free time, end of fast updates :( I'm really sorry to say that, but I promise I'll do my best!

Of course your wonderful reviews make me do even better than my best :D Take care everyone, and sorry for that long note T-T.

M.