14- How I met your mother
They all arrived to the castle panting.
"And, the looser is the orange shriiiiimp!" Tatsuki announced dramatically.
"Well that wasn't a surprise." Renji added grinning.
Ichigo scowled. "I let you win." he muttered.
Renji grinned. "Ohh, really? Wanna race for real this time? Hundred of years wouldn't be enough to surpass me, strawberry!"
"Oi, what about me?" Tatsuki asked giving him a nudge.
"Well…since I'm a boy and you're a girl…never!"
She smacked his head. "What? I always beat you up!" She yelled, raising her fist.
"Yeah, because I don't hit girl!" He retorted.
She rolled her eyes. "You two always come up with that stupid excuse…can't you admit that I'm the strongest here? Who's the leader again?"
"That's you…" They both answered nonchalantly.
She grinned. "Yep, that's right!" She said proudly, hands on her hips. "Now let's race to the playing ground! Last arrived get the title of strawberry shrimp!" She yelled, running.
Three years have passed since they met Renji. Kaien and Miyako were dead, killed by a cliff collapse. The three were best friends since they met, and set up the 'strong ' group which was led by Tatsuki. They spent days playing together. Tatsuki and Ichigo had to attend several courses, since they were nobles. Ichigo was the one who made everyone meeting but it didn't prevent them from always nagging him. He was still the shorter and the weakest of the crew after all…
"I'm boooooored!" Tatsuki yelled.
"Then find something to do, you're the leader after all!" Renji told her yawning.
Tatsuki scowled. "I'm ALWAYS choosing what we do! Can't you guys decide sometimes?" She whined.
Renji immediately looked up. "And I can be leader then!"
Tatsuki hit him on the head. "NO!" She shouted. She turned and made her way toward Ichigo who was sitting on a couch. Her head popped out from behind as she looked what her friend was doing. "What are you doing?"
"Reading"
She sighed. "That's boring as hell!" She whined. Then, seeing he didn't even bothered to look p from his book, she took the said book from his hands and went to Renji.
Ichigo immediately stood up. "Hey! Give me my book back!" He shouted angrily.
Tatsuki turned to him smirking. "Reading is boring, don't you have enough with class we already have? Why don't you come play with us? You're scared to loose again?"
"Stop teasing him Tatsuki!" Renji shouted, then he grinned. "You know the Strawberry loves doing nerdy things!" He smirked.
Ichigo stood in front of them and angrily snatched his book out of Tasuki's hands. "Well, I may be a weakling like you always call me, but at least I'm not bored!" He yelled before leaving walking furiously.
Renji and Tatsuki blinked a several times. Ichigo's sudden outburst caught them off guard. Their friend wasn't the short-tempered type.
"What has gotten into him?" She snarled.
"Yeah, he was pretty upset…Doesn't look like him."
"Well… he was quite right after all…" She sighed.
Renji rose his eyebrow. "Ohhh, our great leader wants apologize to him?" He snickered.
"Well….yeah… we are always nagging him after all" She paused. "Well, that's normal, I mean, he's the weakest after all…"
"Do you wanna look for him?"
"Yeah"
They quickly left the castle trying to catch up with their friend.
...
Ichigo was fuming. Well they were always nagging him, well couldn't blame us for that, he was always the last in races, was always beaten up by those two, always the first to be frighten and freaking out. But today, he couldn't stand it, he was reading a really interesting and they had the nerve to bother him. Tschhh, they were probably happy without him around… He sighed and sat on the ground. He opened his book and started to read. "Here, I wouldn't be disturb by anyone!" He thought. And he though wrong.
"Ano…carrot boy?" A timid voice spoke.
A vein popped out of Ichigo's head. He was already in a bad mood, he wanted to be alone and someone had to come bothering him and call him carrot boy! He looked up ready gee rid of this freak but he gaped instead. In front of him was a little girl with dark raven hair, a bang across her face and the most beautiful and yet the saddest eyes he had ever seen. "What do you want, don't you see I'm busy?" He spat.
"Ano…you're sitting on my bag…" She said emotionlessly.
"Oh, sorry." He grabbed the small bag and handed it to her.
She took it and sat besides him. "So why are you upset?" She asked.
He raised an eyebrow at the question. She was a total stranger, why is she asking him that? "My friends are annoying." He sighed. "They are always nagging me, teasing me, I've had enough, I left."
She smiled slightly, a sad smile. "But they are friends, it's good to have friends…" she told him looking absently away.
He sighed. "Yeah, you must be right I guess…"
"Don't break away from them, it's important to have someone who cares for you."
He looked at her quizzically. "You don't have anyone like that?"
She looked down and closed her eyes. "What about you?"
He scowled cause she didn't answer his question. "Well, my friends and there was someone else, but not anymore."
"Who was he?"
Ichigo sighed. He didn't like talking about that but with this little girl, everything seemed easy. "He was my cousin and my guardian…" He begun then paused.
"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want…" She finally said.
He looked at her, his eyes locking with hers and smiled. "That's okay, I guess I can tell you." He broke away from her eyes and looked away. "He was harsh, but he cared about me. I admired him and he…died because of me…" He looked down.
She frowned. "What do you mean?"
He sighed. "He was looking for me cause I left to play without telling him. I was in a cavern when he found me. We were going out of it when the cliff collapsed. He pushed me out and was crushed by the collapse. He gave his life to save me. If I didn't go out this day, he would be here today…."
"I don't see what's the problem…" His eyes widened. "He gave his life cause he cared about you, you shouldn't be ashamed of that." She paused and looked down. "You shouldn't be ashamed he loved you more than his own life…." She looked up to lock her eyes with his. "Your cousin, was a great man. Don't turn what he has done into something useless. Live proudly cause you live thanks to him, you live for him."
Ichigo was breathless. "I…" He looked away. "Thank you."
They stayed there in silence until she finally stood up. "I've gotta go, my sister needs me…" She whispered
"Oh" He murmured. He wanted her to stay, but couldn't, she couldn't stay here just for him right? she had a life… She had made a few steps forward when he called her. "Wait! What's your name?"
She turned around and said. "Kuchiki Rukia…What's yours?"
"Kurosaki Ichigo"
"The one who protects…That's a cool name…" she made a step forward.
"Hey, Rukia!" He called. She turned around. "If you…if you need someone to talk…You can always come to me." He said sincerely.
She smiled. The first sign of happiness since she appeared and the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. "Thank you, Ichigo." She looked at the grown. "See you later then." And she left. And he couldn't help thinking of her.
...
"Ichigo, hey Ichigo!" The said boy didn't answer and kept looking by the window. His friend snapped him on the head. "Oi, Strawberry!"
Ichigo looked up, rubbing his head. "What the hell Renji! Why did you hit me!" He yelled.
"I was calling you since what…5 minutes? And you kept ignoring me! You've been acting weird lately, what's wrong with you?" His friend asked him. "Is it about the book thing? Really, we said we were sorry!"
Ichigo sighed. "That's not that, sorry guys, I'm going outside, I wanna be alone." He said before leaving.
Tatsuki looked up. "Oi where is he going?" She asked.
Renji rolled his eyes. "He wanna be alone….again..." He muttered.
Tatsuki rose her eyebrow. "What happened to him?" She asked disbelievingly.
"I don't know, and it's pissing me off…I mean, what are friends for?" He muttered.
She came closer to him, putting her hand on his shoulder. "I'm also worried you know… Wanna go check on him?"
"Yeah..."
...
Ichigo couldn't help thinking of Rukia. She was haunting him since the day they met. He wanted so badly to make her smile, to heal all her pains. He sighed. He had known her for…less than an hour but he wanted to share so much with her. He was walking to the place they had met. He went there everyday and sat on the grown until night came since this day. What was his surprise when he saw her there, sitting on the ground, holding her knees in her arms, her head resting on her knees, hiding her beautiful face. He ran as soon as he saw her. "Rukia! Rukia, you've come back, I'm so glad!" He said with a smile which faded as soon as she looked up. She was crying. "Rukia, what happened to you? someone hurt you? Rukia, don't cry!" He put her into in embrace.
She pulled away from his embrace and gazed absently away. "She died." She said simply.
Ichigo's eyes widened. he sat next to her.
"When I returned, she was dead. She looked after me since I was born and I couldn't get a medicine for her." She said sternly in a monotone voice. "I was wandering around instead of directly coming back. I was so sad when she left me, I thought that she didn't care about me anymore. That's why I didn't go as fast as I could to show her that I was hurt. That was stupid. What are a few days in an entire life… I wasn't strong enough to let her be happy…I killed her." She closed her eyes. "I'm a bad person…"
Ichigo listened to her. Then silence filled the air. He cupped her face in his hands, making her looking at him. "You're not a bad person, I can sense it from the bottom of my heart, you're not a bad person, you don't have to blame you for that." Then he blushed. "And you're not alone either, since the day we met, you and I are caring for each other cause we are friends."
"I…."
"Ichigo!"
They both turned their head to see a spiky haired girl and a red haired boy running toward them.
Renji and Tatsuki stopped when they saw their friend being close with a cute little girl. Renji frowned. "Ichigo, who is she?" He asked.
Ichigo glanced to Rukia then looked up, saying matter-of-factly "She's my friend."
Renji and Tatsuki both frowned thinking "How did he meet her?". Seeing that Ichigo wasn't going to say more, Tatsuki tried to asked. "B…but how…" She stopped seeing the little boy didn't even take any notice of her.
Ichigo turned to Rukia, locking his eyes onto her. "Do you wanna play with us? It may not sole anything but it can help brighten you mood." She nodded. Ichigo looked to his childhood friends firmly stating. "Rukia is coming playing with us today."
Renji and Tatsuki were surprised by Ichigo's statement. Never in their life, Ichigo had ordered something to us. Well, it wasn't really an order, but the way he said it, they both knew that they'd better do as he said. Tatsuki shrugged. "Yeah..sure…"
Ichigo grabbed Rukia's hand smiling. "Come on, let's have fun." She smiled back, stood up and followed his lead.
...
After the night ***, the two of them sneaked into Ichigo's room, careful not being seen by anyone. And now the were laying in the king-size bed, facing each other, none of them wanting to sleep.
"Today was fun, ne?" Ichigo beamed grinning.
She nodded and gave him a shy smile.
"Ne, Rukia, do you wanna stay here forever? with me…" He whispered blushing.
She widened her eyes and blushed. "Well…I…I can't…." Ichigo frowned. "I come from Inuzuri…" She stuttered.
Ichigo lowered his pained eyes. "Oh…I see." He said sadly. He looked up with hope. "But, you know that Tatsuki and I are the heirs of the kingdom, so if we want you to stay, then-" He said brightly.
Rukia shook her head. "It's not possible, Ichigo…" She said sadly.
He sat up, and looked at her with determination. "Okay, what about this. Let's have a bet."
She sat up to look at him. "A bet?" She repeated with a frown.
"Yeah, let's play chess, do you know how to play?"
She frowned. "I know the rules but I've never played…"
"Don't worry, it's okay. So we have a chess game. If I win, you stay here, if you win, I…I'll become your slave."
"Ichigo, I can't stay here!" She retorted seriously.
He smiled. "So you just have to win."
...
...
...
Renji and Tatsuki often slept in the same room, usually Ichigo also joined them, but tonight he preferred stay alone in his, with Rukia. Ichigo came in Tatsuki's room. She was sleeping on a bed while Renji was on the mattress on the floor. He went to his friend's bed and shook her lightly. "Tatsuki, hey, Tatsuki, wake up!" He whispered.
She opened her eyes and sat up groggily. "What?" She pouted.
Ichigo nodded, and went to Renji's bed, ignoring Tatsuki's complaints. He shook him lightly, but the red haired boy kept snoring.
Tatsuki jumped from her bed and came besides Ichigo. "You won't wake him up with that." She said plainly. Ichigo gave her a quizzical look. "Look and learn." She said before hitting Renji on the head.
"Ouch!" Renji screamed as e sat up. "What was that for, Tatsuki?"
Tatsuki rolled her eyes and pointed her thumb to Ichigo. "Ask him."
They both looked at Ichigo who gulped. "Well… I've got something to tell you."
Renji raised his eyebrow. "Just like that? In the middle of the night?" He said sarcastically.
"Let him finish!" Tatsuki scold, starting a long bickering.
"I'm leaving." Ichigo said bluntly, interrupting his friends' fight.
"What?" They shouted.
"I made a bet with Rukia and I lost. So, now I have to become her slave. That's why I have to go with her to Inuzuri."
Tasuki and Renji couldn't believe their eyes. "You're joking right?"
Ichigo shook his head. "I'm leaving tonight, I just wanted you to know cause your my best friends. Please, don't tell anyone, please…" He pleaded.
"Wait, Ichigo-" Tatsuki started.
"I'll be going now…" He said before standing up and walking away.
It was the last time Renji and Tatsuki saw their friend.
...
..
Present Day
"What do you advise me to do?" Ichigo finally said.
"Why do you want my opinion? You know I hate her…" Renji scoffed.
"Because your opinion means a lot to me…I know you will be honest…" Ichigo seriously said.
"I hate her more than everything, she stole my best friend and took him away from me…" He begun.
"I know, but tell me…if you were me what would you do?"
"I…I would stay with her. Ichigo you love her." He said sadly. "Whatever I will say, it won't change this fact. I don't know a lot of things about love, but I know that…living with the one you love, makes you the happiest man in the world…Trust me, I know it… That's why… go chase her…"