Episode 25: The Confession of Teenage Drama Queens
A/N: I am honestly taken aback by the feedback and the reviews that this fic is receiving YEARS after the first chapter was posted. You are all amazing! I wish I was a faster writer and had more time on my hands, because you guys deserve frequent updates. Anyway, you're all amazing, and I hope you like the new chapter!
Rukia kissed my cheek, and then places a hand on my chest, burrowing herself into me. "Goodnight, Ichigo."
"Hey, Rukia?" I have to ask.
"Yes?"
"Do you…" I hesitate, my pull on her becomes tighter.
"What? What is it?"
"Do you really think we're better off out here than in Seireitei?" I'm frozen in place while I wait for her answer, my breath quickening. Her breath stops. She's thinking. After a while, she lets out huge gust of air and breathes back in. She's about to speak.
"No."
~.~.~.~.~
Ichigo
No. Well, I guess I deserved that. I did my best to save her, and that's all I could give her- my best. She was worth all of the blood, sweat, and tears that I could ever produce with this one body. I would give her gallons if it meant she could be happy. Maybe the best thing for her would be to let her go. For the most part, my choices got her into this mess. Aizen took her family's money, sure, and threw her into an asylum for it, but in the end it all came down to me. I was the druggy. I was the kid puking in the street, who Aizen took advantage of. I am the one that he chose to experiment on, because of my stupid fucking choices. I don't know what's in me, and I don't know how to get it out, or exactly how dangerous it is. I should leave… I should leave her.
Leave her with me.
Please... please go away.
I'll always be here, Ichigo. You know that.
I cringe. Sighing briefly, I kiss the top of her head and close my eyes, but sleep won't bring me the sweet relief of darkness in her arms and silence in my head.
She doesn't want to be out here with you. She's only with you because of your fuckups. She has nowhere else to go. Rukia deserves someone better than you.
Shut up.
As if to reassure what my inner demon is spitting at me, Rukia turns around so her back is facing me and wraps her own arms around herself instead of mine. I pull away from her and lay on my back with both hands under the tresses of my head. I stare at the silken canopy above her bed and trace the simple lines of thread weaving in and out, a soft blue material that reminds me of a bruise that won't go away.
"It's true, you know," she breathes.
I perk up, and turn to wrap an arm around her once more. I couldn't resist her. She doesn't shy away this time. "What?"
"We would be better off in Seireitei. We would have food, shelter, and our therapists, the only people who actually give a shit about us, besides your dad."
My breathing quickens as she continues.
"Ideally, we are better off there. But here…" she slowly eases toward me until her chest is pressed up against mine and her eyes are bold and violet and in complete contact with my irises, "but, here, we can be together. Here… we're…"
"Spit it out, shorty," I smile.
"I don't know, free, I guess. You're my medicine."
"Way to make it cheesy."
"Shut up!" She smacks my chest playfully. "I'm just trying to say how I feel!"
"I know, I know," I kiss the top of her forehead. "Go to sleep, Rukia. It's been a hell of a day."
"Whatever, baka."
And with that, we are both able to sleep peacefully and soundlessly, balancing on each other for support like two slabs of stone, a comfort that we wouldn't have back in Seireitei within its confined walls. Back then, I only got to touch her in the cafeteria, just her small hand,and that one brief moment in the backyard of the activity space, under the shade of an apple tree where we kissed for the first time. Back then, the only other contact I had with her was through a static-ridden television screen, But now, feeling her body against mine, her new, dark red hair tickling my neck, her sweet breath coming in small pants as she slept, I know that I'll love her forever.
I just wish forever could have lasted longer.
~.~.~.~.~
Rukia
When I wake up, Ichigo is gone. I bolt upright, scanning the dusty, empty room. Fuck, where is he? Throwing the sheets aside, I throw on his large shirt and run out of the room and down the hallway, ignoring the cut-outs in the carpet completely. Oh my god. Where is he? I'm down the stairs before I had time to even think and I shout for him.
"Ichigo!" I run across the foyer and into the grand kitchen.
"Ya?" His back is turned to me. He's standing in front of the double-range, stainless steel stove. Ichigo…thank god he's here but he's... naked? I can see his perky little butt. It's…he turns around. Oh my god. He's only wearing an apron. "Can I help you?"
I stand in the doorway with my mouth wide open. "Why… why are you only dressed in that apron? Where did you even get that?"
"In the housekeeper's closet," he cocks his head to the side to reveal a half-open closet with brooms and various other supplies strewn haphazardly about. "You hungry?"
"Starved," I can't seem to close my mouth, or knock this stupid surprised look off my face. "You made breakfast? Seriously, Betty Crocker?"
"Now, now," he slides an omelette onto a plate and places it on the gray, granite-topped island next to him. "That's no way to treat a man who just cooked you breakfast. Sit down, eat."
"Where did you get the food?"
"I woke up early and went to, like, three different stores in three different small towns outside of Karakura… now, eat my omelette before it gets cold!"
Happily, I oblige, sliding into a padded stool. He passes me a fork and I start gobbling the omelette down. Surprisingly, it was actually delicious, and I was very, very hungry. I moan.
Ichigo's eyes darken only slightly, but I notice. "How is it?"
I take the last bite. "Delicious. You cook?"
"My dad had to work a lot of late nights in the clinic. I made dinner for me and my sisters quite often."
"You have sisters?" I barely remembered being in Ichigo's father's clinic after the incident with Aizen. I was so drugged up and full of pain the memories are hard to reimagine. And then we had to leave so fast because the police were on our asses… it was all a blur.
His lips spread into a sweet, gorgeous white smile. "Yeah, Yuzu and Karin. They're little troublemakers, especially Karin."
"I'd like to meet them -officially- sometime."
"I'd like that too." He wipes his hands on the apron, and it reminds me that that's all he is wearing. I feel something charge deep within me, a foreign feeling that I've never quite understood until this moment. Being in an insane asylum for years tends to disrupt your sexuality. I stand up, and creep over to him, snaking an arm around his slim waist.
He understands, and immediately places his hands on my hips, pushing me upwards and onto the island counter. His breath is hot as he instantly crushes his lips to the flesh at my neck, just under my jaw. He sucks, long and hard, eliciting a moan from me that was embarrassing even to my ears. I grasp at his broad shoulders and his neck with a dangerous desperation. One of his hands clutches the small of my back for dear life while the other snakes up my big t-shirt that smelled of him and onto one of my breasts. He groans and pulls me close to him, against his growing desire. I clumsily fiddle with the straps of the apron until the ties come loose and the apron falls to the floor, leaving him completely and gloriously naked. God, he's perfection.
"Rukia," he breathes, and his kisses grow upwards toward my mouth, which of course is open and ready for him. He slides his tongue against my lips, after which I attack the roots of his hair to bring his mouth closer so I can suck on his bottom lip. He breaks the kiss in order to quickly pull my t-shirt up and over my head and tosses it aside, forgotten, but returning to me. I grind into him, both of us gasping. The ache in me is almost unbearable.
"Ichigo, please."
He nods and lifts me off of the island counter, cradling my body just over his erection. "You sure, baby?"
I nod furiously, and lean in to leave a small trail of kisses from the middle of his chin to the lobe of his ear. He shivers and slowly eases me down onto him. We both gasp in unison, and I wrap my thin arms around his shoulders for support, my pale skin clashing with his leftover tan. His long, skilled hands cup my ass and he eases me, slowly, up and down. The feeling is both unbearable and completely what I need all at the same time.
"Yes, baby," he breathes in my ear, and his movements became quicker and quicker, harder than we have done before, our first time in the hotel just a couple nights ago. I can't help my screams in his ear as he continues, his grip on my ass making the pastel skin melt between his hardened fingers. My arms wrap impossibly tight around him, I think I might leave bruises, but I know I wont. I suck and nip and bite every inch of skin in sight. I make him moan. It's the best sound I've heard this entire morning, maybe even my whole life.
He kisses me passionately, never stopping his movements as he glides me up and down. I feel it building inside me, that sweet release.
"Please," I moan in his ear. "Oh, fuck."
He pounds mercilessly into me, and I cum, screaming his name. He slows his movements, and then stops, still inside me. He walks over to the table, and removes himself from me as he lays me down on the cold, unforgiving wood, but I can't even think about that right now, because he's everywhere. He leans over me and plants the briefest of kisses on my lips, then down to my neck… collarbone… over my sternum, down to my belly button. Sweet torture. He bites on the bone softly protruding from my hip and I squeal. He smiles, a pure boyish smile, and then crawls over to me. In this moment, I'm lucky my family could afford such a large table. He positions himself right above me, and he looks deeply into my eyes before plunging back into me again. I cry out, the pleasure is so intense this time. His hands on either side of me for support, he really starts to move. Faster and faster, until I feel the aching in me getting tighter and more profound. No, again?
"Fuck!" I scream as he continues.
Ichigo leans down and whispers in my ear, never stopping. "Cum for me, baby."
I scream as I release again, wave after wave of pleasure rolling my body in a euphoria I have never experienced before.
He grunts, and seems to find his release, my name on the final soft notes of his breath. He collapses right beside me, panting just as hard as I am. After a few moments, when he his breath has receding back into normality, Ichigo rises from the table. My whole body is trembling, thanks to him. He notices my thighs quivering together.
"You okay?" He asks, concern lining the edges of his voice.
I just nod. I can't speak right now.
"Don't go silent on me again, Rukia…" His eyes widen.
"Shh, I'm okay." I manage to whisper, and I smile at him. He smiles in return, a big toothy smile.
"You ready for a lazy day?" He asks. I nod. Of course I'm ready for a lazy day. I can barely move. With grace, Ichigo slides his arms under my body gently and lifts me up off the table. I cuddle into his embrace as he walks back upstairs and into my bedroom. He lays me softly down onto the bed, following soon after, and covers both of our bodies with the silken sheets.
"Hey, Rukia?" He asks after many minutes of comforting silence.
"Yeah?"
"What's, uh…" He coughs, "What's with the carpet in your hallway?"
I turn stone cold, and rigid. "What about it."
"Parts of it are torn out, in weird patches. I'm just curious… I want to know more about you, more than what you told me through a television screen."
I turn toward him. I figured that it would be better to be blunt with him. Rip the band-aid off, as they say. "That's where the blood of my parents crusted into the carpet when he killed them."
Ichigo remains silent. Is he scared? It is, after all, my fault that he's in this mess in the first place. If I had just been a little bit smarter, a little bit stronger, than I could have stopped Aizen from stealing my inheritance and throwing me away, just so he could take another life. Ichigo's life. Well, I might as well just rip this band-aid off completely. He needs to know what he's getting into.
"My parents were good people. Byakuya and Hisana, were their names. My father could be a could man, but he was very strong. He taught me so much on how to be an impenetrable fortress. My mother was an angel. I know most girls say that about their mothers, but it's true. She was a pure and delicate angel."
Ichigo tightens his hold on my waist. Is he scared? Still, I must continue.
"My parents had millions of dollars, which they accumulated from my mother's parents, and then investing in all the right companies. Then, they started their own company, for chemicals and steel, which made them even wealthier. They actually inherited this home from my mother's parents, they didn't even buy it. They never liked to show their wealth, they always tried to give it away, especially my mother. I think they only stayed in this house to please my grandparents, but they've been dead for years now. Anyway," I pause, and take a quivering breath. "Aizen was a… family friend of my parents. I knew him, even when I was a little girl, I saw him lurking in the halls. He always had a certain menacing look to him, masked with kindness. My parents were too kind to see through him, but I did. One day, my last day of senior year in high school, I came home, and I…" tears are streaming down my face now, but I have to get through it. He needs to know.
"I found them. My father was bloated with death, swinging from the ceiling fan, hanging on by the choking hold of his necktie. My mother laid on the ground, crusted in old blood. Who knows what he did to her… I always saw Aizen eyeing my mother when my father wasn't looking. I never dared to find out how she died." I pause. "The police found me, once the butler on duty finally came to work. He was late, of course, or else he might have saw Aizen or one of his friends leave the scene. He had called the police when he found me screaming and collapsed on top of my parents' blood. There was an investigation, and I was put to trial because I was the only one they knew that had a motive. My parents were so charitable, they couldn't pin anything on anyone but me. They thought… they thought I murdered them for the inheritance money. I… I never spoke a word again after that day, until those guards were beating you in the cafeteria, and I had to yell for them to stop."
"Rukia…" Concern in every facet of his voice.
"I need to finish this." I say. He says nothing, so I continue. "Aizen also happened to be a good lawyer, and he was the executor of my parents' estate. Naturally, he handled my case. It didn't end well, as you know. I spent years in that asylum because of him. In my parents' will, he was the sole benefactor of their money if I didn't get it. If I was stronger, I could have spoken up, I could have stopped him from getting that money, I could have stopped him from torturing you…"
Ichigo crushes his lips to mine, clearing my head. He releases me, and wipes the tears from my eyes. "This was never your fault. If anything, it's mine. Please, I can't stand to see you cry." He wipes a stray tear. "Rukia…"
I look up at him. He's going to leave. He's going to leave me, I know it.
"I love you."
I shiver against him, the tears won't stop. "I love you, too. Of course I do."
He cradles me then, much like a child, but I feel like a child right now. He rocks me to sleep, his hand brushing through my hair gently, like a mother would.
"Shh," he whispers over and over in my ear, until the tears finally dwindle away and I'm lost in a sea of deep, deep sleep.
A/N: What did you think of this chapter? Reviews give me life! Also, I have the option of ending this fic FOR GOOD in a couple chapters. But, if enough people say they want more chapters, then I can definitely take the plot in a different direction and have more chapters! Please let me know in a review. Love you guys!