Firstly, I worked pretty hard on getting this chapter complete for all of your sakes because I didn't want anybody to hate me for too long… Thank you so much for your reviews mbravesgirl7, NieveDrop, Alexnoel1422427, JoTerry, kronosgoat, margecamins, Uin, onlyluna, Saij Spellhart, lightdesired, RukiYuki, jobananasan, and the guest reviewers.
Lewis Capaldi - Bruises
Counting days, counting days I've been told, I've been told to get you off my mind There must be something in the water Maybe I, maybe I'm just being blinded I've been told, I've been told to get you off my mind There must be something in the water
Since my love up and got lost on me
And every breath that I've been taking
Since you left feels like a waste on me
I've been holding on to hope
That you'll come back when you can find some peace
Cause every word that I've heard spoken
Since you left feels like an hollow street
But I hope I never lose the bruises that you left behind
Oh my lord, oh my lord, I need you by my side
Cause everyday it's getting colder
And if only I could hold you
You'd keep my head from going under
By the brighter side
Of what we had because it's over
Well there must be something in the tide
But I hope I never lose the bruises that you left behind
Oh my lord, oh my lord, I need you by my side
Cause everyday it's getting colder
And if only I could hold you
You'd keep my head from going under
…
An object.
A toy, even.
Void of all emotions and any conscience.
He had a wind-up key forced into his spine.
Every morning, it wound itself up and he would function.
Mechanically, of course.
But he would function. Somehow.
Sometimes, the key was turned far too tight, and he could feel his spine stretch. Every muscle in his body would tighten and then, simply by visualising the vivid violet of her eyes, he would snap.
She hadn't turned up for work all week. He hadn't expected her to. He hadn't wanted her to.
But that didn't stop him from glancing at her painfully empty seat every goddamn time he walked past it.
"Mr Kurosaki, Sir. Your office is ready." Orihime had been cautious.
She must have recognised Ichigo's rapid modification in behaviour – not that he gave a shit – and had toned down on her usual over-enthusiastic gestures purely for the fact that it was a waste of energy. He would still remain barely responsive regardless of how she conducted herself.
Hanging up on his PA as he approached the building, Ichigo stepped into the elevator and allowed it to take him to the very top floor.
Back to his original office.
He didn't acknowledge any of the faces who joined and left him in the lift. He wasn't interested. In anything.
His office had always been temporary on the same floor as her but he'd been reluctant to leave it and had put off the renovation of his original office. Now he couldn't stand the sight of where he was before. The desk was a harsh reminder of the last time they'd touched intimately.
The second he reached his destination, he closed the glass panel doors and reclined in his leather seat, resigning himself to remain exactly where he was.
The text from Yoruichi was sort of expected.
He'd been slacking and it was only a matter of time before she picked up on it with her eagle eyes.
From: Yoruichi
My office. 5:00pm. No excuses.
…
Rukia's absence that week hadn't gone unnoticed by anybody.
Rangiku had been the first to pick up on it. She'd also noticed the general foul aura about the slave driver when he'd strode through the office, dragging his mood with him on a heavy chain.
Of course, he was usually bad tempered, but his mood hadn't been this overwhelming since the beginning of Rukia's employment.
And that was a fact.
Instantly, Rangiku knew something somewhere had gone tits up.
Not wishing to pry and respecting her colleague's privacy, knowing it to be a valued quality to Rukia, Rangiku had avoided pestering her. However, the smug expression on a certain person's face had just about tipped her over the edge, and as such, Rangiku Matsumoto had decided to do just what Rangiku Matsumoto did best.
She readjusted her breasts and stood up, tossing her hair over her shoulder. Now was the time to meddle.
But regardless of her efforts to snoop around the office for subtle clues, she knew exactly which smug face she needed to speak to in order to get to the bottom of it.
"Orihime, my dear…" She began, leaning over the desk of Kurosaki's personal assistant, wearing a wide smile, "I'm supposed to be having a small team meeting with my desk colleagues this morning and I need to book a room." It was an easy enough lie.
Inoue inclined her head and pulled up the relevant application on her computer, "10am. Room 213b."
"Perfect." Rangiku raised her watch and glanced obviously at the face, "I don't suppose Kuchiki has clocked in yet has she? I know she's not been in, but it's not like her to be gone from work for this long… especially because she's supposed to be taking the minutes…" She allowed a small frown to tug at the corner of her lips.
Orihime just shrugged, "Nope. Somebody else will have to take the minutes instead."
Releasing a heavy sigh, Rangiku grumbled, "Somebody else? Have you seen the dimwits I'm sitting with? I doubt any of them are capable of staying tuned for longer than thirty seconds."
Orihime might have usually tittered at this comment, but due to her natural disinclination towards Rukia, instead she just grimaced, "Look. You're just going to have to make do, Matsumoto. End of."
Matsumoto? Orihime had never referred to her by her last name before now.
Something was starting to smell off.
"Have I done something?" She asked, tilting her head to one side, watching the way Orihime's fingers had begun to drum against her computer mouse.
"Done something? Now why would you ask that?"
Okay. That was how it was going to be.
"Because, Inoue, it's not like you to get snarky with me."
Orihime rose to her feet, looking Rangiku dead in the eye, "But it's so very like you to let somebody such as Kuchiki continue working in this company when you know full well what she's done."
The palpable tension that had wedged it way between them thickened.
"And what might that be?"
Orihime just rolled her eyes, "Don't start giving me the dumb bimbo act, Matsumoto. I heard everything. I recorded your conversation in the bathroom." She almost smirked, "I knew there was something off about that little girl as soon as she walked through those doors. So, thanks to me – his one loyal employee – I pulled the plug."
Rangiku had more than just one issue with Orihime's words.
The first wasn't the fact she'd labelled her as a 'dumb bimbo', but that certainly did crop up somewhere on the list. It wasn't even how pathetic Orihime had sounded when she claimed to be Kurosaki's loyal little lapdog.
The first was the fact that the little snake had sat in the bathroom and recorded their conversation. A conversation that shouldn't have been overheard by anybody.
"You recorded it…?" Rangiku watched the self-righteousness blossom on Inoue's face, "If you took a recording, Orihime, that means you were in there while I was having sex. You know… because I'm a dumb bimbo and all."
She raised her eyebrows, preparing to speak, but Rangiku was having none of it.
"Were you listening? Picturing you and Kurosaki, maybe? Getting off on it?"
"No." She snapped quickly, "I walked in just before you'd done actually. You were so loud you mustn't have heard me come in."
"But you must have heard me come." Rangiku smirked, watching the way Orihime shifted uncomfortably. "You know… this just explains everything. You were jealous. So, in your jealousy, you made a desperate attempt to turn Kurosaki on Kuchiki. I would've expected that from somebody else, Orihime, but not from you."
Maybe that had been a little fib. Orihime was blinded by Kurosaki. She had always gone to extensive lengths to get his attention and it had never been a secret. But even so… this was something Rangiku might've considered just a little out of her capabilities.
"My duty is to this company and to Kurosaki. So should yours have been. Don't point the finger at me when I was just doing what was right for us all."
Rangiku released a soft breath of surprise, "Right for 'us all'? You know full well Kuchiki had no intention of betraying this company in that conversation. No intention. You used her as a stepping stone to get closer to where you wanted to be. But you'll see that if anything, all it has done is move you further away. You'd best keep clear of me. You won't like me when I get nasty."
"Honestly, I don't like you much anyway."
A perfectly un-childish response… Rangiku clicked her tongue, "Careful, Inoue. I have influence around here and you know it."
"I'll be watching my back, don't worry. You don't scare me. Now, if you wouldn't mind, I actually have a job to do. Go screw somebody or something."
"I would… but you'd only end up hiding around the corner, getting off to it. Unfortunately, that kind of thing puts me off. Have a nice day." She ended the conversation with a wide smile and moved away from the desk.
The little bitch.
Not only had Orihime utterly fucked Rukia over, but had also put Rangiku in the spotlight. This had better not compromise her job.
Or somebody would certainly pay.
…
Outwardly, it may have appeared she was staring at the wall.
Of course, in reality, Rukia was playing a thousand scenes over and over before her eyes.
Rushes of heated skin, vulnerable flickers of amber… her own burning betrayal.
She didn't even have the energy to hit out at the cream plastered wall anymore. What good would it do?
The sound of a gentle knock against her bedroom door was barely enough to force her to recall her identity, but she managed. Somehow.
Standing up, spine straight, Rukia pulled open the door separating her from her brother. She didn't bother to let their eyes meet.
"Shouldn't you be at work this week?" Byakuya asked softly.
"I don't know." It was the only response she could give him.
Despite his usual lack of tact, her brother seemed to be treading more carefully than usual, "Something has happened?" He half asked, half observed. But due to Rukia's silence, he continued, "May I come in?"
Without saying anything else, Rukia just took a step back and allowed him entry to her room. He brought with him a tray of tea and set it on her desk, "You need to drink something."
He poured her a cup, but she left it untouched.
After a moment, he chose to sit, resting his arm beside the tray of neglected tea, "Rukia, the truth is I've let you down dreadfully."
If she was expecting him to say something, it wasn't that.
Still, she said nothing.
"I have expected too much of you. I didn't see it at the time, and I should have. I should have seen the signs – they were right in front of me. The whole time. But I didn't. Maybe I just didn't want to… I don't know. But for that, I am consumed with shame." He paused, taking a slow breath, "…I've let her down. I know I have. If she'd have seen the way I let you risk everything for me… for money…" He punctuated the word distastefully, his fist clenching, "I don't think she would've been able to bear looking at me."
"Byakuya, please–"
"–No, Rukia. I know you'll try and say something to ease my guilt. Don't. I know what Kaien has done to you. I know that it's my fault for letting it happen. Nothing I do will be able to change that. The pain you have been through is unimaginable. All I can do now is try to undo some of the damage – although I know that will be nearly impossible. I will do all I can in my power to change things for the better."
Rukia released a quiet breath from her lips. How was it possible to make any of this right?
"I've spoken with my old acquaintance, Yoruichi Shihoin, the CEO of the company Kurosaki works for."
Her eyes shifted upwards in mild surprise, "You know her?"
"We went to college together some time ago, yes." He inclined his head as though he wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or not, "She is willing to work alongside us to bring Shiba down. I've given her some information that should help. I'm not sure the timescale this will take, but in the mean time I need you to be vigilant. If he makes contact with you, tell me immediately. As I understand it, he's currently out of the city for a couple of weeks on business so that at least counts for something… I'm hoping that we will have made headway with this before his return."
This information should've provided her with some relief, but instead, all she felt was the heavy weight in her chest sink into her stomach.
Byakuya filled the silence by taking a sip of his own tea. Rukia doubted he was even thirsty. He must have been incredibly busy to have spent time uncovering information that could implicate Kaien. She could barely process exactly what was happening.
What was happening?
Why was she sitting here like a pathetic little girl who'd just been grounded?
"Are you going to tell me what's happened?" He asked, eventually placing down his china cup onto the tray again.
"Ichigo knows." She said simply, "He won't answer my calls, respond to my messages… I've ruined everything."
"Ruined everything how? Bringing him down isn't our goal anymore… is it?" Byakuya creased his eyebrows – just slightly. But not enough to completely break his collected appearance, "Unless…"
For a man with an outstanding IQ, Byakuya could easily be the most dim-witted fool she'd ever encountered.
She let him form his own conclusions, even if he did so by shifting somewhat uncomfortably in the seat by her desk.
"You cared about him."
Rukia just inclined her head. 'Cared about him' didn't exactly cover her connection with Ichigo, but it was the only way her brother would be capable of interpreting it.
"I betrayed him." As the words left her mouth, it was all she could do not to crumble, "I betrayed him so deeply…" Her voice trembled in her throat and her fingers slid to grip a fistful of hair.
Byakuya took a few seconds to make sense of the situation the best he could before he leaned forwards, resting his elbows on his knees – a very atypical posture for him to adopt, "Does he know what Shiba put you through?"
"No." Rukia whispered.
Byakuya reached forwards and took Rukia's hand from her hair, folding it into his own.
"Does he know how you feel?"
"No. I… Well, I don't know. All he knows is that I used him. I preyed on his vulnerability and used it against him. That's all he sees. He's been through something similar before with somebody else. I did exactly the same as she did… at least in his mind."
"Then change his mind, Rukia."
What?
Rukia met her brother's steely gaze as he spoke, "If you stay in this house… in this room… doing nothing, then that's exactly what will happen. Nothing. Get up, eat something, get dressed and fight your way through this as you have with everything you have ever faced."
"But what if nothing changes anyway?" She asked, quietly, "What if after all this, he still doesn't want me?" She felt like a child – a petty child with petty emotions. But, Byakuya never once faltered.
"What if?" He straightened up, "We are Kuchikis, Rukia. We don't let fear get in our way. We get things done, and that is exactly what you will do." He rose to his feet, "Now, I have a meeting with Shihoin this afternoon. I will let you know how it goes. In the meantime, consider my advice. If you need me, I'll have my phone on me."
Rukia nodded mutely as her brother swept from her bedroom. She admitted herself a little taken aback at his ability to maintain a conversation that breached his usual 'no feelings' policy'; or rather… his ability to begin that conversation in the first place.
But he was right.
She did need to handle this like a Kuchiki.
…
"So, your despondency is becoming quite prevalent as of late, Ichigo… do I need to be concerned?"
Even when the focus was on him, he couldn't engage with anything or anyone other than the thoughts of violet midnight.
"Ichigo." Yoruichi prompted softly, resting her elbows on the surface of her desk.
Grumbling a quiet response, Ichigo leaned back in his chair, his arms folded tightly across his chest.
"You want to tell me what's going on?" She asked.
"Not really."
She released a short breath of humourless laughter, "Let me re-emphasise… You want to tell me what's going on." She dropped the questioning tone from her sentence, her eyes drilling a steady golden hole into his fringe.
"You go first. Tell me what I've been summoned here for first."
In retrospect, that might have been the wrong sort of thing to say.
"Ichigo Kurosaki, you may think you have the right to shrug everybody else off, but the power for you to do that stops with me. Open your goddamn mouth and tell me what the hell is going on."
Cursing her inwardly to high heaven, Ichigo sighed and tilted his head back slightly to stare unseeingly out of the window behind his boss' head, "My employee." He couldn't bring himself to say her name, "I found out the other day that she'd working against us. Hired to spy on our company by the biggest bastard I know."
If Yoruichi was surprised by Ichigo's words, she either didn't show it… or just didn't feel it.
Because Ichigo was never the sort to expand on a point without excessive prodding, she raised an eyebrow, "And…?"
"And nothing."
"So, where did you get this information from? Was it a reliable source?"
Ichigo pushed his phone towards Yoruichi and played the recording, "Listen for yourself."
For a moment, she didn't comment. Maybe she'd finally realised that he wasn't just being petty.
"Ichigo, this is petty. Even for you."
It seemed he sat corrected.
"Excuse me?"
Restraining herself from rolling her eyes, Yoruichi leaned forwards, "I'm assuming this is Rukia Kuchiki's voice. I'm also assuming this is the only snippet of information you possess."
Shaking his head, Ichigo pulled up the image he'd been sent on his phone screen. Yoruichi ran her eyes over the photograph of the petite devil herself standing beside Kaien Shiba following one of his tournament matches.
"What more proof do I need?"
"So, you caught a snippet of a conversation… and an image from some article from a low-key local sports magazine… My third assumption is that you charged in the second you came across this, guns blazing, horns blowing, unleashed your fury on Miss Kuchiki in your stealthy self-righteous manner and then left her without a chance to explain. Am I right, or…?"
Upon receiving only silence, the CEO nodded her head slowly, "I thought as much. You know, Ichigo, sometimes – just sometimes – it would be helpful if you stopped being so damn predictable."
"What else do you expect me to do? She betrayed me. You know I don't handle betrayal well."
"Did she?" Yoruichi angled her head to one side, adopting a gently challenging expression on her face, "Did she actually betray you? Just think for one minute. Is it you she's been betraying?"
He wasn't in the mood for this.
"Stop speaking in riddles, Yoruichi."
"Then stop being so melodramatic. It's draining."
Ichigo tasted a salty silence.
"Do you ever stop to think? Your fire and dedication is a remarkable quality, Ichigo. It's one of the reasons I hired you and why you've become so successful. But once in a while, it wouldn't hurt you to simply stop and think."
"Whose side are you on, Yoruichi?" He posed the question harshly, narrowing his eyes behind his hair.
"My own side, Kurosaki. I make my own opinions after I've received as much information as I can. I don't let other people influence my decisions. Why else do you think I'm in charge of a global company?"
She just had to throw that one in there, didn't she?
"Before I make my own judgements, I find out the complete story. Do you know the complete story?"
Ichigo just scoffed, "What else could there possibly be to know?"
"One more fact at the very least. Byakuya Kuchiki came to me the other day with some very incriminating evidence against Kaien Shiba. He informed me that both he and his sister have been attempting to find a way to bring him down."
Ichigo said nothing.
"Of course you've been so busy getting butt hurt that you didn't even think to ask Rukia her side of the story. So, when you assume it's you she's been betraying, maybe you should consider the possibility that in actual fact, Shiba is the one she could be betraying. Not you."
His silence stretched.
"So, are you going to just sit there like a petulant child or are you going to get up off your ass and sort your issues out like a grown man?"
His teeth locked together for a moment, "Why didn't you tell me?"
Theatrically, she dropped back into her seat and laughed, "Christ, Kurosaki. Because I've really had the chance to tell somebody who's been avoiding calls and emails all goddamn week, haven't I? Why do you think I brought you here, ass-hat?"
He was torn. Deeply. Unevenly.
Credit to Yoruichi for always delivering a successful reality check.
"Well, thanks for the info." He stood abruptly, "Unless there's anything else, there are a few things I need to do."
She may as well have just said "you don't say" with the sarcastic smile she was currently offering him.
He wasn't exactly sure at this point what these things were that he needed to do.
Maybe he did need to take Yoruichi's advice and just take a moment to think.
Usually, he would consider going to the gym and speaking to Urahara over a sweaty spar. Although, generally, Urahara was pretty useless when it came to this sort of stuff.
This sort of stuff.
Exactly what the hell even was 'this sort of stuff'?
Did he want to speak to Rukia?
Did he want to know the complete story?
Mostly he was still wavering on the brink of whether he could trust her enough to be honest with him.
But upon reflection, he'd not even given her the chance.
The second he stepped into his apartment, Ichigo pulled off his clothes and headed straight for the shower.
He'd take this one cold.
…
"What's up with your face?"
Ichigo didn't answer Karin as he strode past her into their father's home.
He wasn't even too sure why he bothered visiting his childhood home. Maybe he knew his sisters would be present, and maybe he felt like he needed to be around people who understood him a little better than the countless other faces he saw daily.
He dropped into his father's most favoured squishy armchair and leant back.
Yuzu had her legs tucked underneath her as she flipped through some (presumably trashy) magazine.
"Hey." She offered her brother a small smile.
"Oh, come on. Does it look like he's going to answer you?" Karin commented, "Have you not seen the bulldog-chewing-a-wasp expression on his face?"
He rolled his fingers through his hair to give his eyes chance to be open without hair tickling his line of vision.
"Piss off." Ichigo advised, tiling his head backwards so he could stare at the living room ceiling above him.
Karin tried a new angle.
It didn't exactly hold any more tact, but at least she tackled the main brunt of his issues.
"So… Are we seeing Rukia any time soon? Or have you flown onto new things?"
"No."
That answer just about sufficed for both questions.
"No what?"
"Why does everybody keep asking me the same goddamn questions?"
"Maybe because you're traipsing around with that godawful scowl on your face." Karin quipped.
Well, she'd know all about that scowl, wouldn't she? She donned it even better than he did the majority of the time.
"So, come on." She pushed, "Tell me before I beat it out of you."
Instead of blocking her out, he just muttered a brief explanation, barely moving his head as he spoke.
He didn't mind his family knowing. They understood and shared his resentment towards Kaien. Not many people did.
Or… at least Karin and their father did. Yuzu's opinions were often kept to herself. That was either because she disagreed with the general opinion of her family, or because she hadn't come to her own conclusion.
Mostly, she simply sat with a vague expression of mild interest on her face, occasionally contributing an infrequent, but balanced, remark.
Karin was busy surveying Ichigo carefully, before she shrugged, "You want me to knock her senseless?"
He just clicked his tongue.
"I mean… I don't really want to. Personally, I liked her. But I will if it'll make you feel better."
"Of course it won't make him feel better." It was surprising for Yuzu to pipe up with such conviction.
"It might." Karin muttered, defensively.
"She's right." Ichigo sighed and leaned forwards to rest his elbows on his knees, "It won't."
Karin folded her arms as she leaned against the doorframe, "Well, what will help?"
"If I knew that, I'd be doing it, wouldn't I?" He growled, impatiently.
Once again, Yuzu shocked her siblings by providing another unexpected response, "Look, this has all gone too far. All this hatred. To start with, Kaien needs help. Psychological help. He's not well. That's not an excuse for the things he's done, but it's probably a reason as to why he is the way he is. He's been through things too."
"So, what exactly are you saying?" Ichigo asked, maintaining his cool at his sister's berating.
"That maybe you need to stop painting people in black and white. People aren't either just good or just bad. People just are. Unless you can physically put yourself in somebody else's position, you can't rightly judge them for their behaviour because you have no real idea what's actually going on in their heads."
"Yeah, right. Like I'd want to know what's going on in Kaien's thick skull…"
Yuzu exhaled softly, "I'm not just talking about him… I'm talking about Rukia, too."
Ichigo remained silent for a few moments, considering his sister's oddly wise words.
"Sure, Kaien has done some unforgivable things, but people have done some unforgivable things to him too. What I'm saying is that we've all done things that somebody else might see as being unforgivable. Don't we all deserve the chance to explain ourselves?"
Karin had long since lost the direction of the conversation, and had been sitting with a vacant expression on her face for some time. She just shrugged, "I'm not good with complex emotions. I'm either happy, or pissed off… Or hungry." She added as an afterthought, "Which I feel is an emotion on its own. That's pretty much the extent of my emotional capacity."
"Hungry." Ichigo repeated, prior to their conversation flow being interrupted by a thud outside.
The three turned simultaneously to observe their father through the window as he approached the clinic from his car. He'd somehow managed to stub his foot on the paving stone leading to the front door. The Kurosaki offspring continued to watch him silently as he proceeded to melodramatically roll on the ground, grasping desperately onto his limb as though it might drop off.
"And then there's him…" Karin commented, "He doesn't even have my level of emotional capacity."
"That is saying something…" Ichigo agreed.
After a moment, Yuzu added, "It's not really a wonder why we all turned out the way we did."
"Well, I'm certain our brains are one hundred percent inherited from our mother." He commented.
"That's our story and we're sticking to it." Karin nodded.
The three continued to follow their father's movements with their heads as he finally entered the building after realising nobody was coming to his aid. Neither one of them appeared in least bit perturbed by his dramatic outburst.
There was only so many times one could be surprised by Isshin Kurosaki's antics.
Sure enough, after a couple of beats of silence, his voice could be heard bellowing through the hallway, "I could've died! Did anybody witness that horrific event?" He demanded, bursting through the door, filling the room with his unmistakable presence.
Thinking about it, he should've expected the lack of response from his children. It was only normal for them to express utter disinterest in such an occurrence.
"Of course…" Isshin continued, "Your dear old dad – one who spent the best of his years making sacrifices and working hard to give you the best possible start in life – would be ignored in his time of peril! How is it my babies turned out to be so cold? Oh, Masaki!" He turned to the large canvas of his departed wife and threw his hands up into the air, "How could they?"
"It's a natural reaction to stupidity…" Karin offered, expressionlessly.
"Oh, so you can speak!" Isshin turned to look at the three of them over his shoulder, "I might've known."
Simply to shut him up, Ichigo tossed a cushion in his general direction, flopping backwards into the comforts of the armchair once again.
"What's up with the three of you anyway?" He asked, following his recovery, "I can smell the doom and gloom from over here."
"We were fine until you turned up." Karin smirked.
Flicking the back of her ear lightly as he walked past, Isshin assumed his frame into the armchair adjacent to his son, "Is that so?"
Yuzu rolled her eyes. It seemed this subject had touched a nerve with her, or something. Honestly, Ichigo wasn't too sure why she was even that bothered. She summarised the content of their previous conversation and relayed it back to him.
It seemed the mere mention of Kaien's name mellowed Isshin's mood almost instantly.
After a moment, he glanced over to look at Ichigo, "It's true? Rukia did that?"
"Yep." He popped the 'p' at the end of his response, choosing not to elaborate.
Isshin's eyebrows creased, "But she seemed so genuine when I met her." He frowned, "Both times, in fact."
"Oh, well in that case, he should just marry her." Karin interjected, sarcastically.
"You're all missing the point." Yuzu exhaled gently, "Anybody could see the way she feels about you, Ichigo. Don't be so proud, and just talk to her. She's not the sort to act out of malice."
"And you'd know?" Ichigo retorted.
"Actually I would." Yuzu returned, without hesitation, "I've spent time with her… without your pissy input."
"Yuzu's right." Karin inclined her head, "I know this kind of thing has happened before with that green haired bitch–"
"–Karin." Isshin chastised, half-heartedly.
"Apologies." She made to correct herself, "That blue haired bitch. I don't know. Her hair is ambiguous. But the point is, I never liked her from day one. She was one huge red flag. I actually enjoyed playing football with Rukia… I didn't kick it at her face once. I didn't even want to."
To be fair, that was a remarkable achievement for Karin.
"Look, I disobeyed my entire family to be with your mother." Isshin began, "I went against every current, every pressure… everything I'd ever been taught. I had to overlook my own sense of pride. It didn't help that I was seeing somebody else at the time. Somebody far more suited to my family's expectations… And I was envied just for being seen with this woman. But I went against everything I had ever been taught on pure instinct and I'm damn pleased I did."
Ichigo struggled to see the relevance, but he was sure his father would get to the point eventually.
"What I'm saying is that I made mistakes, Ichigo. Plenty of them. It would've been the biggest mistake of my life to forget about my feelings for your mother. Sure, it might've been the easiest option. It took me a bit of time to get my head out my ass, but your mother saw beyond all that and she gave me the benefit of the doubt, and she said it was the best decision she ever made. Obviously, I'm not going to disagree with that…" He laughed, before realising he had been the only one to find himself amusing, "Look, nobody knows the full story." Isshin shrugged, "But only you know what you want. We could advise you one way or another, but at the end of the day, Ichigo Kurosaki will do whatever Ichigo Kurosaki wants to do. That's just who you are."
"Let's be honest, you're not exactly the easiest person for her to be with yourself, are you?" Karin added, "Poor girl must have gotten whiplash from your daily mood swings. And then some."
"Thanks, Karin." Ichigo sent her a lofty smile.
"What?" She raised her eyebrows, "Just saying."
After a few moments, Ichigo just rolled his eyes and sat up, "Anyway. Enough of all this. Who's cooking dinner?"
…
Talking to his family had provided Ichigo with some sense of… he wouldn't call it 'relief'… but insight, perhaps.
He knew better than anybody else that he wasn't free from mistakes, himself.
He didn't know if he was ready to listen to Rukia's side of the story or not, but all he knew was that he couldn't go on living in this limbo. All he knew was that she was the only presence occupying his thoughts – and had been since the first time they'd met.
Maybe it was a hasty decision to pick up his phone, but his family had been right. Yoruichi had been right.
If Rukia had any sense of humanity in her, she'd be struggling too. Maybe more than he knew.
As he toyed with the several possibilities of what he should say to her, he almost missed the sound of a delicate knock at his door.
Uncertain that he'd actually heard anything at all, Ichigo paused.
He didn't hear another knock follow, but curiosity bettered him (every goddamn time). Standing to his feet, Ichigo trod towards the door to his apartment, peering through the spyhole in the wood.
Nothing.
But instinct drove him to open the door anyway. To step out onto the corridor.
To see midnight itself walking away from him.
She was midnight, after all.
Her eyes, the deep stretch of violet darkness in the sky.
Her skin, the haunting glow of the moon.
Her hair, the corners of the atmosphere that the pale light couldn't reach.
Like all other forms of darkness, Rukia concealed herself in mystery.
And yes, somebody had offered him a lantern, illuminating secrets he wished didn't exist.
But a lantern was not enough to fight away the night.
He needed the sun.
"Rukia." Her name fell from his lips, and her petite frame froze at the end of the corridor.
"I shouldn't have come, Ichigo." She murmured after a moment, the gentle undertone evoking in him memories of her.
"Don't go."
They weren't the words he'd intended to speak, but they'd tumbled out his mouth all the same.
Her breath caught visibly in her chest and she turned. Slowly.
Her eyes locked on his, vulnerable and open.
"I want you to tell me, Rukia." As he spoke the words, the realisation collided with his heart, just how hard he craved an explanation from her, "I want you to tell me everything."
A/N: I was about to upload this chapter seconds before somebody sent me a song to listen to. Oddly, as I listened to the song, I felt that it related pretty well to this chapter, so in light of this coincidence, I thought I'd share the lyrics with you all.
Charlie Puth – Kiss Me Before I Fucking Lose My Mind
I Then I For the last 3 years I just hid it so well Never have I ever woken up in a cold hard sweat I'm done No No For the last 3 years I just hid it so well Never have I ever woken up in a cold hard sweat I'm done Oooo... I'm done
Should have told
You how I really feel
A little in advance
Would've had some time
To go and work it out
I think I've lost my chance
Hoping that you'd figure it out because I never could tell it
Straight to your face
From a dream wondering
If you'd ever say "goodbye"
If I didn't say it first
Playing these games
I can't believe what I'm about to say
I won't tell you goodbye
With my love left behind
Kiss me before I
Fucking lose my
Mind
No more nights
Drink until my loneliness
Up till 2 AM
No more waiting
Pacing round the bar
Hoping that you might walk in
Hoping that you'd figure it out because I never could tell it
Straight to your face
From a dream wondering
If you'd ever say "goodbye"
If I didn't say it first
Playing these games
I can't believe what I'm about to say
No I won't tell you goodbye
With my love left behind
Kiss me before I
Fucking lose my mind
Playing these games
I can't believe what I'm about to say
Cause I would rather die
Than feeling this inside
Tricks played on my mind
No I would rather die
Than just tell you goodbye
With my love left behind
Kiss me before I
Fucking lose my
Mind
