Wednesday, September 18, 2002
As Ichigo was about to leave Rukia's bedroom he noticed what seemed like an incredibly lame tripwire made out of shoelaces near the base of the door frame. After a moment's pause to consider it he stepped over it and shut the door behind him, only for Kon to immediately jump onto his leg. "What do you think you're doing?" he muttered with incredulity, shaking the limb to try and dislodge the mod-soul.
"You're not the real Ichigo, and that's not the real nē-san! This is all some kind of simulation designed to break me, and I'm not having any of it!" Kon exclaimed, trying his hardest to do any kind of damage at all.
The teenager frowned and leaned down, grabbing the plushy by the head and hauling him up to eye-level, albeit safely outside of striking distance. "Shut up before you wake her," he warned. He immediately started looking around to see if there were any other surprises.
"You're not real! Nē-san would—would never . . . !" Kon proclaimed, doing his best to struggle.
Ichigo's eyes slid back to the mod-soul in a glare before he promptly stepped away from the door and went to his room, moving quickly but cautiously. Once he was inside he shut the door behind him and tossed the stuffed lion onto his bed, demanding "Would never what?"
"Never stoop to the likes of you!" the mod-soul asserted, jumping up and pointing accusatorially.
At that the young man's expression shifted from annoyed to exasperated before he closed his eyes and rubbed at the back of his head, finally saying "Yeah, it's kinda confusing to me too sometimes."
Kon blinked at seeing self-deprecation from him again before severely frowning at it.
"I guess nobody ever told you what happened?" Ichigo asked, looking to the plushy again.
After a moment the stuffed lion shook his head. It seemed obvious Aizen had been defeated given what little he'd seen of the 12th Division seemed to be functioning normally—as best he could tell anyway—but he didn't know anything other than that.
"Well, I gotta go start on food . . . but I can fill you in while I cook. So are there any more stupid traps you set up?" the teenager asked.
Kon shook his head again, looking down at the bed, his frustration losing momentum. He hadn't been able to scrounge up much even with hours of preparation time—he had no idea where anything was. It'd taken a lot of time just to explore the house. If he was truthful it was too convincing of an effort to be a fake.
Ichigo exhaled and reached down to pick the stuffed animal up, being marginally considerate about it for once, before going to dismantle the shoelace tripwire and taking Kon downstairs to explain what had transpired while he got breakfast and lunch ready.
"And so that's the short version of what happened," the young man concluded. He hadn't gone into a lot of depth about Tokyo because Kon didn't really need to know, but he'd gotten the point across.
The stuffed animal just stared at him before looking away.
There was silence between them for awhile before Ichigo asked "You call her 'nē-san' because she saved your life from Urahara that one day, right?" After Kon said nothing for awhile he continued "Well, she's saved my life too . . . a lot more than once . . . so . . . " He trailed off as he was suddenly aware she was present and glanced over a shoulder uncertainly to confirm it, spotting her leaning against the entryway to the kitchen. He realized he had no idea how long she'd been there or what she might've heard.
Kon followed his gaze before blinking in surprise.
Rukia looked rather pleased with herself at finally having managed to sneak up on Ichigo while he was cooking, but gave him and then even Kon a sincere smile before going back upstairs to get clean and changed.
"I'm starting to think we should've pushed for the hybrid robot angle," Keigo complained while wagging a finger. He remained convinced that if Urahara could make something like Rukia's gigai then he could make them power armor or something. What he had in mind was something somewhere between the suits in the OVA of Starship Troopers, Armored Trooper VOTOMS, and Guyver: The Bioboosted Armor.
"You should be more careful about what you wish for," Mizurio replied, barely paying any attention to him as he concentrated on sending text messages with his phone. Somehow he had the feeling that would've wound up with them looking like rejects from Science Ninja Team Gatchaman or something. They could've maybe arrived at a position that enabled them to fight regular Hollows, but that was the job of the Shinigami and they had their own talents.
The jester frowned and glanced off to one side before looking back suspiciously, demanding "What are you doing anyway?"
"Actually trying to help them," the playboy stated with disinterest.
"How many times do I have to tell you that spreading rumors doesn't help anybody?!" Keigo admonished, shaking his hands for emphasis.
Mizuiro glanced up at his compatriot with a slightly raised eyebrow before returning to what he was doing. He'd been the source of more than a few of the rumors about Ichigo and Rukia during her first stint at the school and was resuming that role. His reasoning was pretty simple: it would happen anyway, so it made sense to control the narrative. Ichigo always got a lot of flak because of how he was and deserved respect, and Rukia wasn't exactly typical either and deserved the same. He knew a classy woman when he encountered one and he kept his own rumor mill clean—he had never once disparaged her or insinuated anything that was inappropriate. That was more than could be said about some of the others playing the game.
"I'm serious, it's not cool," Keigo said, trying to do a deadpan voice.
"Arisawa does enforcement, you're entertainment, and I do public relations," Mizuiro replied calmly. Yoruichi and Urahara had been gentle but rather direct with them: there was no real way they could be relevant to any of the fighting their friends would be doing. It wasn't just the danger of trying to bring them up to speed, but the time constraints, and they'd be liabilities if they tried. Tatsuki had taken it particularly hard, but hadn't ultimately objected. So their job was as supports to enable the rest of the group to function without worry. He had personally decided to take that a step farther by trying to provide the couple with a sense of high school normalcy. It couldn't be easy for a moonlighting teenage spirit medium and a noble ghost military officer to be dating, let alone practically engaged, and being grounded was important.
"Don't say it like I'm a joke!" Keigo demanded, giving him a look that was part frustrated and part wounded.
"Sorry, sorry, the great Captain Asano deserves only top billing as an entertainer, not mere entertainment," the playboy corrected himself.
The jester was torn between boasting about the sudden elevation in his status and yelling at him for his nerve when the door to Ichigo and Rukia's house opened.
"Did you know there are a lot of whispers going on about the two of you?" Mizuiro asked, glancing over a shoulder at the pair. He and Keigo were at the front to afford them some privacy since they tolerated their continuing presence. It didn't escape his notice that they were holding hands, as usual.
Both the future substitute and the Shinigami blinked before glancing at one another.
"Yeah, it's almost like it was before—worse even!" Keigo added, not looking back.
"'Before' . . . ?" Rukia asked, simultaneously realizing he meant during her previous times at the school. She'd known then that she had to at least try and conceal her working relationship with Ichigo, and he'd always seemed so avoidant and pissed off about being seen with her, especially during their first two months together . . . her eyes shifted to him as she not-so-subtly demanded "What was being said before?"
Ichigo steadfastly avoided her look as he remembered. He hadn't heard anything since the start of this trimester though . . . had he just not been paying attention?
She frowned mildly at him.
He caught the expression out of the corner of his eye and squeezed at her hand in reassurance. He just didn't want to say it given they were still only slowly becoming acquainted with intimacy.
"You know . . . things," Keigo helpfully clarified.
Her cheeks only went the slightest bit pink but all she said was "Hmph."
"It probably had to do with how you were always running off together at the time, and it's hardly surprising now when the two of you live together and everybody knows you're an item," Mizuiro said as if relating a simple fact.
"And when you spent the vacation together!" Keigo added, raising his hands for emphasis.
Ichigo screwed his face up into a mildly nasty expression at that. They'd agreed to be direct on all those points to prevent questions, not to fuel the fires of speculation. Plenty of people were dating or hooking up. There had to be something else which had made them such a topic of conversation. Was it because of his reputation? Or was there more to it? Was there a leak? And if so . . . who?
Rukia glanced down as she realized she might have said too much at the start of the prior week to the other girls. Her Kuchiki training and Byakuya's words were at the forefront of her thoughts in that moment: she was admittedly not well-versed in the social maneuverings of couples, living or not, but this was childish and beneath her. "Let them say what they will then," she declared with an imperial tone as she squeezed back at Ichigo's hand and lifted her head up high, "such is always the way of small, jealous minds." If people wanted to paint her as Ichigo's girl . . . well, perhaps that was the only way his peers could even begin to comprehend what they shared. Not that it would stop her from dismantling anyone who might dare try and use such rumor to disrespect her to her face, male or female, junior or senior. There was pride and then there was honor.
All three young men glanced at her for her suddenly superior language and attitude, the two up front quickly looking away from the intensity they saw radiating off both her and Ichigo.
The would-be substitute held onto her hand securely as he grimaced. He'd never admit it, but although he deeply resented how any rumors were likely slanderous and biased against her, he sort of liked being associated with her in that way. Regardless, he'd beat the hell out of anyone he heard of talking trash about her, and woe betide whoever dared to do so in his presence. If whoever was talking knew what was good for them they'd keep it to themselves or he'd personally ensure Karakura's medical industry enjoyed a windfall.
The short Shinigami glanced to him and immediately identified the protective look on his face for what it was, squeezing back at his hand.
The young men at the front shared a momentary look once they were sure Rukia and Ichigo were fully distracted by their own thoughts and each other.
Mizuiro gave a tiny smile. The other thing about there being controlled rumors was that for the couple it was basically harmless but it still made them defensive—and when they were defensive they got closer to one another.
Keigo looked entirely nonplussed.
Tatsuki sighted her intended target in the school yard as he milled about. A smirk took hold of her lips as she began her final approach—they hadn't really begun their operations yet so it was to be expected nobody really knew to be wary. It was in her nature to fight, and she didn't like what she felt was on the horizon, but if she couldn't do anything about that, she'd make sure the people who could were able to clearly focus on it. Soul Society, Hueco Mundo . . . she didn't know anything about them, but in Karakura, at their school . . . maybe Rukia was a soldier, but she was a fighter . . . and maybe Ichigo was thunder, but she was lightning.
Moving up to her quarry from behind she grinned lazily and lifted a hand to near one of his ears before clenching it firmly, cracking every joint in her digits at once in a single loud pop as she asked "So I heard you were talking shit about some of my friends?"
Rukia glanced to Ichigo occasionally as they ate lunch on the roof, debating whether she should commit to her obligations or not.
"What?" he asked with some annoyance after what was at least the fourth time. It was really obvious she wanted to say something.
"I should stay later today, since I wasn't there yesterday," she said, assuming it clear she was talking about her training of Zennosuke. It wasn't that she doubted Renji, but it was her duty, after all.
"That's fine," he replied, not really thinking anything of it.
She stared at him for a moment in evaluation before picking up the juice box she'd brought for lunch in one hand and its straw in the other, asking "Anyway, help me with this."
Ichigo looked at Rukia like she pulling some kind of prank on him.
"I'm serious," she said, shaking the juice box slightly. For some reason she still consistently had trouble putting the straw through the casing.
After a moment he reached out his hands and secured the wrist of the hand she was holding the juice box in with one and took the hand she was holding the straw with in the other, moving them so she punched the straw through with his help rather than just doing it for her.
She looked a bit embarrassed while he was doing all that before looking up to him with mild appreciation once he'd finished.
That was when they both realized everyone else they were eating with was staring at them.
Ichigo scowled before looking aside, continuing to eat his food in a rather ticked off fashion.
Rukia looked the other way and drank her juice, pretending she'd never noticed.
"Like I said yesterday, your Fullbring is still incomplete," Chad stated.
Ichigo glanced down at the sword, which seemed more solid than the previous day but still sort of . . . flowed. It didn't seem that incomplete.
"When a Fullbring is finished, the process is pretty dangerous, so . . . " the giant trailed off. As they had lacked for another Fullbringer, Urahara had assisted with his. It had been rather concerning.
"So you want to make sure I can deal with it," the would-be substitute finished cockily, spinning the sword about by its hilt in one hand before taking up a defensive stance.
Chad smirked as he drew up his own armaments. "Yeah." This was how his friend was supposed to act.
They were still training when Ishida announced his arrival from his handicrafts club by beginning to fire a few token arrows at Ichigo while he was otherwise occupied. It was no good to start too seriously.
Once the training ended for the evening the three headed over to where Tessai, Inoue, and Chappy were situated for their things and, in Chad and Ichigo's cases, for the usual minor medical attention to remove the various token scrapes and cuts they'd picked up. Inoue had insisted at the outset it wasn't any problem so they went along with it mostly because it gave her something to do.
As everybody else was packing up, the new Fullbringer told Chappy "Hey, meet me upstairs in ten minutes, alright?"
"Mmhmm, pyon," she said, focused on putting the finishing touches on her latest masterpiece.
Not for the first time Ichigo looked chagrined at the fact the artificial soul seemed to share both Rukia's drawing sensibilities and her talent before getting his bags and going to the ladder, heading upstairs to shower. At least she wasn't asking if she could put her drawings up on the fridge or something. Since Rukia was preoccupied he could take her out for a quick shopping trip.
Sometime later they were wandering around Karakura's largest department store.
"What are we doing here anyway, pyon?" Chappy asked, looking about. They were in the children's section, going through the toy aisles.
"We're actually here to get something for you," Ichigo replied noncommittally. He'd had the idea in mind before Kon had returned, but that morning had made him decide to actually go through with it.
"Huh?" the artificial soul said, clearly surprised by the answer.
He ignored her and continued surveying the shelves. If Rukia was going to stop being on alert by the end of the week it meant Chappy would no longer need to be permanently on standby either, and it seemed wrong to leave her in the Soul Candy dispenser—even if she would be surrounded by her . . . sisters? He had a notion from things Kon had said that soul pills maintained at least some rudimentary degree of awareness even when stored, and this particular Chappy had been out and about enough to develop something more of a personality, so the idea of just shelving her bothered him a lot more than it did with Gringo. Plus maybe she could keep Kon out of trouble.
Chappy peered at him with growing suspicion before finally prodding him and demanding "What are we getting for me, pyon?"
"I figure you should have a body of your own," Ichigo said dismissively, growing a bit frustrated he couldn't find something that seemed to fit. Chappy obviously liked rabbits, just like Rukia, so some kind of bunny plushy that was sort of anthropomorphized like Kon's was probably best. Preferably it wouldn't be creepy looking . . .
Chappy blinked before looking about, taking a moment to survey the aisle before her eyes locked in on something. "That one, pyon!" she stated decisively, pointing.
The teenager looked at where she was gesturing to before sighing. It was close enough.
Ichigo had gotten a text from Rukia letting him know not to wait to eat and so after having dinner with his family and Chappy he went back to the house to start in on homework, occupying the study.
Chappy and Kon did the same, the former continuing to draw at a desk, while the latter seemed to mostly brood and regard the artificial soul with confusion and mild suspicion—the two had never interacted before and it was weird to see Rukia's gigai without her in it.
It was sometime later when Rukia finally returned.
Kon and Chappy called out "Nē-san!" and "Rukia-sama!" at the same time, drawing Ichigo's attention.
He looked up to spot her in her shihakushō and couldn't resist smiling at the sight. No matter how good she looked in whatever she wore, she always looked right in her uniform. "Welcome home," he said.
"Hi," she said, smiling back. She was pleased to know he apparently really could permanently see her as she truly was while in his body again.
She made her way over to Chappy and took her gigai back, only for Ichigo to say "After you wash that off, don't reload the dispenser. Come back here first."
Rukia looked at him curiously before deciding to play along, and when she returned the bunny plushy was sitting on the desk Chappy had been drawing at. She stared in wonder at how cute it was for a second before looking to Ichigo with genuine surprise and consideration.
"Don't look so impressed, Chappy picked it out herself," he said as if it was nothing, waving it off.
The Shinigami took on a coy expression before going over to the desk and pushing the soul pill into the plushy's mouth as they had with Kon.
It immediately came to life, Chappy taking awhile to try and figure her new body out. "This is a lot different, pyon," she ventured. For starters it didn't feel so incredibly weird to look at Ichigo anymore. Then there was not having any bones.
"You get used to it," Kon offered.
Rukia suppressed a small laugh before going to get her bag.
A few hours passed and the couple was alone, the stuffed animals having gone off to watch TV in the living room. Rukia shut her notebook and leaned against Ichigo, her thoughts drifting to the end of the week. Things would be changing again for them soon. "We should do something fun this weekend," she said. She found she missed the comparatively carefree atmosphere of summer break, even if it had been its own kind of roller coaster.
"Like what?" he asked, looking to her curiously.
"We could go out to celebrate the end of my patrols," she offered with a little smile. She had yet to hear anything more from Ishida about the dress he was working on, but she didn't have to wait for it.
"That sounds alright, I guess," he replied, feigning disinterest.
"Do you have something better in mind?" Rukia asked dubiously, raising an eyebrow and adopting an imperious look.
"I was just thinking we never broke in that karaoke microphone they got for us and that might be nice to do with everyone," Ichigo said, scratching at a temple. It seemed like a good way to try and bring everyone together again, especially since Tatsuki, Keigo, and Mizuiro hadn't been present for the last event.
She smirked slightly, taking it at face value even though she knew that at heart he really wanted to hear her sing again. "I don't see why we can't do both." There was a pause before she asked "Does your family celebrate ohigan?" Monday the 23rd was going to be Autumnal Equinox Day, which was a public holiday, so they'd have a three-day weekend. Ohigan was a traditional Buddhist event which stretched out three days on either side of it and Vernal Equinox Day in the spring, with the equinoxes themselves being its height. It was normally a time to visit family gravestones and pay respects to the departed—sort of the opposite of obon. They hadn't gone when she'd been there last September, but it hadn't been a normal time either.
"Not really," he said. His family had never been much into religious festivals, for what seemed like obvious reasons. They always settled for just the anniversary in his mom's case.
"Would you like to?" she asked tentatively. The last time she'd been with him to his mother's grave the year prior had hardly been traditional, she'd missed it that year, and they'd missed Tokyo's obon by leaving when they had . . . given everything that was happening it seemed right that she try and be there with him. It was silly given everything she knew, but . . . she had the approval of all the rest of his family and it seemed like a gesture she had to make.
Ichigo found she looked unusually sincere all of a sudden. Something about it was incredibly disarming. "I can't promise the rest of my family will want to go," he said, even though he knew they almost certainly would if the two of them were.
"It's okay," Rukia replied with a smile.
They stared at each other for a moment before he took on an irascible expression and rubbed at the back of his head, looking away and saying "Well, sounds like that's the whole weekend spent out and about then."
She playfully swatted at his chest with the back of one of her hands before letting an impish look onto her face. "Nobody said we wouldn't have time together alone," she replied with a mildly sly tone.
He turned back to her, looking into her eyes.
She let her expression become sincere again before turning her hand around and slowly running a finger around over his heart. "It's really nice, but my soaking tub is missing something just like the hotel's was," she said quietly.
Ichigo's expression softened and he reached a hand up to cup one of her cheeks.
Rukia brushed against it before tapping his sternum with a finger and pulling away, standing and collecting her things before saying "I'll see you upstairs," with a little smile.
"Yeah," he replied with a small smile in return, "I'm almost done."
Chappy and Kon scrambled back toward the couch from outside the doorway before she could turn and leave.
Kūkaku was idling in her room when her attention was drawn to approaching voices. She couldn't quite make out the words and she only heard Koganehiko and Shiroganehiko, but they were clearly talking to someone else. She couldn't really feel any reiatsu coming off of whoever else might be with them . . . clearly she had a guest, but whom?
"—you can't enter unannounced!" one of her retainers stated, coming into earshot.
"Koganehiko?" she asked, elevating her voice to be heard, "Who is it?"
At that the door slid open and Isshin stepped through before he immediately shut it behind him. He was attired in his shihakushō and studied her for a second before walking to the center of the room, saying just "Hi. Long time no see."
The older of the Shiba siblings stared at him in open disbelief for a long moment before narrowing her eyes and pushing herself to her feet, advancing to stand opposite him. She'd heard about the ersatz concerts in the Seireitei and some vague rumors about Ichigo and Rukia, but . . . after a short time considering her uncle she reached her arm back and slapped him as hard as she could.
The only thing about him that moved was his head, and he turned it back to consider her as one of his cheeks started to glow red from the impact. He let his face become apologetic. I really should've stopped by after the war . . .
Kūkaku glared at him for several seconds more before hugging him.
Isshin gave his niece a hug back, stating "Yeah, I deserved that." Saying 'sorry' would've just made it worse.
